week 5: resilience

resilience = process of positive psychological change in light of adversity

• mix of personality/coping skills/relational and sociocultural resources to sustain wellbeing

• relationship between resilience and wellbeing

  • wellbeing in context of risk/trauma/adversity

  • navigating towards wellbeing over lifespan

  • resilience processes predict elements of wellbeing

• can occur at individual/family/community levels

prerequisites of psychological resilience:

• adaptive functioning of person

• previous adverse circumstances which had the potential to threaten adaptive functioning of person

  • structural/community (climate change/conflict/substance misuse)

  • individual experiences (health problems/housing problems etc)

  • daily stressors related to these risks

• stress

resilience = umbrella term w/ 3 components

• at risk people show better than expected outcomes

• positive adaption maintained despite stressful experiences

• good recovery from traumatic experiences

two perspectives of resilience:

• resilience is a trait - fixed and stable “bouncebackability”

  • talent/skill - good reasoning ability, high sense of self efficacy, optimistic world view

  • strong faith/other purpose

  • ego resilience

  • emotional resilience - emotional regulation

  • = all extrinsic and intrinsic processes responsible for monitoring/evaluating/modifying emotional reactions to accomplish one’s goals

  • personality dimensions - high extroversion and conscientiousness

  • strong bond to a dependable person - early attachment stability linked to development of self reliance, high emotional regulation and emergence of social competency in children

    • taxonomy of 24 character strengths see slides

  • genetic variance in sensitivity and stability of attachment relationship

• resilience is a process - across the lifespan individuals learn how to positively adapt

  • cognitive/emotional abilities allow adaptation in context of significant adversity

  • changeable over time

  • improves self regulation and adaptation to stress

resilience and coping strategies

• coping strategy = cognitive and behavioural efforts to manage external and internal demands which are taxing/exceeding resources

  • problem focused vs emotion focused coping

  • cognitive vs behavioural - see slides for what the strategies are i cba writing them out x (slide 29)

• cognitive appraisal = a person’s own interpretation of their circumstances can be a protective factor

  • chaotic routine/lack of routine/seeing circumstances as a threat associated w/ more stress

  • consistent routines and seeing ongoing difficulties as not personal is associated with greater resilience

protective factors in children include:

• ego resilience and positive representation of mother

• school engagement

• seeing family as resilient

i’m bored but i got the main points down see slides future me xx