Graduation Term

2024

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Department of Psychology

Committee Chair

Alyicia M. Hund

Abstract

Early childhood is an especially important period to develop resilience due to social, academic, and emotional benefits for later development. Previous studies pointed out the importance of parent-child interactions, by showing that parental warmth and support can enhance resilience in children by increasing children’s self-esteem and self-regulation. In contrast, hostile parent-child interactions were revealed as risk factors to hinder developing resilience by increasing children’s internalizing symptoms and behavioral difficulties. This study included 85 young children aged 4 to 5 years and 85 parents recruited from the community. Parents completed the Parent Behavior Inventory (PBI) to provide details about two parent-child interactional styles (supportive parent-child interaction and hostile parent-child interaction). Parents also completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), which was reversed to yield a total resilience score. Children completed a challenging puzzle task and answered questions about their performance to measure positive self-evaluation, hopefulness, and motivation. The challenging puzzle task consists of five puzzle sets (possible, impossible, impossible, impossible, and a possible puzzle), which were adapted from two previous studies (Cole et al., 2007; King et al., 2021). Impossible puzzles were not possible to complete because researchers replaced a required puzzle piece with a non-required one. Children rated their resilience by answering three questions (positive self-evaluation, hopefulness, and motivation) using a 5-point Likert scale with stars or faces (Cole et al., 2007; King et al., 2021). Basic demographic information was obtained to describe the sample. This study aimed to answer four research questions. First, this study examined whether there was a correlation between supportive parent-child interactions and children’s resilience during a challenging task (positive self-evaluation, hopefulness, and motivation). I expected supportive parent-child interactions would be positively correlated to all three measures of children’s resilience (positive self-evaluation, hopefulness, and motivation) during the puzzle task. This hypothesis was not supported. Second, this study aimed to investigate whether there was a correlation between hostile parent-child interactions and children’s resilience during a challenging task. I predicted that hostile parent-child interaction would negatively correlate to all three measures of children’s resilience (positive self-evaluation, hopefulness, and motivation). This hypothesis was not supported. Third, this study examined whether there was a correlation between parent-child interaction and parent-rated resilience. I predicted that supportive parent-child interaction would positively correlate to parent-rated resilience about their children. In contrast, I hypothesized that hostile parent-child interactions would negatively correlate with parent-rated resilience about their children. These hypotheses were partially supported, as supportive parent-child interaction showed a significantly positive correlation to parent-reported resilience, while hostile parent-child interaction showed a significantly negative correlation to parents-reported resilience after controlling children’s age in months. Last, this study applied a repeated general linear model to examine whether supportive parent-child interaction, hostile parent-child interaction, and parent-rated resilience affect children’s resilience during the challenging puzzle task, focusing on changes in positive self-evaluation, hopefulness, and motivation across the five puzzle trials. I expected that higher scores in supportive parent-child interaction, lower scores in hostile parent-child interaction, and higher parent-rated resilience would predict only small decrements in children’s self-evaluation, hopefulness, and motivation scores across the five puzzle trials. In contrast, lower scores in supportive parent-child interaction, higher scores in hostile parent-child interaction, and lower parent-rated resilience would predict larger decrements in children’s self-evaluation, hopefulness, and motivation scores across trials. Results showed parent-reported resilience significantly affected children’s motivation during the challenging task. However, supportive parent-child interaction and hostile parent-child interaction did not affect children's positive self-evaluation, motivation, and hopefulness. In addition, children’s age in months showed a significant effect on positive self-evaluation, hopefulness, and motivation. There was a significant change in positive self-evaluation between 3rd and 4th puzzle trials based on the interaction effect of time and age in months. Therefore, the last hypothesis was not supported. The results of this study add to the literature by expanding measurement of resilience and related variables in early childhood.

Access Type

Thesis-Open Access

DOI

https://doi.org/10.30707/ETD2024.20240827063558288187.999960

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