Psychological Resilience: The Differences that Make a Difference in Adult Resilience

Abstract

Trauma, loss, and adverse experiences are events that can have profoundly negative impacts on an individual, social, and economic scale. However, these events occur for most people at some point within the human experience and the majority of those who are subjected to them recover. Broadly, this recovery, or successful adaptation to adversity, has been defined as psychological resilience. In examining possible trajectories of risk and resilience, many emerge. This fact raises questions regarding whether the factors and processes that influence and differentiate these divergent trajectories can be defined. It is hypothesized that, for adults, psychosocial factors of resilience can be categorized into 1) intrapersonal factors, 2) interpersonal factors, and 3) factors that transcend the personal. Through an examination of existing literature this hypothesis is supported. A discussion of implications for clinicians and interventions is provided as well as a summary of areas for further research