Analyzing the relationships among psychosocial variables associated with resilience

Abstract

Potentially Traumatic Events (PTEs) are common in current society, including college life. When exposed to PTE, stress reactions are greatly heterogeneous, and what contributes to psychological resilience is not well known. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the relationships among the antecedents, defining attributes, and consequences of resilience in a sample of 450 college students. Students completed an online questionnaire about PTEs, ego-resiliency, emotion regulation strategies and flexibility, perceived social support, mental health outcomes, and Sense of Coherence (SOC). The majority were young (average age = 20.4 years), White/Caucasian (80.0 %), and single (98.0 %) females (79.3 %). First, the bivariate correlation analyses indicated PTEs and emotion regulation suppression were negatively associated with some but not all variables at a significant level. Second, simple linear regression indicated the number of PTEs significantly predicted negative mental health outcomes (β = −2.98, t = −0.63, p < .001) and SOC (β = −2.05, t = −5.69, p < .001). Third, multiple regression analysis revealed that social support significantly moderated the relationship between PTEs and mental health outcomes, F (14, 382) = 14.13, p < .001. More specifically, perceived affectionate social support moderated the relationship between PTEs and mental health outcomes among women. Nurses may deliver interventions to promote these resilience factors, such as social support, and the results suggest that young women may benefit more from perceived affectionate social support after being exposed to PTEs. Further studies, ideally with a longitudinal design, are needed to understand resilience in this population more deeply.