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Mother’s Parental Psychological Flexibility and Children’s Self-reliance Behaviors in Chinese Primary School: The Mediating Role of Resilience

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Abstract

The present study explored a model of the interplay between mother’s parental psychological flexibility of Chinese primary school students (grade 3–6) and self-reliance behaviors, as well as whether resilience mediates this association. Participants were N = 497 children attending three primary schools in Jiangsu Province (N = 240, Mage = 10.51 years, SD = 3.60; 47.6% boys) and two primary schools in Fujian Province (N = 257, Mage = 10.92 years, SD = 3.31; 45.3% boys), People’s Republic of China. Assessments were employed, with children rating their mother’s parental psychological flexibility, as well as their own resilience and self-reliance behaviors. Results indicated that there was a significant positive correlation between mother’s parental psychological flexibility of Chinese primary school students (grades 3–6), resilience, and self-reliance behaviors. Moreover, resilience played a complete mediating role between mother’s parental psychological flexibility and self-reliance behaviors; the mediating effect of goal focus and emotional control (two subfactors of resilience) between mother’s parental psychological flexibility and self-reliance behaviors was significant, while the mediating effect of positive thinking, family support, and interpersonal assistance (the other three subfactors of resilience) was insignificant. The findings understress the importance of considering the meaning and implication of mother’s parental psychological flexibility and resilience in Chinese culture.

Highlights

  • Mother’s parental psychological flexibility was associated with self-reliance behaviors among Chinese children.

  • Mother’s parental psychological flexibility was indirectly associated with self-reliance behaviors via a mediated pathway through resilience.

  • Mother’s parental psychological flexibility was indirectly associated with self-reliance behaviors via a mediated pathway through goal focus and emotional control (two subfactors of resilience).

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.

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Funding

The author(s) disclosed the receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was supported by Fundation of Ministry of Education of China (22YJAZH109) and funded by the Jiangsu Social Science Fund in 2022 (22SHA004).

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  1. College of Tianjiabing Education, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, People’s Republic of China

    Miao Zhuang, Xueyan Wei & Xinyi Jin

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  1. Miao Zhuang
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Correspondence to Xueyan Wei.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the School of Humanities of Jiangnan University and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Zhuang, M., Wei, X. & Jin, X. Mother’s Parental Psychological Flexibility and Children’s Self-reliance Behaviors in Chinese Primary School: The Mediating Role of Resilience. J Child Fam Stud 32, 1360–1370 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-023-02575-3

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