The Impact of Parenting Styles on Resilience in Young Adults

Many studies support the idea that the authoritative parenting style promotes the development of resilience in children and adolescents. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether authoritative parenting continues to promote the development of resilience in young adulthood. In addition, this study examines whether mothers vs. fathers have a differential impact on resilience, and whether direct instructions by parents can assist young adults in learning to cope with stressful situations. It was hypothesized that: 1) authoritative parenting would be positively related to resilience; 2) mothers would have a more significant impact on resilience than fathers; and 3) young adults’ resilience would be higher if they received parental direct instructions to help them manage stressful situations. Approximately, 150 volunteer participants will complete the Parental Authority Questionnaire (Buri, 1991), which assesses authoritativeness, authoritarianism, and permissiveness; Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (Connor & Davidson, 2003), which assesses resilience; and items created for use in the current study that assess parental direct instruction of coping strategies. Correlational analyses and ANOVA will be used to analyze the data. Findings from this study will provide empirical support on how authoritative parenting continues to influence young adults’ resilience, and how mothers vs. fathers may uniquely affect the development of resilience. Finally, this study will also provide insight into how often parents directly “teach” their children the ways to cope with difficult situations.