The role of mothering in fostering resilience and competence in South African black children

[摘要] The idea of psycho-immunity stands as a relatively new field of inquiry focusingon resilience and coping instead of breakdown and pathology. In line with thisshift in the literature, the present research has attempted to explore therelationship between the quality of mothering experienced by the child andsubsequent patterns of perceived competence revealed by that same child. Blacktownship children were selected as subjects as they are deemed to be a populationat risk due to the cumulative political and socio-economic exigencies that haveaffected this community for many years.A total of 72 township children between the ages of 12 -17 were assessed. Bothstructured and supplementary unstructured instruments were employed in orderto measure the quality of the maternal relationship on the one hand, and thechild's perception of his/her own competence (or resilience) on the other.Results converged to indicate that for the sample investigated, it was the specificholding capacity, availability and involvement of the affectively engaged mother-figurethat was most highly correlated with competence of a scholastic nature inearly adolescence. Conversely, the intrusive mother who wields power as aparenting style was shown to be more likely to raise a child with a poor sense ofsocial acceptance and competence.These findings provide penetrating insights regarding the potency of the maternal dyadin fostering resilience and competence in off-spring. They offer furtherunderstanding of the role of black parenting styles in either promoting ordemoting the development of psychologically healthy youths who have thepotential to become active participants in a new and more just South Africa.

[发布机构] University of the Witwatersrand