Single-parent Adolescents’ Resilience and Psychological Well-being: The Role of Social Competence and Emotion Regulation

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that children and adolescents living with single parents are prone to behavioral and psychological difficulties and experience a poor sense of well-being. Also, the period of adolescence is critical for the development of an individual in multiple aspects; it is important to focus on their well-being and associated factors for a better transition into adulthood. This study aims to find the mediating role of social competence and emotion regulation on the relationship between resilience and psychological well-being among single-parent adolescents. This was a cross-sectional study. The study sample was 385 adolescents residing in Kerala (179 boys and 206 girls, mean age = 15.03, SD = 1.45). A total of 185 participants (48.1%) were from families that lost either of their parents to death, and the other 200 participants (51.9%) were from divorced or separated families. Self-reported measures for resilience, social competence, emotion regulation, and psychological well-being were used for data collection. Data were analysed using IBM SPSS and AMOS version 24. The results showed that resilience, the prosocial behavior dimension of social competence, and the cognitive reappraisal dimension of emotion regulation indicate significant positive associations with the psychological well-being of adolescents living in single-parent families. The expressive suppression dimension of emotion regulation and the antisocial behavior dimension of social competence have a substantial negative connection with the psychological well-being of adolescents raised by single parents. The findings suggest that resilience directly predicts psychological well-being; prosocial behavior and cognitive reappraisal partially mediate the association of resilience and psychological well-being. According to our findings in this study, developing social competence skills and adaptive emotion regulation strategies can improve the psychological well-being of adolescents living with single parents. The results have multiple clinical, educational, and community implications.