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Resilience and adaptation to stress in later life: Empirical perspectives and conceptual implications

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Abstract

As it has become more widely recognized that increasing numbers of people are living to progressively older ages, it is important to understand the nature of individual traits that promote resilience and well-being in later life, to describe how these traits develop, to identify the factors that threaten and undermine their maintenance, and to elucidate the mechanisms that support and promote their growth. To have a knowledge base upon which to build intervention programs to improve and maintain well-being in later life, it is necessary to build understanding of what the multiple pathways are that lead to resilience, how these pathways may change, and what can be done to stop or forestall maladjustment and decline. Progress on these issues requires a greater understanding of process. In this article, we highlight theoretical areas of research on resilience and well-being that have received relatively little attention in previous work with older adults. We also identify unresolved methodological challenges associated with the measurement and analysis of within-person phenomena and elaborate on the implications of these challenges for process research in aging populations. Finally, we discuss future intervention directions to advance knowledge of resilience and positive health in later adulthood.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, 118 Haggar Hall, 46556, Notre Dame, IN

    Anthony D. Ong Ph.D. (postdoctoral research fellow) & C. S. Bergeman Ph.D. (professor of psychology)

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  1. Anthony D. Ong Ph.D.
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  2. C. S. Bergeman Ph.D.
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Correspondence to Anthony D. Ong Ph.D..

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He received his Ph.D. from the University of Southern California. His general research focus is on investigating patterns of variability and change in physical and psychological health across the lifespan. Specific areas of interests include interindividual differences in psychological resilience (humor, mindfulness, and personal control), stress exposure and reactivity, and facets of emotional experience (complexity, lability, and intensity); short-term intraindividual variability in subjective and psychological well-being; and long-term intraindividual changes in profiles of vulnerability and resilience in later life.

She received her Ph.D. from The Pennsylvania State University. Her program of research centers on the genetic and environmental factors that contribute to individual differences in the aging process, with the ultimate goal of disentangling the complex interactions that contribute to more optimal outcomes in later life. Specific areas of interests include using quantitative and qualitative approaches to probe and assess the antecedents and sequelae of emotional and psychological resilience in later adulthood.

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Ong, A.D., Bergeman, C.S. Resilience and adaptation to stress in later life: Empirical perspectives and conceptual implications. Ageing Int. 29, 219–246 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12126-996-1000-z

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