The Effect of Early Adolescents’ Perceived Positive Parenting Attitudes on Life Satisfaction: The Sequential Mediation Effect of Self-Esteem and Grit

Abstract

This study examines the structural mechanisms through which early adolescents’ perceived positive parenting attitudes influence their life satisfaction, focusing on the sequential mediating roles of self-esteem and grit. Grounded in Self-Determination Theory, self-esteem is conceptualized as an emotional-evaluative resource and grit as a behavioral-executive resource. Within this framework, positive parenting is positioned as an active protective factor supporting adolescents’ psychological growth. Data were drawn from the third wave of the Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey in 2018, and responses from 2,286 early adolescents were analyzed. Structural equation modeling was conducted using SPSS 28.0 and AMOS 26.0, and the significance of the indirect effects was tested with 5,000 bootstrap resamples and phantom variables. Notably, positive parenting attitudes did not directly predict life satisfaction; instead, their influence was carried through adolescents’ internal psychological resources. Positive parenting fostered self-esteem, which in turn strengthened grit; both resources ultimately enhanced life satisfaction, with the sequential pathway from self-esteem to grit also being significant. Thus, the link between positive parenting and life satisfaction was significantly explained through these indirect pathways instead of a direct effect. These findings suggest that positive parenting enhances early adolescents’ life satisfaction primarily by cultivating internal psychological resources, underscoring the need for integrated interventions that strengthen supportive parenting alongside adolescents’ self-esteem and grit.