1. Introduction

Mental resilience, the ability to adapt and recover from stress and adversity, is crucial for students’ well-being and academic success. Effective family-school coordination is considered a key factor in fostering this resilience by providing a supportive environment. The paper investigates the influence of home-school coordination on students’ mental resilience, analyzing how this partnership affects their ability to manage stress and effectively address challenges, thus contributing to their overall well-being and academic achievement. Through the literature review, it synthesizes existing studies on the relationship between home-school coordination and mental resilience, aiming to identify the specific elements of this collaboration that enhance resilience. Understanding the mechanisms via which home-school coordination strengthens mental resilience is essential for developing effective strategies to support students’ psychological and emotional health. Therefore, this study highlights the importance of home-school coordination in enhancing students’ mental resilience, emphasizing the necessity for effective collaboration to create environments where students can thrive. Further research is recommended to explore the long-term effects of home-school coordination on mental resilience across diverse educational settings.

2. Theoretical Framework of Mental Resilience

2.1. Major Concepts of Mental Resilience

Mental resilience, also known as psychological adaptability or stress resistance, is derived from the Latin root “resilire,” meaning “to bounce back” [1]. Thus, it implies recovery and good adaptation from traumatic or painful events. Due to the different research perspectives of different researchers, there is no unified and clear definition of mental resilience at home and abroad. The definition of competence regards psychological resilience as the ability of an individual to withstand negative changes while exhibiting good adaptive behaviors [2]. Another procedural definition emphasizes mental resilience as the dynamic interaction of a series of capabilities and characteristics that enable an individual to quickly recover and effectively cope with significant stress and danger [3]. Mental resilience is not only a shield against negative influences, but a source of motivation for personal growth and development. And it helps individuals remain calm and stable in the face of constant stress, allowing them to adopt positive coping strategies rather than being overwhelmed or resorting to avoidance behaviors, and enhancing the individual’s confidence to tackle challenges and achieve goals. This self-confidence stimulates inner motivation and encourages a more positive approach to difficulties.

2.2. Main Components of Mental Resilience

Mental resilience consists of multiple interacting factors that collectively influence an individual’s ability to cope and adapt. Self-efficacy refers to an individual’s belief and confidence that he or she can successfully perform a task. Individuals with high self-efficacy are more likely to adopt positive coping strategies when faced with challenges, believing in their ability to overcome difficulties and effectively manage stress. Hope is another critical component, referring to an individual’s positive expectations for the future and belief that they can find the path and motivation to achieve their goals, which helps to maintain motivation and actively seek solutions during adversity. Optimism refers to an individual’s positive attitude toward the future, believing that they can overcome difficulties and achieve success. It helps individuals see the positives in life in the face of setbacks, reducing stress and anxiety. Tugade found that individuals with high mental resilience are able to derive positive meaning from negative events through positive emotions, thus highlighting a strong correlation between mental resilience and positive emotions [4]. Individuals with high mental resilience tend to exhibit positive emotions. They are energetic, passionate about life, curious, and eager to embrace new challenges. With a sense of humor, creativity, and an optimistic outlook, they not only nurture their own positive emotions but also have a knack for uplifting those around them, building a supportive social network to help overcome challenges [5]. Resilience is the ability to recover and adapt quickly when facing stress, adversity, or challenges. It is found that individuals with high resilience are better equipped to handle life’s difficulties and maintain psychological stability during tough times. Beardslee conducted a correlation analysis of emotional intelligence and mental resilience, hence finding a positive correlation between the two (r = 0.47, P < 0.01) [6]. Positive personality traits help individuals maintain enthusiasm for work, cope with setbacks calmly, and get a good adaptation. Besides, Yu found that social support was positively correlated with psychological resilience and negatively correlated with depression and anxiety, indicating that a strong social support system plays a vital role in enhancing an individual's mental resilience [7].

