TITLE:
The Relationship between Strength-Based Parenting with Children’s Stress Levels and Strength-Based Coping Approaches
AUTHORS:
Lea Waters
KEYWORDS:
Parenting, Positive Psychology, Strengths, Coping, Stress
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.6 No.6,
May
6,
2015
ABSTRACT: The current study adopted a positive
psychology approach to examine the role of a positively oriented style of parenting—strength-based
parenting (SBP)—on levels of stress in primary school aged children.
Specifically, the study tested the degree to which SBP was directly and
indirectly related to stress levels in children, partly through its influence
on children’ coping responses. A community sample of Australian upper-primary
school aged children (N= 103; Mage = 11.30; SD = 1.10; 57% female, 43% male)
participated in a cross-sectional, mixed methods field study using self-report
surveys and behavioral vignette. A series of multiple regression analyses found
that SBP was significantly negatively related to stress levels and
significantly positively related to strength-based coping in children. In
addition, strength-based coping partially mediated the rela-tionship between
SBP and stress levels in children, suggesting that one reason why SBP reduced
stress in children was that it encouraged children to take strength-based
coping approaches when faced with adversity. SBP thus increases the endogenous
resources (i.e., personal strengths) that children can draw upon to address
resources with demands that leads to stress. The discussion provides practical
implications for SBP and suggestions for future research in this area.