RESILIENCE AND WELLBEING IN CHILDREN: A Meta-Synthesis

The purpose of this research is to present a general framework by making a meta-synthesis of the research studies that deal with the psychological resilience and wellbeing of children. This research was patterned with the meta-synthesis model. The following criteria were sought in the determination of the study group in this study, which aims to metasynthesize the studies on resilience and wellbeing in early childhood with parents and/or children: (1) the study group was composed of parents and/or children, (2) it was published between 2016 and 2022, (3) qualitative or mixed pattern, and (4) published in one/more of the Web of Science, ERIC, Scopus, and ProQuest databases. The literature review was carried out between 15 February 2022 and 20 July 2022. Topics and keywords used in searches are “early childhood, child, wellbeing, resilience, parent”. In databases, “AND” and “OR” connectors are used to combine concepts. As a result of the screening, 15 full-text articles that were determined to be suitable for the study were completely read. These studies were reviewed according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. Four articles were omitted due to repetition. The articles included in the analysis process were read repetitively by the researchers. As a result of the research, the factors affecting children’s psychological resilience and wellbeing focus on two main categories: risk and protective factors. While radical changes, such as poverty, social life barriers, family structure disorder, not meeting the child’s basic needs, and parental issues are mainly risk factors, then positive classroom climate, strong communication between teacher and family, social structure, close family relationships, addressing the child’s special needs, family’s attitude towards risk factors, and bilingualism are protective factors for children’s resilience and wellbeing. Depending on the child’s culture and the environment in which they live, several elements can operate as both risk factors and protective ones.