Abstract
Symbolic interactionists have proposed that one's self-concept is primarily affected by interactions with others to the extent and in the way one perceives those interactions. According to this perspective, an individual's global self-esteem is largely the result of subjective "reflected appraisals" of others' evaluations of him rather than their actual evaluations of him. This study hypothesizes that if the symbolic interactionist position is veridical, then high self-monitoring participants would be more attuned to the behavioral and emotional manifestations of parental discipline than are individuals low in self-monitoring. Participants (N=222) were college students who were asked to appraise their own self-esteem and their parents' disciplinary style as well as to complete Synder's Self-Monitoring scale. Results showed the self-esteem of college students to be inversely related to parental authoritarianism and directly related to parental authoritativeness. The strength of these relationships was much greater for high self-monitors than for low self-monitors. The results suggest that "looking glass" explanations for self-esteem may not have universal cogency, but may be far more germane to high self-monitors' self-esteem development than to that of low self-monitors. (ABL)