The association between perceived care from family, school staff, and other social agents and an adolescent's presentation of empathy, trait resilience, and psychological strengths

Abstract

The abilities to experience and understand another person's feelings (empathy), to successfully cope with stress (resilience), and to harness personal skills (psychological strengths) are dynamic qualities that may be associated to an adolescent's perception of care from others (i.e., family, friends, school staff, and significant others). Although the association of these different social sources have been studied independently, it has yet to be elucidated which of these sources is most highly associated to the presentation of these three qualities. For this study, high school students from a northern community completed a series of online questionnaires. A series of hierarchical regressions showed each source of care accounted for unique variance in the presentation of resilience and strengths, with perceived care from school staff and family accounting for the greatest variance, emphasizing the equal importance of examining the school and home environment. Further research is needed to understand how teachers and the school culture are associated with personal growth.