Kindergarten Teachers' Resilience and Its Relation to the Parental Behaviour of Their Mothers and Fathers

The number of studies on resilience is rapidly growing, and so is the interest in their implications aiming at fostering resilience of all children; not only those at risk. Many of these studies focus on protective factors that increase the probability of positive developmental outcomes. Protective factors can be recognized at all environmental levels, and the crucial level is family. More specifically, parents are those who have a key role in building children's resilience through parental practices and behaviours. Another important environmental level for fostering resilience from an early age is kindergarten, particularly kindergarten teachers who can also be a relevant protective factor during childhood. Most studies linking parental behaviour and resilience explore this relationship in childhood and adolescence. Additionally, studies on the resilience of kindergarten teachers are also lacking. Therefore, the aim of this study was to obtain insight into kindergarten teachers' resilience and its relationship with the parental behaviour of their mothers and fathers. The results obtained indicate a rather high level of resilience among kindergarten teachers in general. The results also revealed that those who grew up with supportive parents are more resilient compared to those whose parents were restrictive.