Mother-daughter relationship and daughter’s self-esteem in female college students

Introduction: Mothers play an important role in the development of their daughter’s self-esteem. This study aimed to examine the correlation between mother-daughter relationship and daughter self-esteem in female college student at Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya. Methods: This was an analytic cross-sectional study. Mother-daughter relationship was measured by mother-adult daughter questionnaire (MADQ). The self-esteem was measured by Rosenberg self-esteem scale (RSES). Results: Connectedness and interdependency subscale in the mother-daughter relationship had significant correlation to daughter’s self-esteem (p = 0.000, r = 0.333; p = 0.016, r 0.025; repspectively). This showed that the higher connectedness and interdependency between mother and daughter, the higher level of self-esteem in daughters. However, the trust in hierarchy subscale did not correlate to daughter’s self-esteem (p = 0.515). Conclusion: Connectedness and interdependency in mother-daughter relationship were important to daughter’s self-esteem.