Parental coaching strategies for child failure resilience: Predictors and child mastery motivation

Early encounters with failure can serve as a double-edged sword for children, offering either valuable learning experiences or posing challenges to future achievement. However, a significant research gap remains regarding how parents coach their children to cope with failure. This study developed a novel survey to measure parents’ coaching strategies in response to children’s failure in math, reading, and extracurricular learning activities, and explored their associations with child mastery motivation and predictors. A sample of 145 primary caregivers (87% biological mothers) of children aged 4 to 7 (mean age = 6.02, and 45% boys) was recruited both locally and online in the US. Primary caregivers completed an online survey. Factor analysis was utilized to identify parents’ coaching strategies, and multiple regression analysis was adopted to examine the predictors and outcomes of these strategies. We identified three distinct coaching strategies: Emotion-Coaching Strategies, Persistence Strategies, and Permissive/Minimization Strategies. Emotion-Coaching and Persistence Strategies were positively correlated with children’s mastery motivation, including object-oriented persistence, mastery pleasure, and general competence. Conversely, Permissive/Minimization Strategies were linked to lower mastery pleasure and higher negative reactions to failure. Furthermore, parents' and children's personal traits predicted parents’ coaching strategies. Specifically, parents’ grit and children’s effortful control were related to Emotion-Coaching Strategies, while parents’ failure mindsets, grit, and perfectionism correlated with Persistence Strategies. Family income significantly predicted Permissive/Minimization Strategies. The findings highlight the complexities of parental coaching approaches and their implications for fostering resilience in children facing failure in their learning journeys.