Impacto de las Relaciones Madre-Hija en la Autoestima, la Inteligencia Social y la Satisfacción con la Vida

Introduction. The concept of parental bonding refers to the capacity of parents to adequately meet the diverse needs of their children. It has been argued that this bond influences the formation of the offspring´s personality. In the present research, the relationship between this bond, self-esteem, the level of social intelligence and satisfaction with life is examined, focusing specifically on the mother-daughter relationship, which presents distinctive and particular characteristics for various reasons. Method. The participants, selected by non-probability sampling, were 234 women between the ages of 18 and 65 years (X = 35.97 and SD = 14.45) who responded to the Spanish adaptation of the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI) created by Parker and collaborators (1979), the Brief Scale of Social Intelligence (IS-SDYW) and the Selfesteem Scale (RSE) by Rosenberg (1965). Results. It was found that women labeled with any of the three bonds categorized as negative had significantly lower scores in self-esteem, social intelligence and life satisfaction than women who maintained an optimal bond with their mother. On the other hand, no significant differences were found with respect to the negative relationships “Affectionate constraint” and “Neglectful, absent and weak parenting”. Discussion and conclusion. The relationship maintained with the mother is found to be one of the possible influential factors in the levels of self-esteem, social intelligence and satisfaction. Its potential utility in guiding family intervention programs and clinical strategies aimed at strengthening affective bonds and improving women’s psychological well-being.