Exploring upbringing styles of highly resilient students in South Africa: A mixed methods study

Abstract

Parents play a critical role in supporting the development of resilience in childhood and early adolescence. Most South Africans lack basic resources, so research into and commitment to resilience is of great importance. This study investigated the styles of parenting experienced by highly resilient South African students. Participants were 136 South African university students aged 18 to 23 (female = 44.9%, black = 66.9%). They completed the Child and Youth Resilience Measure. Further, six of the highest scoring students participated in in-depth semi-structured interviews on their retrospective parenting experiences. Quantitative analysis showed females had a higher mean resilience score than males. Qualitatively, thematic analysis identified the following parenting styles: loving caregiving, and behavioural control. Loving caregiving was expressed through accounts of encouragement, acceptance, and attentive regard. Behavioural control was demonstrated by verbal interactions of discipline, corporal punishment, and curfews. This implies a connection between specific parenting practices and high resilience in students, providing valuable insights for developing programs to boost children's resilience.

Keywords:

• behaviour management
• Child and Youth Resilience Measure
• family
• parenting
• positive adaptation
• youth

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the participants who volunteered to be part of this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability and sharing statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, FM, upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

The financial assistance of the South African National Research Foundation (NRF) towards this research is hereby acknowledged. Opinions expressed and conclusions arrived at, are those of the authors and are not necessarily to be attributed to the NRF.