PARENT AND CHILD VIEWS OF PARENT-CHILD RELATIONSHIP QUALITIES AND RESILIENT OUTCOMES AMONG URBAN CHILDREN

Separate in-depth interviews were conducted with two groups of highly stressed 4th-6th grade urban children classified as stress-affected (S A) and stress-resilient (SR), and their parents. Judges identified int erview items reflecting three components of a good parent-child relati onship, i.e. positive parental attitudes, involvement and guidance. SR parents and children scored higher than their SA counterparts on all three relational dimensions. Additionally, SR parent-child dyads had m ore congruent views of their relationship than SA dyads. These finding s suggest that positive parent-child relationship qualities play an im portant protective role that favors resilient outcomes, at ages 10-12, among children who have experienced major life stress.