Relationship between temperament, parenting style and resilience of children aged 3-5 years

Abstract

To investigate the developmental characteristics of resilience in children aged 3-5, and to explore the relationship between temperament, parenting style and resilience. A total of 570 preschoolers aged 3-5 years in Hangzhou participated in this study. The children's teachers completed the assessment of the resilience scale of DECA-P2 (Devereux Early Childhood Assessment for Preschoolers Second Edition); the children's parents completed assessment of temperament questionnaire CBQ (Children's Behavior Questionnaire) and parenting style questionnaire PSDQ (Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire). Totally 432 valid questionnaires were retrieved with a recovery rate of 75.79%. The levels of initiative and self-regulation of 5-y children were higher than those of children aged 3 or 4 (all P<0.01); the level of attachment/relationship of 5-y children was higher than that of children aged 4 (P<0.01); the levels of initiative and self-regulation of girls were higher than those of boys (P<0.05 or P<0.01). The negative affect dimension of temperament was negatively correlated with resilience (all P<0.05), while the effortful control and authoritative parenting styles were positively correlated with resilience (all P<0.05). The negative affect and effortful control were able to partially predict resilience of children through authoritative parenting style (mediating effect were-0.0143 and 0.0363). Preschoolers aged 3-5 years with different age and gender show differences in resilience, and parenting styles may play a mediating effect between temperament and resilience.