Research to Reality: Applying Findings to Practice

Abstract

The development of psychosocial resilience is a key factor in coping with stressful life events. Adolescence is a period of physical and emotional stress. Minimal research has examined the relationship between supportive or stressful contributing factors and development of resilience in the adolescent population. This secondary analysis study looked at the developmental process of adolescent psychosocial resilience, specifically in a rural population. The purposes of the study included (a) identifying adolescents demonstrating psychosocial resilience (PR) and determining gender differences in PR in a rural adolescent population, and (b) developing a model that reflects predictive and moderating relationships among critical factors (optimism, chronological age, gender, perceived family and friend support, number of negative life events, and psychosocial resilience). Resilience was defined as having a high-risk status and adapting better than expected in stressful situations. For this rural adolescent population, better-than-expected adaptation was defined as depressive symptoms lower than the population mean, substance use lower than the sample mean, and cognitive coping above the sample mean. A convenience sample of 624 students (females n 376; males n 248) was selected from four rural Pennsylvania schools. The group was predominantly Caucasian (n 606), with a mean age of 15.8 years. Secondary analysis examined numbers of the sample population having a specific attribute at one time, levels of PR, and predictive and/ or moderating PR internal factors. Results of the study indicated that 30.6% had low levels of PR, 45% had medium levels, and 21.3% had high levels. A greater percentage of girls (36%) had low PR, whereas a higher percentage of boys (50%) had medium PR. A total of 25.4% of the males had higher levels of PR in comparison with female participants. Gender and resiliency levels were statistically significant. Five variables were found to be predictive of psychosocial resilience: optimism, bad life event, gender, age,