The Development of a Three Part Model of Psychological Resilience

Abstract

Psychological resilience has been defined as the ability of an individual to recover from a traumatic event or to remain psychologically robust when faced with an adverse event. This study investigated a sample of 176 police officers who were surveyed at commencement of their training in 1998/1999 (Time 1), 12 months later (Time 2), and at the end of 2009 (Time 3). A multidimensional model of psychological resilience (including environment, thoughts, feelings, behaviours, and physical activities) was evaluated in terms of the pathogenic outcomes of posttraumatic stress, psychological distress, and physical health at the three time points. A three part model of psychological resilience (environment, physical behaviours, and cognitions) was used to demonstrate that social support, adaptive health practices, adaptive coping, and optimism were effective when police officers were faced with adversity. The model provides initial understandings of the multidimensional nature of psychological resilience which requires further evaluation.

Psychological Outcomes in Disaster Responders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis on the Effect of Social Support

“…Other than support facet, the effect size of social support on psychological outcomes also varied across type of responder. The observed effect size in police responders has been corroborated by social support studies on police officers outside the disaster context as well (Stephens et al 1997;de Terte et al 2014). The absence of observed effect in other clusters of responders, however, does not necessarily mean social support is ineffective in these groups.…”

An exploration of posttraumatic growth, loneliness, depression, resilience, and social capital among survivors of Hurricane Katrina and the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

“…This short-form measure has been proven to be valid, and highly correlated with the full version (Vaishnavi et al, 2007), but the two items may not be sufficient to fully capture the complexity of psychological resilience. Future studies should use a scale that more comprehensively captures the multidimensional nature of psychological resilience (Connor & Davidson, 2003;deTerte, Stephens, & Huddleston, 2014).…”

Conservation of Resources Theory and the ‘Strength’ Model of Self-Control: Conceptual Overlap and Commonalities

“…Consistent with Chen et al's () article extending COR theory, resilience may also have moderating effects in the context of the strength model. Resilience may be a candidate mediator of the resource depletion effect given that it reflects individuals' propensity to overcome adversity and maintain situation‐appropriate motivation and self‐regulatory capacity in the face of considerable stress or pressure on coping resources (de Terte & Stephens, ; de Terte, Stephens, & Huddleston, ; Eshel, Kimhi, & Goroshit, ). Resilience as a construct may have considerable overlap with trait self‐control as both constructs reflect better capability to manage or cope with high environmental demand on a particular behaviour or activity (Hagger, , ; Tangney et al, ).…”