Investigation of the parent-child relationship as a moderator for resilience in American Indian children

Scope and Method of Study: This project investigated the parent-child relationship as a factor of resilience among American Indian (AI) children and their families. Resilience was examined by measuring functioning across children's developmental domains within the context of risk or adversity. Risk and/or adversity were defined as experiencing life stressors within the family and/or parent/caregiver pathology. Normative or successful functioning was determined from the report of minimal difficulties in the area of internalizing and externalizing symptoms. The quality of the parent-child relationship was investigated as moderator that facilitated positive adaptation.;Findings and Conclusions: This study had a significantly higher than average sample of parent/caregivers endorsing significant levels of depression and anxiety. This study also had a significantly higher than average sample of children with significant internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. A significant amount of variance in child internalizing and externalizing behaviors was accounted for by the parent-child relationship. In particular, the parent-child relationship was found to moderate the relationship between parental anxiety and child internalizing behaviors, evidencing a factor of resilience. Our findings indicate that there are amenable factors (parent-child relationship) which promote resilience within AI children. These findings are important and support a line of research that focuses on the strengths of AI communities. AI communities have demonstrated resounding resilience in light of significant adversity for hundreds of years. Identifying the factors that contributed to this resilience will empower evidence based prevention, intervention, and treatment programs within AI communities.