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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Personality and Social Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1473318

Parents' Social Comparisons and Adolescent Self-Esteem: The Mediating Effect of Upward Social Comparison and the Moderating Influence of Optimism

Provisionally accepted
Hongyang Liu Hongyang Liu *Jana Kvintova Jana Kvintova Lucie Váchová Lucie Váchová
  • Faculty of Education, Palacký University, Olomouc, Olomouc, Czechia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    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.

    Keywords: parents' social comparison, upward social comparison, self-esteem, optimism, Adolescent

    Received: 02 Aug 2024; Accepted: 07 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Liu, Kvintova and Váchová. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Hongyang Liu, Faculty of Education, Palacký University, Olomouc, Olomouc, Czechia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.