Psychological resilience: A review and critique of definitions, concepts, and theory.

By D. Fletcher, Mustafa Sarkar. 2013

2,217 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The purpose of this paper is to review and critique the variety of definitions, concepts, and theories of psychological resilience. To this end, the narrative is divided into three main sections. The first considers how resilience has been defined in the psychology research literature. Despite the construct being operationalized in a variety of ways, most definitions are based around two core concepts: adversity and positive adaptation. A substantial body of evidence suggests that resilience is required in response to different adversities, ranging from ongoing daily hassles to major life events, and that positive adaptation must be conceptually appropriate to the adversity examined in terms of the domains assessed and the stringency of criteria used. The second section examines the conceptualization of resilience as either a trait or a process, and explores how it is distinct from a number of related terms. Resilience is conceptualized as the interactive influence of psychological characteristics within the context of the stress process. The final section reviews the theories of resilience and critically examines one theory in particular that is commonly cited in the resilience literature. Future theories in this area should take into account the multiple demands individuals encounter, the meta-cognitive and -emotive processes that affect the resilience-stress relationship, and the conceptual distinction between resilience and coping. The review concludes with implications for policy, practice, and research including the need to carefully manage individuals’ immediate environment, and to develop the protective and promotive factors that individuals can proactively use to build resilience.

Subfields: Applied Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Safety Research

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/f452ce8e77c34d534b780423f0cc47ad8bee23be

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Citations in the corpus

Workplace bullying, psychological distress, resilience, mindfulness, and emotional exhaustion (2020, background): “Two schools of thought emerge from the literature regarding the conceptualization of resilience (Atkinson, Martin, & Rankin, 2009; Jacelon, 1997), which they see either as a trait that is quite stable or as an ability which can be changed over time depending on the context (Fletcher & Sarkar, 2013).”
Psychological Resilience and Its Downstream Effects for Business Survival in Nascent Entrepreneurship (2018, background): “Research has established that psychological resilience has downstream behavioral consequences (Bonanno, 2004; Fletcher & Sarkar, 2013; Seery, Leo, Lupien, Kondrak, & Almonte, 2013), but it is important for resilience to not be equated with these behavioral consequences (e.g., De Vries & Shields,…”
Resilience training in the workplace from 2003 to 2014: A systematic review (2015, background): “This definition encapsulates aspects of both trait and process conceptualizations of resilience (cf. Fletcher & Sarkar, 2012, 2013).”
Resilience in psychology: A critical analysis of the concept (2018, background): “Most researchers concur that, for resilience to be demonstrated, both adversity and positive adaptation must be evident (Fletcher & Sarkar, 2013).”
Ordinary magic, extraordinary performance: Psychological resilience and thriving in high achievers. (2014, background): “Notwithstanding these strengths, a potential limitation is that the 13 participants were interviewed only once during the course of their careers and this limited the 14 examination of the dynamic nature of resilience and thriving (cf. Fletcher & Sarkar, 2013; 15 Porath et al., 2012).”
Resilience and why it matters for farm management (2014, background): “…the individual level the process of developing resilience in understood as dynamic interactions between a person and his or her social and physical context, as well as being influenced by a range of cognitive and emotional factors (Brown and Westaway, 2011; Windle, 2011; Fletcher and Sarkar, 2013).”
Organizational resilience and employee work-role performance after a crisis situation: exploring the effects of organizational resilience on internal crisis communication (2020, background): “Organizational resilience and internal crisis communication The term resilience originates from the Latin verb resilire and resilio, meaning “leap back” (Fletcher & Sarkar, 2013, p. 15) or “bounce/jump back” (Williams, Gruber, Sutcliffe, Shepherd, & Zhao, 2017, p. 740).”
Career Resilience: An Integrated Review of the Empirical Literature (2017, background): “For example, reviews have been conducted on family resilience (Bhana & Bachoo, 2011), psychological resilience (Fletcher & Sarkar, 2013), personal resilience (Jackson, Firtko, & Edenborough, 2007), and resilience in childhood (Luthar & Zigler, 1991; Zolkoski & Bullock, 2012).”
A meta-analysis of the trait resilience and mental health (2015, background): “It is important to highlight the debate concerning definition because these concepts provide researchers with theoretical boundaries that help to determine the nature, direction, and veracity of research inquiry (Fletcher & Sarkar, 2013).”
Workplace team resilience: A systematic review and conceptual development (2020, background): “Workplace resilience (i.e., employees’ ability to manage and positively overcome adverse events at work; Fletcher & Sarkar, 2013) has been proposed as a potential key asset to maintain performance and well-being in the face of adversity.”