Resilience as mediator in the relationship between child maltreatment and prosocial behaviors among children from single-parent families in China

Abstract

ObjectiveThe increasing divorce rate in Mainland China resulted in more children experiencing in the developmental challenges of growing up in single-parent families. The current study aimed to understand the association between prosocial behaviors and child maltreatment of children from single-parent families and to investigate the possible mediation effect of resilience. MethodThis study analyzed 431 school-aged children from single-parent families in Tianjin, China (49.7% males, Mage = 13.10). We ran group comparisons to determine the group differences in prosocial behaviors between children with and without child maltreatment experience and also tested the mediation effect of resilience. ResultsThis study found that single-parent children who experienced physical abuse and emotional abuse tended to show less prosocial behaviors than their peers. Resilience partially mediated the effect of physical abuse and fully mediated the impact of emotional neglect on children’s prosocial behaviors but did not buffer the impact of emotional abuse. ConclusionThis study filled in some knowledge gaps by examining the mechanisms between child maltreatment, resilience, and prosocial behaviors of children from single-parent families in Mainland China. The findings contribute to future social work practice to enhance single-parent children’s prosocial behaviors.