Self-esteem is an attitude about the self that predicts psychopathology and general well-being. Parenting practices have been shown to be related to self-esteem, but these estimates are confounded because parents and children share genes. The aim of the present study was to use the monozygotic (MZ) twin difference design to isolate the non-shared environmental impact of remembered parenting on self-esteem. In a sample of 1328 adults (345 MZ twin pairs, 319 DZ twin pairs), retrospective reports of maternal and paternal affection were related to self-esteem, all of which were significantly heritable. Using MZ difference scores, paternal affection differences, but not maternal affection differences, were significantly related to self-esteem differences. These results suggest that parenting provided by the father directly impacts self-esteem through non-shared environmental mechanisms. Maternal affection, on the other hand, impacts self-esteem through shared genes (not shared environment, as shared environment was not a significant aspect of self-esteem). This has implications for parenting intervention programs.

自尊是一种关于自我的态度，可以预测精神病理学和总体幸福感。育儿实践已被证明与自尊有关，但这些估计是混淆的，因为父母和孩子有共同的基因。本研究的目的是使用单卵 (MZ) 双胞胎差异设计来隔离记忆养育对自尊的非共享环境影响。在 1328 名成年人（345 对 MZ 双胞胎，319 对 DZ 双胞胎）的样本中，母爱和父爱的回顾性报告与自尊有关，所有这些都具有显着的遗传性。使用 MZ 差异得分，父爱差异与自尊差异显着相关，但与母爱差异无关。这些结果表明，父亲提供的养育方式通过非共享的环境机制直接影响自尊。另一方面，母爱通过共享基因影响自尊（不是共享环境，因为共享环境不是自尊的重要方面）。这对育儿干预计划有影响。