Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

Videos : Resilience Skills during

Adversity
Role of Resilience in COVID 19
Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences
Resilience : Key to success in Adversity
Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences
 Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

• Speaking of Psychology: The role of resilience in the face of COVID-19

with Ann Masten, PhD. (2022). Retrieved from
https://www.apa.org/news/podcasts/speaking-of-psychology/human-
resilience-covid-19
 Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

UTILSING DEVELOPMENTAL SOCIAL

MODELS OF RESILIENCE FOR
STRATEGIES TO BUILD RESILIENCE
 Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

• Resilience has been conceptualized as a normative, adaptive

response system that allows individuals to successfully endure
severe adversity.
• The literature provides varying definitions of resilience, ranging
from those Defining Resilience Based On The Absence Of
Psychopathology Or Other Problems Despite Adversity To
Those Defining Resilience Based On The Presence Of Skillful
And Adaptive Functioning Despite Adversity.
 Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

• Resilience is expressed in interactions of intra- and

interpersonal processes.
• There are four levels at which these processes influence
resilience :
(a) genetic predispositions and biology,
(b) individual cognitive, emotional, and behavioral factors,
(c) proximal relational and environmental factors, and
(d) distal relational and environmental factors
 Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

Genetic Predispositions and Biology

• The contribution of gene by environment interaction to the prediction of
risk and resilience following adverse events has found support in
multiple studies.
• Results of a study undertaken in 2009, identified several genetic
variations related to the human stress response system that demonstrate
an association with risk and resilience only when environmental
influences such as childhood abuse exposure are taken into account.
• Research on gene by environment interactions associated with risk and
resilience shows considerable variability, which has led to debate about
the validity of these findings.
 Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

Individual Cognitive, Emotional, and Behavioral Factor

• Four individual-level factors that have received substantial
empirical attention with respect to the development of resilience
in childhood are:
(1) self-regulation,
(2) emotion regulation,
(3) psychological flexibility, and
(4) social competence.
 Self-Regulation
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• Self-regulation is a person’s ability to exert control over attention,

emotion, thought, and behavior in the pursuit of personal goals that
comply with broader social standards.
• Successful self-regulation in childhood predicted resilience in multiple
domains.
• The ability to self-regulate is associated with a number of positive
outcomes across multiple life domains.
• LifeSpan studies of self-regulation show that delay of gratification in
early childhood (e.g., delay eating one marshmallow in order to receive a
second marshmallow) predicted positive psychological, behavioral,
health, and economic outcomes across four decades.
 Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

Emotion Regulation

• Emotion regulation is a domain of self-regulation that refers to actions

one takes to influence what, when, and how positive and negative
emotions are experienced and expressed (Gross, 2007).

• In successful emotion regulation, individuals persist through difficulties,

tolerate distress, display rule-governed conduct, and demonstrate norm-
appropriate emotion in the context of negative stimuli.
 Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

Psychological Flexibility
• The concept of psychological flexibility, defined as the ability to effectively modify
thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in order to achieve a valued goal, reflects a
synthesis of the research on executive control, response modulation, and self-
regulation within the field of positive psychology (Kashdan & Rottenberg, 2010).
• It is a dynamic process that includes: (1) adapting to changing circumstances, (2)
engaging in perspective-taking and shifting perspectives, (3) adapting to
unpredictable situational demands, (4) balancing and prioritizing competing needs
across life domains, and (5) acting in ways consistent with deep-seated attitudes and
values.
• Research suggests that resilient adaptation requires cognitive, behavioral, and
emotional agility as well as the ability to modify strategies based on changing
situational demands.
 Social Competence
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• Social competence is the ability to understand, connect with people,

influence others, and form close relationships.
• Social competence during childhood enhances health and predicts better
psychological and psychosocial functioning in adulthood.
• Social competence takes many forms and is expressed in a constellation
of psychosocial and behavioral skills that are used to establish and retain
mutually constructive relationships.
• Socially competent children are also more empathic and emotionally
expressive, which attracts and engages other children, resulting in better
peer relationships.
 Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

Social Competence

• Individuals with a more severe history of childhood physical

abuse and higher levels of social inference ability displayed
higher levels of social functioning as compared with those
individuals who had a more severe history of childhood
physical abuse and lower levels of social inference ability
 Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXTS
• The resilience literature has long discussed the association between resilience and
certain attributes of interpersonal relationships, as well as characteristics of the
environments in which interpersonal transactions occur (Masten, 2001).
• Environmental factors are:
(1) parenting style,
(2) secure attachment,
(3) family resources,
(4) peer influence,
(5) involvement in community and extracurricular activities,
(6) racial socialization, and
(7) socialized gender roles.
 Parenting Style
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• Parenting style has been demonstrated to be a major conduit through