2.3. The Role of Mental Resilience in Students’ Growth

Mental resilience plays a key role in students’ growth, helping them cope with academic stress and promoting mental health, and contributing greatly to social adaptation and self-growth. Research indicates that students with high mental resilience are better able to handle academic challenges, such as exams and assignments. They are more likely to adopt constructive coping strategies, such as creating study plans and seeking help, which reduce anxiety and depression while enhancing self-efficacy and problem-solving skills. In terms of social adaptation, students with higher mental resilience are better equipped to establish positive relationships, participate in group activities, and showcase strong social and leadership skills. They are more proactive in teamwork and can interact harmoniously with others in diverse environments, which lays a solid foundation for their future social integration. When facing societal changes and cultural diversity, students with high resilience are more likely to maintain an open and inclusive mindset, helping them better integrate into an increasingly globalized society. In addition, mental resilience also drives self-growth. Students with high resilience tend to maintain a positive self-identity and are less affected by negative external evaluations. Through self-reflection and continuous improvement, they can learn from failures and constantly enhance their abilities. This process, much like a diamond being polished, helps them shape a more resilient and mature self. However, there are significant individual differences in how students respond to stress. Factors such as personality, family background, and cultural influences can affect their level of mental resilience. For example, introverted students may cope with stress through solitude and self-regulation, while extroverted students are more likely to seek social support. Therefore, understanding these individual differences can help educators develop more targeted strategies to support students in developing their mental resilience.

3. The Impact of Home-School Collaboration on Students’ Mental Resilience

3.1. The Role of Home-School Collaboration in Emotional Regulation Mechanisms

Emotion regulation theory posits that individuals adjust their emotions and expressions to adapt to environmental changes. When there is alignment between family and school regarding emotional education, students receive consistent emotional management strategies and values across different settings. For example, families and schools can work together to create an environment that allows students to to express their emotions freely, avoiding emotional suppression or neglect. This enables students to handle their emotions more healthily, rather than internalizing them. Based on the social support theory, external support can buffer the negative effects of stress on individuals and enhance their coping abilities. Furthermore, the collaboration between parents and teachers provides students with emotional support and understanding, fostering a sense of being valued and acknowledged. This emotional bond boosts students’ self-esteem and emotional stability. The combined efforts of home and school equip students with the necessary knowledge and strategies to effectively manage emotional distress. Also, sustained home-school cooperation enhances students’ ability to recognize, understand, and regulate both their own emotions and those of others. With continuous support, students acquire effective emotional regulation strategies that enable them to manage stress and mitigate the risk of anxiety and depression. However, in practice, communication between home and school may face barriers, such as information asymmetry and delayed feedback, which can hinder the timely understanding of a student’s emotional state and needs. In order to address these challenges, modern technologies, such as home-school collaboration apps, email, as well as online meetings, should be leveraged to facilitate the prompt exchange of information and feedback.

3.2. The Role of Family-School Collaboration in Enhancing Students’ Adaptability

The ecosystem theory proposed by Bronfenbrenner emphasizes that individual growth is influenced by multi-layered environments, such as microsystems (family, school). Home-school collaboration provides support at the microsystem level, which can enhance students’ adaptability. Families and schools work together to develop learning plans that suit students’ individual development, focus on students’ interests, strengths and needs, and help them better adapt to the learning environment and improve their learning motivation. Additionally, regular parent-teacher meetings allow for a timely understanding of students’ academic performance and psychological state, enabling personalized teaching strategies to be discussed collaboratively. Bandura’s social learning theory emphasizes the role of observation and imitation in learning. By observing the behavior of parents and teachers, students learn strategies and methods to adapt to the environment. Various practical activities are organized to cultivate students’ practical ability and social adaptability, and help them exercise their adaptability in real-life settings. Meanwhile, parents offer resources related to career development, while schools organize career experience days and other activities to help students explore different professional environments, thereby enhancing their career adaptability. Autonomous learning and problem-solving are core components of adaptive ability. Both families and schools should tailor training strategies to students’ unique characteristics. By guiding them to think and explore actively, families and schools build their confidence in dealing with the unknown and overcoming challenges. Teachers design open-ended topics, while parents support students in collecting and practicing data at home to cultivate independent exploration skills. Moreover, regularly evaluating the effectiveness of the collaboration allows for timely adjustments to ensure that strategies for enhancing students' adaptability are effectively implemented.

3.3. The Role of Home-School Collaboration in Building Students’ Self-Efficacy

Self-efficacy refers to an individual’s belief and confidence in their ability to successfully complete a task. Individuals with high self-efficacy are more likely to adopt positive coping strategies when faced with challenges and to believe in their ability to overcome difficulties. As such, home-school collaboration plays a key role in boosting students’ self-efficacy via systematic training and support.

