Abstract
The role of family resilience in protecting family well-being has become increasingly important, particularly in relation to adolescents’ mental health. While previous studies on family resilience typically focus on families facing specific adversities, there remains a gap in research on the general population. This study examined family resilience among 1,331 adolescents in China and analyzed the relationship between family resilience and adolescents’ mental health. Moreover, the study investigated the mediating role of personal strengths in the relationship between family resilience and mental health outcomes. Latent profile analysis revealed four family resilience groups: highest, moderate high, moderate low, and lowest family resilience. Adolescents in the first two groups reported significantly lower levels of mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, and stress, compared to their peers. Structural equation modeling showed that personal strengths partially mediated the negative relationship between family resilience and adolescents’ mental health issues. This study suggests that family resilience has both direct protective effects on adolescents’ mental health and indirect effects through the cultivation of their personal strengths. The findings suggest a multi-dimensional approach that targets both family dynamics and personal strengths for future interventions.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Applied Research in Quality of Life |
| Early online date | 13 May 2025 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 13 May 2025 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© The Author(s) 2025.
Funding
Open access funding provided by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University This project and this paper are financially supported by the General Research Fund, Research Grants Council of Hong Kong. Project title: Family resilience of Hong Kong low-income families with adolescent children: The role of positive youth development attributes (PolyU 15611822) and the Departmental Research Fund, Department of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Project title: A longitudinal investigation of quality of life and resilience of rural-to-urban migrant children in the greater bay area cities in mainland China: A holistic positive youth developmental approach (P0041161).
Keywords
- Family resilience
- Personal strengths
- Mental health
- Adolescent
- China
