~ 222 ~ ISSN Print: 2394-7500 ISSN Online: 2394-5869 Impact Factor: 8.4 IJAR 2021; 7(4): 222-226 www.allresearchjournal.com Received: 07-02-2021 Accepted: 09-03-2021 Selene Khosla PhD Research Scholar, IGNOU, Delhi, India Irene Khosla PhD Research Scholar, IGNOU, Delhi, India Dr. Meetu Khosla Associate Professor, Daulat Ram College, Delhi University, Delhi, India Corresponding Author: Selene Khosla PhD Research Scholar, IGNOU, Delhi, India Exploring the relationship between resilience and perceived parental authority among adolescents Selene Khosla, Irene Khosla and Dr. Meetu Khosla Abstract The present study aimed to explore the association between resilience and perceived parental authority. Resilience is the ability to overcome or bounce back from a situation that causes significant distress to the individual. Parental authority on the other hand, is the pattern of interaction between a parent and child, which influences the relationship between them. A quantitative study was conducted on a sample of 120 adolescents. The parental authority questionnaire (Buri, 1991) and Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (Conner and Davidson, 2003) was used to collect data. Analysis of data revealed that there was a significant correlation between resilience and authoritative parenting style. Keywords: resilience, parenting style, authoritative parenting Introduction Parent-child relationships are primal in the growth and shaping of resilience. Parents act as the primary learning source for coping with stress (Power, 2004) [36] . Adaptive behavioural abilities, emotional functioning (Prevatt, 2003) [37] along with effective coping can be noted in children with cohesive families along (Valiente, Fabes, Eisenberg, & Spinrad, 2004; Valiente, Lemery-Chalfant, & Swanson, 2009) [46, 47] . This is also associated with academic achievement (Jeynes, 2007) [22] , physical health (Bell & Belsky, 2008) [7] and social competence (Bugental & Grusec, 2006) [9] . Because supportive parents model appropriate behaviours, children learn adept social skills that are linked to competence with peers and academic achievement (Buysse, Goldman, West, & Hollingsworth, 2008) [11] . Children in such families also have better health behaviours (Riesch, Anderson, & Krueger, 2006) [39] . Resilience Resilience is an important component for a “good life” and its study has gained momentum recently with the wave of positive psychology. The shift from the study of abnormality and illness towards human strengths, hope and well-being show a trend change in the subject matter under study by researchers. Resilience is defined as the tendency to bounce back, recoil or rebound (Garmezy, 1991) [16] . It is a capacity, process, and an outcome of adapting successfully to situations despite threatening circumstances (Garmezy & Masten, 1991) [16] . Not a mere adaptation to stress, trauma or challenge, resilience is rather the active participation in creating one’s own environment. Luthar et al. (2000) [30] defined resilience as a process of positive adaptation in significantly adverse situations. Resilience is derived from the normative development processes, which is further promoted by positive experiences like a favourable home environment and supportive parenting (Masten, 2001) [32] . It is developed when individuals experiences lesser threats to their well-being along with adept social support from the family (Lerner, Lerner, De Stefanis, & Apfel, 2001) [29] . Majority of childhood is spent within the family system. Changing times have transformed the structure and nature of families, the role of caregivers and importance on raising healthy children. Apart from providing the first and foremost form of education (Turnbull, Turnbull, Erwin, & Soodak, 2006) [45] , the pattern of interaction among family members impacts the behavioral, emotional and social development of children. Family environment plays an important role in the development of resilience when faced with an adversity (Bradley- Davino et al., 2013; Gabalda, Thompson, & Kaslow, 2010; Hanson & Chen, 2010; Parade, Supple, & Helms, 2012) [8, 15, 20, 35] . International Journal of Applied Research 2021; 7(4): 222-226