Parents and teachers should work together to help students set realistic and achievable goals, providing timely feedback and encouragement. For example, in academic contexts, parents and teachers can collaborate to set learning objectives and offer positive feedback and recognition as students make progress, boosting their self-confidence and sense of accomplishment. In addition, home-school collaboration can create diverse opportunities for students to experience success in various domains, further strengthening their self-efficacy. For instance, extracurricular activities, competitions, and project collaborations can offer students opportunities to succeed in different areas, hence enhancing their self-efficacy. Besides, parents and teachers can serve as role models by showing positive behaviors and attitudes that inspire students’ self-efficacy. Specifically, parents and teachers can share their own success stories and coping strategies, thus encouraging students to believe in their ability to succeed.

3.4. The Role of Home-School Collaboration in Building Social Support Networks

The social support theory suggests that external support can mitigate stress and enhance individuals' ability to cope with challenges. Through the home-school collaboration, students receive emotional support from both home and school, gradually building a multi-layered social support network that helps them effectively navigate the difficulties they encounter during their growth.

First, family-school collaboration provides emotional support, allowing students to feel cared for and valued by both their families and schools. The joint efforts of parents and teachers ensure that students receive consistent feedback and attention in both environments, thereby strengthening their sense of belonging and security. Regular parent-teacher meetings and communication channels enable parents and teachers to stay informed about students’ academic and psychological well-being, collectively offering emotional support and laying a foundation for students’ mental health. Second, home-school collaboration fosters the expansion of students’ social support networks by facilitating resource sharing and organizing activities. And families and schools provide students with learning materials, extracurricular activities, and psychological counseling, thereby helping them to develop comprehensive skills. Besides, through joint volunteer and community service activities, students not only enrich their social experiences but realize the importance of teamwork and social support, which helps them improve adaptability and social skills.

Integrating social support theory, the support provided via home-school collaboration includes more than just emotional care; it also includes informational and practical support. Schools offer parents educational methods and coping strategies through meetings and communication platforms, while parents provide feedback on students’ behaviors at home, thus assisting schools in adjusting teaching methods and content. This reciprocal exchange of information ensures that home-school collaboration effectively addresses students’ needs in a timely and accurate manner, strengthening their social support networks. Besides, family-school collaboration offers students access to diverse social resources. Through community service, career experiences, and other opportunities, students gain broader social support, boosting adaptability and self-efficacy while helping manage academic and emotional challenges.

4. Practical Strategies for Promoting the Development of Mental Toughness through Home-School Collaboration

4.1. Parental Support in Fostering Mental Resilience in Student

Building mental resilience in students is a complex and ongoing process, in which parents play a crucial role. Through targeted parent-child activities and behavior modeling, parents can effectively promote the healthy development of their children's mental resilience. For instance, parents can engage in complex projects with their children, such as building a Lego model, planting a garden, or cooking a meal. By working together to break down the steps and completing the tasks gradually, children learn to set goals and solve problems. Additionally, parents can assign tasks to their children to increase their sense of responsibility and confidence. Through completing the project, children not only learn to face challenges and setbacks but also gain a sense of accomplishment and self-efficacy. Parents can also schedule regular family activities, such as game nights, outdoor hikes, or movie nights, tailoring them to their children's interests and needs. These activities help reduce stress, strengthen family bonds, and provide emotional support and security for the children. When facing stress or frustration, parents can demonstrate positive emotion-regulation strategies, like deep breathing, mindfulness meditation, or engaging in physical exercise. By modeling these strategies and explaining their importance, parents help children learn and practice these skills. Through the observation and imitation, children learn effective emotion-regulation techniques, helping them stay calm in difficult situations. Moreover, parents should encourage children to express their thoughts and feelings, engage in meaningful discussions, and develop their expressive abilities and empathy.

