The BBC reports on an interesting study, showing that a mother's pride and expectations in her daughters is positively correlated with their future self-confidence:
A study of more than 3,000 children born in 1970 found girls whose mothers had high hopes for their future felt more in control of their lives at 30.Sadly, pride on its own isn't enough - it doesn't affect earnings. But feeling in control of your life is important for mental health, so its a positive outcome. Meanwhile, I can't help but wonder what the outcome of a similar study started in 1940, when society (and mothers) had far lower expectations for girls' education, would have been. Did women born in 1940 gain self-confidence from their mother's pride in something else, or did the low educational expectations of the era produce a generation who were less happy than their children?Girls whose mothers predicted at age 10 that they would go on to further education had greater self-esteem as adults - there was no link for boys.