which parents influence the trajectory of their child’s development.
• In general, parenting that is nurturing and democratic with authoritative
traits (e.g., consistent limit-setting and monitoring) has been linked to
greater achievement, and positive psychological and prosocial outcomes,
such as improved academic functioning, self-control, and adherence to
social rules.
• For example, data from a study using a nationally representative sample
of 1,116 twin pairs and their families revealed that, even after controlling
for heritability (twin status), maternal warmth protected children from
the negative effects of being bullied (Bowes, Maughan, Caspi, Moffitt, &
Arseneault, 2010).
 Secure Attachment
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• Children have the best chance for healthy development when raised in
nurturing environments.
• The hallmark of these nurturing environments is a healthy attachment
between children and caregivers that lays the foundation for lifelong
secure attachment (Komro, Flay, & Biglan, 2011; Mikulincer & Shaver,
2012).
• One of the key tenets of attachment theory is that attachment
relationships are resources for children in the face of stress or threat.
• A secure attachment relationship provides children with a sense of
security and safety needed for developmentally appropriate exploration
into new environments and the ability to regulate emotions and cope
effectively in response to adversity (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2012).
 Family Resources
Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

• Both parental style and attachment security are important markers of

social relationships with the capacity to confer resilience.
• These factors tend to focus on the mother– child relationship to the
exclusion of other familial connections.
• The supportive role of fathers and siblings, broader family contexts, and
multiple aspects of family functioning have been shown to be protective
against the influence of a broad spectrum of ACEs on children’s later
behavior.
• Both sibling warmth and positive home atmosphere are associated with
positive emotional and behavioral adjustment in bullied children as
compared to nonbullied children (Bowes et al., 2010).
 Peer Influence
Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

• Positive relationships with peers can be protective against risk-promoting

environments.
• Findings show that, among youths exposed to parental violence, both peer
communication and peer trust may reduce risk for depression and running away from
home.
• Peer communication contributes to reduced risk for dropping out of high school.
• Peer acceptance has the potential to reduce the negative impact of parental rejection,
while close friendships could buffer the impact of peer rejection or bullying,
particularly for those youths who are already marginalized.
• Peer groups can facilitate resilience or can stabilize deviant behavior and later
problematic functioning
 Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

Involvement in Community and Extracurricular Activities

• Research demonstrates that youths who are more engaged in organized, extracurricular
activities, such as school clubs and sports, show overall better adjustment (Eccles & Barber,
1999; Fredricks & Eccles, 2006).
• A number of mechanisms may account for such involvement and resilience.
• These activities appear to provide children and adolescents with opportunities to practice
positive coping skills, build healthy relationships, and develop self-efficacy and positive
identity.
• A longitudinal study found that engagement in extracurricular activities was positively
associated with educational status in young adulthood (Mahoney, Cairns, & Farmer, 2003).
• This study found a reciprocal relationship such that early adolescent social competence was
associated with activity engagement, and activity participation was associated with increased
interpersonal competence in later adolescence and young adulthood.
 Racial Socialization
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• Experiences of racial discrimination are associated with increased risk

for multiple physical and mental health problems, suggesting that factors
such as racial socialization that could counter the impact of racial
discrimination should be a major point of focus in resilience research.

• The core aspect of racial socialization is the transmission to children of

knowledge, values, and beliefs about their race and ethnicity, including
knowledge about racism and race-based discrimination, with the goals of
developing a healthy racial identity and of successful negotiation of
racism and other types of adversity (Hughes et al., 2006; Neblett,
Terzian, & Harriott, 2010).
 Racial Socialization
Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

• When cultural socialization practices are implemented, youths report

stronger and more positive ethnic identities, better self-esteem in
interactions with peers, better cognitive outcomes, and fewer behavioral
and emotional problems
 Socialized Gender Roles Amity
andInstitute
Masculinity
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• Gendered identity and gender role socialization contribute to resilience

(Gray, Carter, & Levitt, 2012).
• Although youth whose behavior and appearance are not consistent with
gendered social norms are at higher risk for problems such as anxiety
and depression, many of the same factors that promote resilience in other
contexts also contribute to resilience among gender non-conforming
youth.
• Acceptance of gender non-conforming youth by peers positively
influences their sense of self-worth.
• In addition, family and peer support is linked to reduced risk and
promotion of resilience for gender non-conforming youths (Gray et al.,
2012).
 Interventions for Resilience
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• Resilience needs to be understood in the context of human development.

There may be sensitive developmental periods when skills associated
with resilience are best nurtured.

• Resilience-promoting interventions should be targeted to both the social

context and the developmental stage of the at-risk individual.

• In addition, interventions for children and their parents should take

neighborhood factors and social cultural norms and values into account.
 References
Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

• The Resilience Handbook: Approaches to Stress and

Trauma Edited by Martha Kent, Mary C. Davis and John
W Reich.