4.2. School Support in Building Mental Resilience in Students

Schools play a key role in fostering students’ mental resilience by offering classroom instruction, extracurricular activities, and hands-on projects that help them overcome challenges and pressures. They should offer specialized mental health education programs covering emotional management, stress coping, and social skills. Campbell-Sills highlighted that coping style is a crucial factor in mental resilience, with task-oriented coping positively correlated with resilience and acting as a mediator between consciousness and mental resilience [8]. In mental health classes, teachers help students recognize and manage anxiety, while students practice deep breathing and mindfulness techniques through situational simulations. And these courses teach students specific methods for identifying emotions and coping with stress, thereby enhancing their psychological resilience. Additionally, psychological resilience education can be integrated into core subjects. For example, in Chinese class, students might read How Steel Was Tempered and discuss how the protagonist persevered through adversity, helping students learn strategies for coping with setbacks. Moreover, schools can encourage students to participate in community volunteer services, such as visiting nursing homes or engaging in community clean-up, to promote social responsibility and empathy. By conducting community problem research and solution design projects, students can apply their mental resilience skills to real-world challenges. Peer mentoring programs offer another effective approach for schools to build resilience. By selecting and training senior students as peer counselors, schools can support the mental health of younger students. Activities like psychological lectures and team-building exercises strengthen students' psychological support networks. Senior students provide both academic and emotional guidance to help their younger peers adjust to new learning environments, fostering mutual growth and enhancing overall mental resilience.

4.3. Effective Communication and Cooperation Strategies in Home-School Collaboration

Close collaboration between family and school is essential for the holistic development of students, with teachers’ ability to engage families being key to a strong home-school partnership [9].

Schools should organize parent-teacher or teacher meetings at least once per semester to share students’ academic progress and emotional well-being. The agenda should be set in advance, with clear discussion points and objectives to ensure the meeting runs efficiently. Parents should be notified via multiple channels such as phone, SMS, and email to ensure accurate communication of meeting details. During the meeting, teachers should provide a detailed overview of the student’s learning, and discuss ways to improve academic performance with parents. Parents can offer their opinions, and teachers can adjust the teaching plan based on this feedback, ultimately enhancing the student’s learning outcomes. Also, teachers should maintain a daily record of students’ classroom performance, homework completion, as well as emotional state in a home-school contact book, and parents should record observations of the student’s behavior at home. Teachers and parents should regularly consult the contact book, stay updated on the student’s progress, and offer timely feedback and support. When developing a personalized learning plan for students, both teachers and parents should collaborate to create a plan that takes into account the student’s interests, strengths, and needs. Long-term goals should be broken down into short-term objectives, with clear tasks and expected results for each phase. Teachers and parents should also work together to establish family education goals, such as fostering responsibility, self-discipline, and cooperation in the student. They can collaborate on measures such as setting specific homework times and planning family activities to achieve educational goals. Regular progress tracking and adjustments are necessary to ensure successful goal attainment.

5. Conclusion

This study examines the important role of home-school collaboration in building students’ mental resilience, from both psychological and educational perspectives. By reviewing existing literature, it has highlighted how effective collaboration between parents and schools can positively influence students’ emotional regulation, adaptability, self-efficacy, as well as social support networks. From a psychological standpoint, mental resilience is crucial for students to navigate the challenges and stresses of their academic and personal lives. Home-school collaboration provides a consistent and supportive environment that reinforces these psychological traits, thus enabling students to develop robust coping mechanisms and a positive mindset. From an educational perspective, home-school collaboration is vital for creating a holistic learning environment that fosters students’ academic and personal growth. When schools and parents work together, students receive consistent messages and support, both at home and in the classroom. This partnership fosters the development of key life skills, such as problem-solving, goal-setting, and effective communication, all of which contribute to building mental resilience. The intersection of psychology and education is evident in the ways home-school coordination strengthens mental resilience. Emotional regulation and adaptability, key psychological constructs, are strengthened through emotional education programs and diverse learning experiences. Similarly, self-efficacy and social support are fostered through goal-setting, feedback, and the cultivation of a supportive school network. However, this study relied solely on existing literature, which may have limitations in terms of diversity and comprehensiveness. Future research should include a broader range of studies and empirical data for a more comprehensive understanding. And it could focus on longitudinal studies and interventions to assess the long-term effects of home-school collaboration on students' mental resilience. Besides, exploring its impact on diverse populations, considering cultural, socio-economic, and educational differences, is essential.