Resilience in context: the special case of advanced age

Abstract

Objectives: Advanced age is a time shaped by the current experience of physical, social and psychological characteristics associated with living into an eighth decade and beyond and also by reflection upon past experiences. Understanding the specific factors that contribute to ageing well is increasingly important as greater numbers of older people remain living independently in the community and may require targeted and sustainable support to do so. This paper offers a conceptualisation of resilience for advanced age (age 85C), a life stage currently under-researched. Method: We utilise a developmental and socio-historical context to develop key arguments about adversity, resources and positive outcomes that affect the experience of resilient ageing. Results: Very late life is characterised by a unique balance between losses, associated with vulnerability and resource restrictions, and potential gains based upon wisdom, experience, autonomy and accumulated systems of support, providing a specific context for the expression of resilience. Post-adversity growth is possible, but maintenance of everyday abilities may be more relevant to resilience in advanced age. Conclusion: An increasing life-span globally necessitates creative and conscientious thought about wellbeing, and resilience research has the important aim to focus health and wellness on success and what is possible despite potential limitations.

Associations between neurocognitive functioning and social and occupational resilience among South African women exposed to childhood trauma

“…This approach is advantaged over prior studies (Stein, Campbell-Sills, & Gelernter, 2009; Wingo et al, 2010) insofar as it reflects a much-needed conceptual emphasis on the importance of contextually appropriate measures of resilience, which in turn offers greater specificity regarding those domains of preservation that might be particularly relevant to the South African setting. The ability to deploy successful adaptive strategies in stressful contexts depends on the demands of the situation as well as the priorities of the individual deploying those strategies (Bonanno & Burton, 2013; Hayman et al, 2016), and our results regarding negative associations between some neurocognitive domains and improved functioning suggest an important, but counter intuitive, person-environment fit in the deployment of adaptive strategies.…”

“…For the purposes of the current study, resilience was defined as functionality relative to childhood abuse (see Consedine et al, 2004, 2005; Hayman et al, 2016 for similar approaches). Consistent with prior studies, the resilience score considered in the present report was derived by regressing the total childhood trauma score on the total household functioning score (henceforth referred to as occupational resilience), F 1, 310 = 7.48, p  = .007, R 2  = .024, and total social functioning scores (henceforth referred to as social resilience), F 1, 310 = 3.20, p  = .075, R 2  = .01, treating the standardized residuals (observed – expected) as an index of resilience.…”

“…Self-report instruments of resilience do not incorporate measures of event exposure(s) or offer a specific index of preservation of functioning (see Denckla and Mancini, 2016, for details). To address these limitations, the present study employed an index of resilience used in prior studies (Consedine, Magai, & Conway, 2004; Consedine, Magai, & Krivoshekova, 2005; Hayman, Kerse, & Consedine, 2016) that estimates functioning in social and occupational domains beyond what would be expected given prior exposure to childhood trauma. Specifically, this index is generated by regressing childhood trauma exposure on social and occupational functioning and treating the standardized residuals as an index of resilience (see Methods for further details).…”

“…While aspects of personality predict responses to stressors (Block & Block, 1980), measurement approaches based only on trait predictors of adaptive outcome say little about the different challenges that diverse samples face or the specific domains of functioning in which resilience manifests (Bonanno, 2012; Hayman et al, 2016). In the current study, we examined a commonly occurring trauma among South African women and assessed outcomes of high contextual relevance to the sample.…”

“…Contextual relevance was based on (1) prior qualitative studies in the target population suggesting that prosocial behaviour was associated with greater educational attainment following women’s exposure to severe sexual abuse (Phasha, 2009), and (2) reasoning that a measure of occupational resilience would be especially salient given the under-resourced economic and instrumental contexts in which these women carry out their daily lives. This general approach has been used in prior studies of diverse samples (Consedine et al, 2004) and is advantaged insofar as it ensures that measurement and operationalization are contextually relevant to both (a) the common traumas and (b) adaptive outcomes of importance to the sample (see Hayman et al, 2016, for a similar approach).…”