Children’s Mental Resilience – What Do Parents and Teachers Know About It?

Keywords: mental resilience, childhood, knowledge about development

Abstract

Children’s development and achievements are of great interest to their adult significant others, notably parents and teachers. The aim of the presented research was to investigate what parents and teachers of preschool children know (and fail to know) about the children’s psychological resiliency – defined via the protective factors of initiative, self-control and attachment, as well as risk factors in the form of behavioral concerns. The research was conducted among the parents and teachers of 335 preschool children aged 2-6 years. The study used the observational Devereux Early Assessment Scale, suitable for children aged 2 years 0 months – 5 years 11 months. The scale consists of 37 items and is filled in by the children’s parents and preschool teachers. Significant differences were obtained in how parents and teachers assess children’s protective factors and behavioral concerns. Mothers provided the highest scores of children’s initiative, as compared to fathers and teachers. Fathers had higher expectations of a child’s self-control than mothers and teachers. Attachment was scored higher by parents than teachers, who, on the other hand, reported more behavioral concerns in children than their parents. Moreover, teachers had a tendency to stereotypically perceive boys as demonstrating more behavioral concerns than girls – which was not observed in parents. The results indicate that the knowledge and perception of children’s resiliency demonstrated by their teachers, mothers and fathers significantly varies, suggesting that these observers apply different judgment standards, and/or that children demonstrate different levels of protective factors and behavioral concerns at home vs. at preschool, due to the social-psychological factors.

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Published
2019-11-14
How to Cite
Sikorska, I., Adamczyk-Banach, M., & Polak, M. (2019). Children’s Mental Resilience – What Do Parents and Teachers Know About It?. Elementary Education in Theory and Practice, 14(2(52), 23-39. https://doi.org/10.35765/eetp.2019.1452.02