Moving research on resilience into the 21st century: theoretical and methodological considerations in examining the biological contributors to resilience
- PMID: 14582940
- DOI: 10.1017/s0954579403000373
Moving research on resilience into the 21st century: theoretical and methodological considerations in examining the biological contributors to resilience
Abstract
Empirical investigations of resilience over the past 30 years have examined a wide range of psychosocial correlates of, and contributors to, this phenomenon. Thus far, theoretical treatments of resilience have focused almost exclusively on psychosocial levels of analysis to derive explanatory models. However, there have been no formal discussions of either theory or research that have examined the biological contributors to, or correlates of, competent functioning despite the experience of adversity. This paper seeks to fill this gap and sets forth a preliminary theoretical framework and outline of empirical strategies for studying the biological underpinnings of resilience. The initial sections of the paper discuss the particular suitability of a transactional organizational theoretical perspective as a conceptual foundation for including a biological level of analysis within the extant theoretical framework of resilience. Subsequently, other important theoretical considerations for the inclusion of a biological perspective on resilience are discussed, including the avoidance of an approach that would reduce resilience to merely a biological process, the application of the constructs of multifinality and equifinality to a biological perspective on resilience, as well as a general discussion of the potential for utilization of brain imaging and other technologies in the study of resilience. The possible relation between the mechanisms of neural plasticity and resilience are examined in some detail, with specific suggestions concerning research questions needed to examine this association. Sections of the paper discuss the likely relation of several areas of brain and biological functioning with resilience, including emotion, cognition, neuroendocrine and immune functioning, and genetics. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of a biological perspective on resilience for preventive interventions.
Similar articles
-
Neurocognitive Mechanism of Human Resilience: A Conceptual Framework and Empirical Review.Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Dec 15;16(24):5123. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16245123. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019. PMID: 31847467 Free PMC article. Review.
-
Emotion Regulation Ability and Resilience in a Sample of Adolescents from a Suburban Area.Front Psychol. 2017 Nov 13;8:1980. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01980. eCollection 2017. Front Psychol. 2017. PMID: 29180978 Free PMC article.
-
A conceptual framework for the neurobiological study of resilience.Behav Brain Sci. 2015;38:e92. doi: 10.1017/S0140525X1400082X. Epub 2014 Aug 27. Behav Brain Sci. 2015. PMID: 25158686 Review.
-
Resilience under conditions of extreme stress: a multilevel perspective.World Psychiatry. 2010 Oct;9(3):145-54. doi: 10.1002/j.2051-5545.2010.tb00297.x. World Psychiatry. 2010. PMID: 20975856 Free PMC article.
-
A multiple-levels-of-analysis perspective on resilience: implications for the developing brain, neural plasticity, and preventive interventions.Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2006 Dec;1094:248-58. doi: 10.1196/annals.1376.029. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2006. PMID: 17347356 Review.
Cited by
-
Multimodal neural correlates of dispositional resilience among healthy individuals.Sci Rep. 2024 Apr 30;14(1):9875. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-60619-0. Sci Rep. 2024. PMID: 38684873 Free PMC article.
-
Cognitive, emotional, and social factors promoting psychosocial adaptation: a study of latent profiles in people living in socially vulnerable contexts.Front Psychol. 2024 Apr 12;15:1321242. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1321242. eCollection 2024. Front Psychol. 2024. PMID: 38680276 Free PMC article.
-
On the complex relationship between resilience and hair cortisol levels in adolescence despite parental physical abuse: a fourth wave of resilience research.Front Psychiatry. 2024 Apr 2;15:1345844. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1345844. eCollection 2024. Front Psychiatry. 2024. PMID: 38628259 Free PMC article.
-
Stress system concordance as a predictor of longitudinal patterns of resilience in adolescence.Dev Psychopathol. 2023 Dec;35(5):2384-2401. doi: 10.1017/S0954579423000731. Epub 2023 Jul 12. Dev Psychopathol. 2023. PMID: 37434505 Free PMC article.
-
Does resilience mediate the association between mental health symptoms and linguistic markers of trauma processing? Analyzing the narratives of women survivors of intimate partner violence.Front Psychol. 2023 Jun 13;14:1211022. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1211022. eCollection 2023. Front Psychol. 2023. PMID: 37384174 Free PMC article.
Publication types
MeSH terms
LinkOut - more resources
Miscellaneous