Resilience concordance in Chinese mother–child dyads: moderating effect of depressive symptoms

Based on the cascading resilience model and the developmental systems framework, this study aimed to examine the concordance in resilience among Chinese mother–child dyads in Hong Kong, and to test the moderating effects of mothers’ and children’s depressive symptoms on concordance. Participants for the present study were 133 Chinese mother–child dyads (Child M age = 11.0 years old; SD = 0.21; 51.9% female) living in Hong Kong, who completed measures on resilience and depressive symptoms. Based on bivariate correlations, mothers’ resilience was not significantly associated with children’s resilience. However, there was a significant interaction between mothers’ resilience and depressive symptoms in predicting children’s resilience, such that mothers’ resilience was positively associated with children’s resilience when mothers reported lower levels of depressive symptoms. Children’s depressive symptoms did not significantly moderate the association between mothers’ and children’s resilience. These findings contribute new knowledge on the extent to which mothers’ and children’s self-reported resilience are related in the context of mothers’ depressive symptoms. The findings have practical implications for designing resilience-based intervention programs. © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group