Individual Resilience among Adult Children of Parents with Bipolar Disorder in Chinese Society: An Inductive and Deductive Content Analysis Approach

Abstract

Introduction:

Nurses can help children of parents with mental illness discover their resilience. However, previous studies have focused on their experience in Western settings and have limited understanding of a Chinese cultural context. This study aims to explore individual resilience emerging from adult children’s experience of living with parents with bipolar disorder in Chinese society within the framework of character strengths and possible cultural components.

Methodology:

A content analysis with both inductive and deductive approaches. Twenty adults participated in this study. Interviews were conducted while the participants’ parents were hospitalized in an acute psychiatric hospital ward.

Results:

The framework of character strengths confirmed five emergent themes of individual resilience in this study: courage, temperance, humanity, knowledge and wisdom, and transcendence.

Discussion:

Character strengths are an adequate framework for understanding of individual resilience. Chinese adult children develop resilience by regulating their emotions, respecting their parents, engaging in self-discipline, and positively interpreting adversity.

Keywords

Child of impaired parents mental disorders mental health parents resilience

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