This research applied dyadic data analysis o analyze actor and partner effects on how parents’
self-esteem affects their parenting attitudes and to observe how this, in turn, influences the child’s social
competence. The subjects of this study were 1,475 pairs of parents and their children who participated in
the 7th Panel Study on Korean Children and they are analyzed based on the Actor-Partner Interdependence
Model. Results revealed that parents’ self-esteem has an actor effect on warmth and control in their
parenting attitudes, while the mother’s self-esteem has a significant partner effect on the father’s warmth in
his parenting attitude. Furthermore, the father’s warmth in his parenting attitude was observed to have a
significant influence on the child’s social competence. This research is noteworthy since it provides valuable preliminary data that could assist in the development of educational materials for parents, in addition to
highlighting the effects of their self-esteem and parenting attitudes on a child’s social competence.