Relationships Between Resiliency, Parenting Styles, and Child Behavior Problems

Objective: Resiliency has most commonly been researched in conjunction with trauma and trauma survivors. However, in recent years resiliency research has expanded to examining relationships to other constructs. To date little research exists on the way resilience impacts daily decisions, such as parenting, or family systems variables, such as children’s behavior. The current study seeks to assess the relationship between parental levels of resiliency, parenting styles, and child behavior problems. The hypotheses anticipate: 1) Resiliency will be negatively correlated with child behavior problems; and 2) Resiliency will be positively correlated with positive parenting style, and negatively correlated with negative parenting style. Method: Participants included 252 parents (69.32% mothers, M age= 36 years) from a community sample. Parents had children (51% female) between the ages of four and ten. Participants completed a demographics form and self-reported on resiliency (Brief Resiliency Scale), parenting styles (Parenting as Social Context Questionnaire, and child behavior (Pediatric Symptom Checklist-17) via an online survey. Results: The results indicate that resiliency was negatively and significantly correlated to child behavior problems (r=-.133, p\u3c.05). Resiliency was also positively and significantly correlated with positive parenting traits (r=1.61, p \u3c .01) and negatively and significantly related to negative parenting traits (r=-.306, p \u3c .001). Conclusion: Findings suggest that parents who report higher levels of resilience tend to endorse more positive parenting behaviors (e.g., expressions of warmth, expectations of structure), fewer negative parenting behaviors (e.g., rejection, coercion), and fewer child behavior problems in their school-aged children. It is important to remember that these analyses are cross-sectional, so we cannot determine directionality (e.g., having a child with more behavior problems may reduce your reported level of resilience). Findings reinforce the relevance of parental resilience as a construct in understanding families as complex systems