The cascading effects of parent (low vs. high) self-esteem: implications for academic self-trust in stereotype-vulnerable students

A cascade model is proposed to explain how parents’ self-esteem shapes academic “self-trust” for students who are more (vs. less) vulnerable to being negatively stereotyped. The cascade model advances two interconnected hypotheses. One: Low (vs. high) self-esteem parents rely on different strategies to keep their children safe in social connection. Two: The strategies parents use to keep their children safe are more likely to shape feelings of safety and acceptance, and in turn, academic “self-trust,” for students who are more (vs. less) vulnerable to being negatively stereotyped. Undergraduates at a state university (55% highly stereotype-vulnerable, i.e. racial/ethnic minority, learning disabled, LGBTQ+) invited a parent to complete an online survey (N = 162parent/student pairs). Parents completed measures of self-esteem and safety strategies; children completed measures of anticipated acceptance/safety in their relationship with their parents and academic “self-trust” (i.e. academic self-efficacy and challenge/threat in thinking about the “obstacle of navigating college”). Moderated mediation models revealed that parents’ lower (vs. higher) self-esteem predicted highly stereotype-vulnerable students’ lower academic self-efficacy and greater threat (vs. challenge) because parents’ stronger motivation to protect their child from being hurt predicted students’ lower feelings of safety with their parents.