ArticleFrontiers in psychology2025
Parents' social comparisons and adolescent self-esteem: the mediating effect of upward social comparison and the moderating influence of optimism.
Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed.
- Perceived Parental Comparison, Authenticity and School Adjustment in Adolescence: A Cross-Lagged Panel Network Analysis.International journal of psychology : Journal international de psychologie · 2026Article
- Parental Social Comparisons and Parent-Child Closeness in Families with Preschool Children: The Roles of Mindful Parenting and Parents' Education Anxiety.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- The effect of parental achievement pressure and self-regulated learning on school adjustment, mediated by self-esteem.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- The relationship between parental academic upward social comparison perception and short video addiction in junior high school students.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- The impact of social media use on college students' mental health: a narrative review.Frontiers in public health · 2026Review
- The Effect of Upward Social Comparison on Academic Involution Among College Students: Serial Mediating Effects of Self-Esteem and Perceived Stress.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Differentiating the Effects of Fathers' and Mothers' Parenting Styles on Academic and Emotional Outcomes among Male and Female Vietnamese Students.Psychology in Russia : state of the art · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
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Abstract
Parents' social comparison is a common phenomenon that occurs in China. It refers to the behavior of parents imagining other people's children as an excellent role model without shortcomings and comparing their own children with them. This behavior may affect their child's mood. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of parents' social comparison on adolescents' self-esteem through the mediating role of upward social comparison, and to explore the moderating role of optimism in upward social comparison and self-esteem. Parents' social comparison questionnaire, upward social comparison questionnaire, self-esteem questionnaire and life orientation questionnaire were distributed through online questionnaires, and 576 valid questionnaires were received. The results of the study found that upward social comparison plays a partial mediating role in the negative impact of parents' social comparison on self-esteem, and optimism plays a moderating role in the impact of upward social comparison on self-esteem. This study illustrates the harmful effects of parents' social comparison on adolescent mental health, but this harm can be mitigated through the teaching of optimism. This study shows that parents' social comparison is not advisable, and attention should be paid to maintaining the optimistic attitude of teenagers to ensure their healthy growth.
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