Race/Ethnicity and Self-Esteem in Families of Adolescents

ABSTRACT

Self-esteem and perceived competence have only been explored minimally in family studies with ethnically diverse samples. The current study explores self-esteem and perceived competence in a sample of adolescents, their mothers, and their fathers from three racial/ethnic groups: African American, Hispanic/Latino/Latina, and Caucasian. Results show that African American mothers report higher perceptions of athletic competence than Caucasian or Hispanic/Latina mothers. African American fathers and Hispanic/Latino fathers report higher perceptions of physical appearance and global self-worth than Caucasian fathers. Adolescents' reports of perceived competence and global self-worth did not differ across racial/ethnic groups. Significant associations within the family were found for some domains of perceived competence. Results are discussed in terms of functioning within families of different racial/ethnic groups.

KEYWORDS:

• Self-esteem
• perceived competence
• families
• race/ethnicity