Development of an empathic, strong, resilient adolescent: the association of perceived care

Abstract

The ability to experience and understand another person’s feelings (empathy), to successfully adapt amidst stress (resilience), and to harness and utilize personal skills (psychological strengths) are dynamic qualities influenced by an individual’s perception of care from others (i.e., family, friends, teachers, and significant others). However, it is unclear whether different sources of care exert the same influence in the presentation of these qualities, as they are rarely assessed in the adolescent literature. High school students (N = 236) from a rural northern community completed a series of online questionnaires. All measures included were previously validated on adolescent samples and have demonstrated to be psychometrically strong. Results from hierarchical regressions showed each source of care accounted for unique variance in the presentation of resilience and strengths, with different figures playing a larger role for the different qualities (i.e., perceived care from friends accounted for the greatest variance in empathy scores, perceived care from teachers accounted for the greatest variance in resilience scores, and perceived care from the family and teachers accounted for the greatest variance in strength scores). The findings underline the importance of considering the broader social environment when promoting healthy development in adolescents and the need for continued research to further clarify the effect of social support on social development.