Predicting Role of Parental Relationship on the Self-Concept and Body Image of Daughters

The study was aimed to find out impact of parental relationship on daughter’s self-concept and body-image. The hypotheses formed were that there would be a significant impact of parental relationship on self-concept and body image of daughters. Through convenient sampling the data was collected from 150 unmarried females aged between 18 to 20 years. The data was collected by utilizing Inventory of Parents and Peer Attachment-Revised (Armsden & Greenberg, 1987) measuring parental relationship (incorporating only the parent inventory), Robson Self-Concept Questionnaire (Robson, 1989) and Multidimensional Body Self Relations Questionnaire-Appearance Scale (Cash, 2000). In conclusion, parental relationship was found to have a significant impact on self-concept of daughters; however, no such effect was noted on body image of daughters. Additionally, a noteworthy impact of maternal relationship was identified on self-concept and body image along with significance on the subscales of competence, overweight preoccupation, and self-classified weight. Although nonsignificant impact was found of father’s relationship with daughter’s self-concept and body image. However, the results verified impact on all sub-scales of self-concept and three subscales (body areas satisfaction, overweight preoccupation and self-classified weight) of body image. Lastly, inclusion of a more diverse population with wide age range was recommended for further studies.