Can self esteem affect your chldren?

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I want some opnions on how important a role does self esteem play in our childrens lives. I want to know if a poor self esteem is responsible for the mistakes and bad choices our children make. I grew up in a small town where teenage drinking was the normal thing to do on the weekends. You could always find someone of age to buy you beer. There were parties everywhere and usually the parents were there drinking too. My parents had rules against drinking. Not very strict rules, but rules none the less. My parents allowed us to drink, but we had a curfew and if we had too much to drink, we were to call them. If any of our friends drank at our house, they were to either call thier parents for rides or spend the night. So, I wouldn't exactly say that I was a teenage alcoholic, but I could defintely hold my own in a drinking game. I am now a mother of 2 young girls, who are growing up in the same small town atmoshpere I did. I am not going to allow my girls to drink underage. I believe that it is definetly not ok for a minor to have any type of alcohol. It poses way too many risks. My sister thinks that I am living in a dream world because I think it is possible to prohibit alcohol from my daughters young lives. I believe that it all has to do with self esteem. I believe that if I raise my daughters to be strong, independant young women, then they will know what is right and make better decisions. I am not so oblivious that I think they won't try it or that they won't make some mistakes. I just think that if I do my job as a mother, then the wrong choices they do make will be completely THIER idea and not an idea influenced by peers or society, so therefore they will learn from them. What do you think? Do you think that self esteem plays that big a part in the mistakes of our children?