Parental goal promotion and college students’ self-esteem level and contingency: The mediating role of need satisfaction

•We aimed to predict college students’ self-esteem level and contingency.•We focused on two antecedents: intrinsic and extrinsic parental goal promotion.•Intrinsic goal promotion had a direct effect on self-esteem level intercept.•Extrinsic goal promotion had a direct effect on self-esteem contingency intercept.•Indirect intrinsic goal effects on self-esteem intercepts ran via need satisfaction.

The current study investigated the antecedent role of perceived parental goal promotion for students’ self-esteem level and contingency. Additionally, we examined the mediating role of experienced need satisfaction. Using three-wave longitudinal data in a sample of 494 college students (mean age at Time 1 = 18.41 years, 84% female), we found that intrinsic parental goal promotion at baseline directly and positively predicted students’ initial self-esteem level. Further, intrinsic parental goal promotion indirectly predicted both students’ initial self-esteem level (positive effect) and initial self-esteem contingency (negative effect) via need satisfaction. Extrinsic goal promotion only directly and positively predicted students’ initial self-esteem contingency. Limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed.