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Introduction
The teenage years are a period of many changes that may pose a serious threat to adolescent adjustment. It is therefore important to understand which factors may impact young people's resilience. The aim of the present study is therefore to analyse the predictive capacity of parental affection-communication and criticism-rejection in relation to this variable.
Parents undoubtedly have a crucial influence on their offspring's development (Mendo-Lázaro, León-del-Barco et al., 2019), with the repercussions of their actions lasting well beyond childhood and into emerging adulthood (Ali et al., 2015; Khaleque et al., 2019; Yang et al., 2019).
The common means of conceptualising parent-child relations in order to study this impact on development is through parental socialisation styles (Fuentes et al., 2015; Parra Jiménez et al., 2019). These styles can be defined as the attitudes and practices displayed/engaged in by parents in order to achieve the goals and values they establish in relation to childrearing (Darling & Steinberg, 1993), and which leave an important mark on their children (Mendo-Lázaro, León-del-Barco et al., 2019).
Studies analysing parent-child interactions have generally adopted one of two perspectives: categorical (also known as typological) or dimensional (Pinquart, 2017a). One of the best-known pioneering typological approaches is that proposed by Baumrind (1966), who established three parenting styles: authoritative, authoritarian and permissive. This proposal was later developed further by Maccoby and Martin (1983), who added a fourth style, distinguishing between permissive and negligent. This four-style approach is based on the combination of two dimensions: affection-communication and control-discipline (Mendo-Lázaro et al., 2019a). Although the typological approach has given rise to a large volume of research, there is now growing interest in the dimensional approach (Gralewski & Jankowska, 2020), with some believing that it may offer a more comprehensive view of the situation, since it analyses a greater variety of parental behaviours and attitudes in relation to adolescent adjustment (Gómez-Ortiz et al., 2015). Although several different dimensional proposals have been suggested, the most widely-studied and commonly-used ones are affection-communication and control-discipline (Darling & Steinberg, 1993; Maccoby & Martin, 1983; Moreno-Ruiz et al., 2018).
In this sense, and in relation to the affection-communication dimension, many studies have focused on the strong impact of adolescents' perceptions of parental love and affection, or parental rejection (which can range from open criticism-rejection to indifference or negligence) on their development (Khaleque, 2013; Rohner, 2016). IPARTheory (e.g., Rohner & Khaleque, 2010; Rohner & Lansford, 2017) postulates that the parental acceptance or rejection felt by children predicts their future adjustment or maladjustment at both a psychosocial/emotional and behavioural level (Khaleque & Ali, 2017).
Perceiving parental affection and acceptance has indeed been associated with better self-esteem (Bastaits et al., 2012), fewer externalising problems (Oliva et al., 2009; Pinquart, 2017a) and better psychological adjustment among offspring during childhood and adolescence (Khaleque, 2013), as well as during late adolescence (McKinney et al., 2008) and adulthood (Khaleque & Ali, 2017).
Furthermore, perceptions of a lack of parental affection or parental rejection have been found to lead to the internalisation of negative emotions (Pinquart & Gerke, 2019), as well as the emergence of feelings of frustration, sadness, shame and pain, all of which pose a threat to self-esteem (Leary, 2015) and adolescent development. Indeed, perceived parental rejection or lack of affection has been linked to poorer psychological adjustment (Ali et al., 2018) and greater emotional instability (Mendo-Lázaro et al., 2019a), thereby covering a broad spectrum of internalising (Pinquart, 2017b), behavioural and externalising problems (Pinquart, 2017a).
Some meta-analytical and inter-cultural studies postulate that, in general, this association is independent of culture or ethnic origin, sex, social class or other environmental factors (Khaleque, 2013; Khaleque & Ali, 2017), suggesting that feeling accepted by parents is related to good psychological and behavioural adjustment, whereas perceptions of parental rejection may lead to maladjustment (Putnick et al., 2015). However, there is a certain degree of variability in the results reported to date. Indeed, although high perceived parental affection and supervision is considered the most positive combination in all cultures due to its association with positive adolescent development (Pinquart & Gerke, 2019; Pinquart & Kauser, 2018), a certain degree of variation has also been observed in accordance with social environment. In other words, the prevalence or normativity of certain practices in specific contexts may moderate their impact, depending on how consistent they are with cultural expectations (Mendo-Lázaro, Polo-del-Río et al., 2019; Parra Jiménez et al., 2019; Pinquart & Kauser, 2018). For example, in Latin cultures, which are characterised by higher levels of proximity and parental acceptance, greater importance is attached to affection-communication (Fuentes et al., 2015; García et al., 2018; García & Serra, 2019; Muñiz-Rivas et al., 2019; Riquelme et al., 2018; Suárez-Relinque et al., 2019). The reason for this is the value attached in that culture to greater equality and horizontality in family relations (García & Gracia, 2009; 2010; Martínez et al., 2020), and the cultural expectation of family connection and unity (García Mendoza et al., 2018).
In this sense, different perceptions of and expectations regarding the paternal figure are also relevant. Fathers are generally viewed as being stricter and less involved in childrearing, since they play the role of ‘provider' (McKinney & Renk 2008; Parra et al., 2014), whereas mothers are more involved in childrearing and spend more time caring for their children (Ali et al., 2018; Galaz et al., 2019; Varela et al., 2019; Yang et al., 2019). This expectation of greater maternal involvement may result in paternal dimensions being more salient and decisive in children's development, since fathers are not culturally expected to have the same level of dedication (Taylor et al., 2015). Indeed, it has been found that perceptions of paternal affection-communication may have a greater impact on children's social competence, whereas perceived supervision and control have a greater influence in relation to mothers (Taylor et al., 2015). Some studies carried out with both children and adults have found that perceived paternal affection has a greater impact on offspring adjustment (Khaleque & Ali, 2017), whereas perceived lack of affection is associated with poor psychological adjustment (Khaleque et al., 2019) and internalising and externalising problems (Fuentes-Balderrama et al., 2020).
The evidence, however, is far from conclusive, since other authors report results that suggest that maternal rejection has a greater impact on children's adjustment (Ali et al., 2018). In some cases, ‘cross' associations have even been observed. For example, perceived paternal acceptance during childhood seems to be more important for women's psychological adjustment, whereas maternal acceptance is more important for men (Ali et al., 2015; Khaleque & Ali, 2017). Similarly, perceived maternal rejection has been found to be strongly associated with sensitivity-reactivity among boys, although not among girls (Khaleque et al., 2019), as well as with behavioural maladjustment in both sexes, whereas perceived paternal rejection has a greater impact on girls (Yang et al., 2019).
To this diverse set of results, we must also add the developmental period of the offspring under study, which further complicates the associations observed. For example, greater emotional instability has been observed among early adolescent offspring who perceive criticism and rejection from their mother, although paternal rejection becomes more important during middle adolescence (Mendo-Lázaro, León-del-Barco et al., 2019), with mothers becoming more important once again during the later teenage years, when no association was found between psychological adjustment and perceptions linked to the father (McKinney et al., 2008).
It therefore seems that offspring's sex and age result in different experiences of parent-child relations (Yang et al., 2019). Indeed, it has been found that, in general, offspring of both sexes tend to perceive greater maternal than paternal rejection (Miranda et al., 2016) and boys perceive less paternal and maternal affection (Dwairy, 2010; Khaleque et al., 2019; Rodríguez et al., 2009). This finding has been reported by several studies that observed a greater perception of rejection by mothers and fathers among boys (Bersabé et al., 2001; Dwairy, 2010; Khaleque et al., 2019). Moreover, in general, it seems that younger offspring tend to perceive more affection from their parents, whereas during the teenage years, they perceive less affection-communication and more hostility (Rodríguez et al., 2009), which may be due to the fact that conflicts between parents and children tend to increase during middle adolescence (Iglesias, 2013).
As outlined above, perceived rejection or lack of acceptance and affection from parents seems to be linked to a whole series of negative consequences for offspring's personality, psychological well-being and behaviour (Khaleque, 2017), a circumstance which, in turn, may give rise to higher levels of anxiety and insecurity, as well as personality dispositions that do not foster adjustment, such as low self-esteem and a very negative view of the world (Ali et al., 2018). This does nothing to help individuals cope with the obstacles and adversity they may face in their everyday life. Indeed, adolescence is generally accepted to be a difficult period, in which young people are faced with numerous challenges, the possible negative effects of which may be mitigated by positive parenting practices such as affection-communication (Taylor et al., 2015). This prompts us to question the impact of parenting on offspring resilience.
Perceived parental affection/rejection and resilience
Although there are many different definitions of resilience, one of the most commonly-accepted ones describes it as the ability to adapt adequately to stress and adversity (Skala & Bruckner, 2014). Resilience is believed to develop through habitual adaptive processes, including cognitive development, behaviour regulation and interaction with caregivers (Masten, 2001). Affectionate parenting, in which parents display love and acceptance, thereby making offspring feel secure, may therefore be expected to contribute to the development of this capacity (Solórzano & Pacheco, 2011). Nevertheless, the relationship between resilience and parenting dimensions has received relatively little attention in the literature to date.
Resilient people are those who maintain a positive attitude to adversity and cope effectively with psychological stress, enabling them to adapt better to life (Yang et al., 2019). Resilient adolescents have greater adaptive abilities and characteristics (Wasonga et al., 2003), along with higher self-esteem and a realistic sense of personal control and hope (Brooks, 1994). In light of the above, as parental affection-communication and lack of rejection promote child's psychological adjustment, it would be reasonable to expect that they should also promote resilience. Indeed, some studies have observed lower levels of psychological maladjustment among adolescents who perceive a high level of affection from their parents, with this group scoring lower specifically in negative view of the world and emotional irresponsibility (García & Gracia, 2009; 2010). Similarly, perceived parental affection has been associated with better impulse management among offspring during adolescence, a variable that is considered to foster a more resilient personality (De Haan et al., 2013).
Perceived parental affection during childhood has also been found to predict more effective coping strategies during adulthood, linked to a greater sense of autonomy and competence that enables individuals to cope better with the challenges of their environment (Moran et al., 2018). Other studies have found poorer coping strategies among adolescents who perceive parental rejection (Meesters & Muris, 2004).
Similarly, a warm and positive relationship with one's mother during childhood is considered to have mitigating effects on environment risks, mediating between said risks and children's internalising and externalising problems and being associated with better adjustment and resilience (Flouri et al., 2015). A good parent-child relationship seems to protect offspring against depressive symptoms, as well as against the risk of victimisation, perhaps because it helps them develop better social skills (Healy & Sanders, 2018).
However, although all the evidence points to the possible contribution of perceived parental affection-communication and the absence of rejection to resilience, few studies have actually analysed this relationship. Among those that have, indeed, resilience has been found to be directly and positively associated with perceived parental affection (Lind et al., 2018). Other studies have observed that family relations characterised by affection and care predict adolescent resilience (understood as self-efficacy, problem solving, empathy, expectations and communication-cooperation.) among girls, although not among boys (Wasonga et al., 2003). High levels of perceived affection, communication, autonomy promotion and behavioural control from both parents have been associated with greater adolescent resilience, whereas lower levels of communication, particularly paternal communication, are linked to less resilience (Gómez-Ortiz et al., 2015).
Whereas these results seem to indicate the importance of affection-communication for promoting resilience, they do not reflect the possible impact of perceived parental rejection on this variable. It would also be interesting to take the sex of both parents and offspring into consideration when analysing the impact of parent-child relations on resilience (McKinney et al., 2008; Mendo-Lázaro et al., 2019a; Yaffe, 2018; Yang et al. 2019). In light of the above, the present study aims to analyse the explanatory capacity of the parental affection-communication and criticism-rejection dimensions on adolescent resilience.
Method
Design
The present study follows a non-experimental design with an associative strategy and aims to explore associations between variables in order to predict or explain behaviour. It can therefore be considered a cross-sectional, predictive study.
Participants
Participants were 899 adolescents (50.4% girls) aged between 12 and 19 years (M = 14.68; SD = 1.73, range: 11-19 years) from public, state-funded schools (604 students, 67.2%) and semi-private schools (i.e., private schools which receive some state funding) (295, 32.8%) in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country (Spain). In terms of education level, participants ranged from year 1 of compulsory secondary education to year 2 of the Spanish baccalaureate (equivalent to A levels in the UK); 18.5% in year 1, 20.7% in year 2, 20.2% in year 3 and 17.7% in year 4 of compulsory secondary education; and 11.7% from year 1 and 11.2% from year 2 of the Spanish baccalaureate.
Participants were divided into two age groups: early adolescence, 11-14 years (M = 13.47, SD = 0.90; 52.3% girls) and middle adolescence, 15-19 years (M = 16.44, SD = 0.96; 47.8% girls).
Instruments
Resilience was measured using the reduced Spanish version of the Resilience Scale RS-14 (Sánchez-Teruel & Robles-Bello, 2015), originally created by Wagnild and Young (1993). This reduced version comprises 14 items (e.g., ‘My life has meaning'; ‘When I'm in a difficult situation, I can usually find a way out of it') rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale (1 = totally false; 5 = almost always true), that together provide a global index of resilience. Reliability scores (Cronbach's alpha, McDonald's omega and composite reliability) were as follows: α = .82; ω = .81; CR =.82.
Parental affection-communication and criticism-rejection were assessed using the Affect Scale children's version (EA-H) by Bersabé et al. (2001). This instrument measures adolescents' perceptions of their parents' (mother and father) parenting behaviours through 20 items evenly distributed across two dimensions: affection-communication (e.g., ‘He/she accepts me as I am'), which measures offspring's perceptions of their parents' interest, affection and communication; and criticism-rejection (e.g., ‘I feel like I'm a nuisance for him/her'), which measures perceptions of rejection, criticism and lack of trust from parents. The reliability values (Cronbach's alpha; McDonald's omega and composite reliability) for this study were, for the affection-communication dimension, father and mother, respectively: α = .88 and α = .83; ω = .88, .88; CR = .89, .89; and for the criticism-rejection dimension, father and mother, respectively: α = .85 and α = .73; ω = .81, 75; CR = .82, .75. These indexes are similar to those obtained in other studies (Mendo-Lázaro et al., 2019a; Mendo-Lázaro, 2019b).
Procedure
The schools that participated in the study were selected at random from all the compulsory secondary education schools in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country. The management teams at the schools selected initially were sent a letter by email explaining the research project and informing them that we would later contact them by telephone in order to provide further details. Those schools that agreed to participate received copies of the informed consent document (approved by the ethics committee at the University of the Basque Country-UPV/EHU) by conventional post. These documents were then signed by the parents or legal guardians of the students who decided to participate in the study. The consent form reflected, among other questions, the voluntary nature of the participation, the confidential use of the data and participants' right to withdraw from the study at any point in the process. The questionnaires were administered in both ordinary classrooms (paper and pencil version) and in the IT room (digital version) only to those students who had signed and handed in their informed consent documents. Since the battery of instruments included other measures not used during this study, completing the questionnaires took between 30 and 50 minutes.
Data analysis
The data collected were processed using version 26 of the SPSS Statistics software program for Windows. Participants who failed to fully complete the questionnaires were eliminated from the analyses, with the final sample comprising 899 students. This method is deemed the most appropriate when the percentage of missing data is 10% or less (Marshall et al., 2010; Zhou et al., 2014). To analyse the internal consistency of the questionnaires, we used Cronbach's alpha, McDonald's omega and composite reliability (CR).
A univariate and multivariate analysis of normality was carried out, although normal values were not obtained in all cases. However, asymmetry and kurtosis were not too far removed from a normal distribution, which is why, given that the parametric tests had demonstrated sufficient robustness to the violation of the assumption of normality (Schmider et al., 2010), we decided to make use of them. The differences between participants' mean scores for perceived parental affection-communication and criticism-rejection were calculated in accordance with age (under 15 years and over 15 years). To determine the size of these differences, Cohen's d (1988) was calculated, and the following criteria followed: d = .2 small; d = .5 medium; d = .8 large.
The linear relationships between parental dimensions and resilience were measured by means of a Pearson's test of bivariate correlations (α = .05). Subsequently, linear regression analyses were carried out using the ‘enter' method (Moral-Peláez, 2016), taking as independent variables those which had been found to have a statistically significant association and a p value of < .20 in the correlations. This is a commonly-accepted criterion (Mirghafourvand et al., 2014).
The sample was divided in accordance with sex (boys and girls) and age (early adolescence and middle adolescence). The determination coefficient was used to calculate effect size, in accordance with the cut-off points suggested by Cohen (1988): R2 = .02 small; R2 = .13 medium; R2 = .26 large.
Results
Table 1 shows the bivariate correlations between the paternal and maternal affection-communication and criticism-rejection dimensions and the resilience of adolescents over and under the age of 15, considering boys and girls separately (see Tables 1 and 2).
The correlations observed were, in general, fairly weak. It is worth noting that resilience correlated significantly, albeit very weakly, with maternal affection-communication (with values under .20) in the case of both boys and girls, although no statistically significant association was observed between resilience and maternal criticism-rejection. We therefore decided not to include these dimensions in subsequent linear regressions.
In general terms, regardless of adolescents' sex or age, their perception of one parent's affection-communication and criticism-rejection correlated positively and significantly with their perception of the same dimension in relation to the other parent, and affection-communication correlated negatively with criticism-rejection.
When the means contrasts were carried out separately for boys and girls and for the two age groups (see Table 3), the results revealed that among those aged under 15 years, boys perceived more paternal criticism-rejection than girls (t492 = 3.58; p < .001), although while significant, this difference was fairly small (d = .31). Significant differences were found among older participants in relation to perceived paternal (t355 = 3.61; p = .028) and maternal criticism-rejection (t355 = 2.66; p = .035), with boys perceiving higher levels of rejection in both cases, although the differences were small (d = .23; d = .23).
Table 3. Means differences in perceptions of affection - rejection, by sex and age.
**p < .000;
*p < .05
Table 4 shows the results of the predictive capacity analysis for paternal affection-communication and criticism-rejection in relation to offspring resilience.
Table 4. Predictive capacity of paternal affection-communication and criticism-rejection on boys' resilience.
Regardless of age, among boys, the paternal dimension with the greatest explanatory power for resilience was perceived criticism-rejection. The explanatory power of this variable was slightly greater among boys in the older age group (middle adolescence) (β = -.299; p < .001 as opposed to β = -.244; p = .049), although it was moderate in both models (R2 = .117 and .169, respectively).
Among older girls (see Table 5), a pattern similar to that observed among boys was observed, with perceived paternal criticism-rejection being the only dimension that explained resilience, predicting lower scores in that variable (β = -.243; p = .009), with the model having moderate explanatory power (R2 = .126). Among younger girls, however, an inverse pattern was observed, with perceived paternal affection-communication (β = .323; p < .001) explaining higher resilience scores, although perceived paternal criticism-rejection continued (as in the previous cases) to influence offspring resilience (β = -.148; p = .030). Again, the prediction model was found to have moderate explanatory power (R2 = .177).
Discussion
The aim of this study was to analyse the predictive power of the parental affective-communication and criticism-rejection dimensions in relation to the resilience of adolescent offspring aged between 12 and 19 years. The results obtained suggest that, as observed also in other studies, parental behaviour continues to influence offspring during periods in which one may expect its effect to lessen, such as adolescence or even emerging adulthood (Ali et al., 2015; Khaleque et al., 2019; Yang et al. 2019).
It is worth noting that, in this study, the association between the maternal affection-communication and criticism-rejection dimensions and offspring resilience was either very weak (in the case of the first dimension) or not significant (in the case of the second). It is possible that this may be partly due to the greater salience of paternal behaviours (Taylor et al., 2015), since fathers are often expected to be less involved in childrearing (McKinney & Renk 2008), and less importance is attached to maternal behaviour since mothers are expected to be more engaged in their children's upbringing (Ali et al., 2018; Galaz et al., 2019; Varela et al., 2019; Yang et al., 2019) and their acceptance and dedication is taken for granted as a result of the stereotype of what it means to be a ‘good mother' (Feasey, 2013; Gorman & Fritzsche, 2002). Especially striking is the fact that, although maternal affection-communication had a weak yet significant association with offspring resilience, no statistically significant association was found between this latter variable and maternal criticism-rejection. This contrasts with the results of previous studies, in which perceived rejection by their mother was more closely related to children's maladjustment (Ali et al., 2018). No cross-associations were observed either (Ali et al., 2015; Khaleque & Ali, 2017; Khaleque et al., 2019), since paternal behaviour was found to have more weight than maternal behaviour, regardless of the sex of the offspring. These differences may be explained by the criterion variable used, since in this study, it was a positive adjustment variable (resilience), rather than an indicator of maladjustment or behaviour problems.
It is also possible that participants' age may have influenced the results obtained, since previous studies have found that paternal rejection has a greater impact during middle adolescence (Mendo-Lázaro et al., 2019a), whereas the mother figure is more important during late adolescence (McKinney et al., 2008).
Consistently with that reported by previous studies, these results reveal that paternal dimensions have greater predictive power than maternal ones for offspring's psychological adjustment (Fuentes-Balderrama et al., 2020; Khaleque & Ali, 2017; Khaleque et al., 2019).
The fact that it was the paternal criticism-rejection dimension rather than the paternal affection-communication dimension that, in most cases, was found to have the greatest predictive power for adolescent resilience is consistent with that reported by previous studies, which found, also among Spanish participants, that the affection-communication dimension was not linked to emotional stability among offspring (Mendo-Lázaro et al., 2019a), and observed a greater effect of paternal rejection (García-Linares et al., 2011; Yang et al., 2019). Paternal affection was, however, found to have a greater impact among younger female adolescents. This is consistent with previous studies that found a more positive effect of this dimension on the scores of younger teenage girls (Stright & Yeo, 2014). This may be due to girls' greater capacity to perceive differences between paternal and maternal behaviours (García-Linares, et al., 2011), which in turn may render paternal affection more salient among this group (Salgado et al., 2021), since it is not necessarily expected (Cano et al., 2019). The importance of paternal affection may drop later on due to greater distancing from the family and the search for affection and support from other sources, such as friends (Gaete, 2015), which may be perceived earlier among girls due to the fact that they tend to mature more quickly than boys (Hidalgo & Ceñal, 2014).
These results may partly be due to the greater weight of equality and proximity relations that characterize Latin cultures (García & Gracia, 2009; 2010; Martínez et al., 2020), in which both mothers and fathers are expected to be less rejecting (Dwairy, 2010). This cultural expectation may result in criticism and rejection being more harmful and having a greater influence on resilience. This is similar to that found in other studies, in which rejection was found to be more harmful for children's mental health (Dwairy, 2010), and imposition and strict behaviour were found to interfere with adolescent psychosocial adjustment (Martínez et al., 2020).
It may be that the cultural characteristics and norms in light of which parental behaviours are interpreted determine, to a certain extent, the impact of these practices on children (Mendo-Lázaro et al, 2019b; Parra Jiménez et al., 2019; Pinquart & Kauser, 2018). In other words, it may be that, alongside ingrained expectations of an affectionate mother, in Latin cultures at least, in which the prevalent idea is one of acceptance and affection between all members of the family (García & Gracia, 2009; 2010; Martínez et al., 2020), coupled with cultural expectations of family connection and unity (García Mendoza et al., 2018), the attitude of a critical, rejecting father may clash with cultural expectations and therefore undermine adolescence resilience to a much greater extent. Moreover, the greater presence and proximity of the mother figure in children's daily lives (Ali et al., 2018; Cano et al., 2019; Yang et al., 2019) may result in their criticism-rejection being perceived more as concern and engagement than as rejection. Indeed, most of the conflicts that occur between adolescents and their parents tend to be about everyday issues, and it is often the mother who is involved in these disputes, which adolescents do not usually perceive as being excessively intense (Parra & Oliva, 2002). This may also explain the fact that no statistically significant correlation was found between maternal criticism-rejection and adolescent resilience.
The small differences observed in terms of the greater impact of paternal dimensions on older boys and younger girls (among whom affection-communication had a greater effect than criticism-rejection) justify recommendations to analyse both parents and offspring in a sex-disaggregated manner (McKinney et al., 2008; Mendo-Lázaro et al., 2019a; Yaffe, 2018; Yang et al., 2018). Indeed, consistently with that reported by other studies, boys perceived higher levels of rejection from both parents than girls (Bersabé et al., 2001; Dwairy, 2010; Khaleque et al., 2019), and younger offspring perceived more affectionate from their parents than their older counterparts, who perceived less affection-communication and more hostility (Rodríguez et al., 2009). This may be due to the fact that conflicts between parents and children tend to increase during middle adolescence (Iglesias, 2013).
The results obtained also point to the need to continue exploring the complex associations observed between parental dimensions and children's adjustment, since the present study is not without its limitations. One such limitation is the moderate predictive power found, which may be due to not having taken into account possible mediating variables in the relationship between perceived parental dimensions and resilience, such as satisfaction of the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness, which have been found to be associated with resilience (Rezazadeh et al., 2020). Also, no information was gathered about the cultural origin of participating adolescents, a factor which may impact their perceptions of their parents' socialisation. Moreover, the cross-sectional nature of the study means that it is correlational, thereby preventing the establishment of causal relations. Longitudinal studies would enable researchers to confirm whether or not the differences observed in perceptions of parental behaviours and resilience are due to developmental changes linked to the complexities of the adolescent period. Similarly, the use of structural equation models would enable a deeper exploration of the complexities of these associations, taking other possible mediating variables into consideration also.
Another limitation is linked to the measurement instruments used. All were self-report measures that reflect only subjective adolescent perceptions, which were not compared with other perceptions gleaned from other types of measures or external informants. Nevertheless, previous studies have argued that it is better to trust in children's perceptions, as they are not so influenced by social desirability bias as parents' ones (Mendo-Lázaro et al., 2019a). Also, more than reality itself, what really impacts adolescents is their perception and experience of their family interactions (McKinney et al., 2008).
Despite these limitations, the present study highlights the need to analyse maternal and paternal practices separately, and to explore the results in accordance with children's sex and age, since the explanatory power of paternal and maternal dimensions has been found to differ in relation to the resilience of male and female offspring. Moreover, the greater weight of paternal dimensions for predicting scores in resilience, a key competence in adolescent adjustment and well-being, speaks to fathers' responsibility in childrearing, and highlights the need for both men and women to become aware (and act accordingly) of the important role played by the father figure in their offspring's present and future well-being.
Conclusions
The results obtained in this study indicate that, even during adolescence, parent-child relations can predict (moderately at least) resilience among offspring, particularly in the case of younger daughters and middle adolescent sons. Of particular interest is the fact that it was the paternal dimensions, particularly criticism-rejection, that were found to predict adolescent resilience. Although it would be interesting to understand the reasons why paternal parenting practices have a greater impact than maternal ones during adolescence, these results nevertheless highlight the need for both parent figures to be involved in childrearing, and underscore the importance of both parents having enough information, strategies and support to enable them to exercise their parenting role to the best of their ability.
