Emerging Trends in The Social and Behavioral Sciences

Resilience

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Resilience

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Resilience
ERICA D. DIMINICH and GEORGE A. BONANNO

Abstract
Research on resilience is still evolving. For decades, developmental researchers have
documented resilient outcomes in children exposed to chronic maltreatment who
nonetheless thrived. Relatively more recently the study of resilience has migrated
to the investigation of acute and potentially traumatic life events (PTE) in adults. We
first consider some of the key differences in the conceptualization of resilience following chronic adversity versus resilience following single-incident traumas, and then
describe some of the misunderstandings that have developed about these constructs.
We describe the terms emergent resilience and minimal-impact resilience (Bonanno &
Diminich, 2013) to represent trajectories of positive adjustment in these two domains,
respectively. In particular, we focus on minimal-impact resilience, and review recent
advances in the literature. We then briefly discuss the most widely researched factors
(e.g., age, gender, personality) suggested to influence resilient outcomes following
exposure to PTEs. In closing, we suggest future areas of research to further expand
the study of resilience within the social sciences.

INTRODUCTION
TRAJECTORIES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL RESILIENCE
The term resilience has for centuries been widely researched across the social
sciences, and over time has undergone multiple conceptual definitions. The
central objective in this research has been to identify processes or mechanisms underlying psychological resilient outcomes as well as protective and
predisposing factors that might modify the negative effects of adverse circumstances. For decades, research on psychological resilience was focused
primarily on behavioral variables. However, this research has more recently
moved toward advancing understanding of the biological, neurological, and
genetic processes underlying stress responses.
In this essay, we review the emergent body of research on psychological
resilience, beginning with a brief historical overview of the construct as
it originated in the developmental literature and then moving to its more

Emerging Trends in the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Edited by Robert Scott and Stephen Kosslyn.
© 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 978-1-118-90077-2.

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recent reconceptualization in the study of adults exposed to isolated and
potentially traumatic events (PTEs) (Bonanno, 2004). We consider misunderstandings surrounding the term resilience that have proliferated as the
construct migrated across literatures. We then describe emergent resilience
and minimal-impact resilience as distinct outcome trajectories of positive
adjustment that follow exposure to chronically aversive life circumstances
and acute trauma, respectively (Bonanno & Diminich, 2013). We present
a brief overview of some of the factors that predict the minimal-impact
resilience pattern and we conclude by offering methodological criteria to
guide future studies of resilience.
FOUNDATIONAL RESEARCH
The study of psychological resilience has an illustrious history, first gaining
currency as a psychological construct in the developmental literature where
scientists interested in the etiology of psychopathology, began studying
children exposed to chronic adversity (e.g., poverty) who nonetheless
evidenced favorable adjustment (Garmezy, 1972; Masten, 2001). Seminal
work in developmental research effectively broadened the corpus of developmental theory to encompass positive adaptation and adjustment (Rutter,
1979; Werner, 1995).
The use of the term resilience in the developmental literature came to
connote a relatively positive psychological outcome over a broad sweep
of time in spite of exposure to chronically aversive circumstances (Rutter,
2006). Chronically stressful experiences tend to lead to enduring changes
in a wide-range of psychological and physiological functions (de Kloet
et al., 2011; Offidani & Ruini, 2012). As a consequence, favorable outcomes
following exposure to chronic stress are typically only apparent after a
period of time has passed following the alleviation of the stress. We have
referred to this outcome path elsewhere as emergent resilience (Bonanno &
Diminich, 2013). For example, individuals exposed to the constant stressors
of civil war may witness numerous acts of violence, often leading to serious
injury or even death, endure physical and psychological deprivations, such
as limited food or electricity, and suffer the loss of multiple close friends and
relatives. During this time they may struggle with anxious or depressive
symptoms, bouts of irritability or aggression, have difficulty in concentrating
or sleeping, and experience frequent stress-related physiological symptoms.
However, when the war ends, they may find that they gradually feel less
anxious, regain the ability to concentrate and experience loving feelings
toward others, and regain a sense of optimism about the future.

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CUTTING EDGE RESEARCH
Researchers have over the past several decades shifted their attention from
studying resilient outcomes in children raised under corrosive circumstances to understanding resilient outcomes in adults in the aftermath of
PTEs (Bonanno et al., 2002; Ryff, Singer, & Dienberg-Love, 2004). PTE’s
are isolated events (e.g., bereavement, natural disasters) occurring in an
otherwise non-caustic environment that warrant a wide range of responses,
thus the experiences are “potentially” traumatic (Bonanno, 2004). The nature
of resilience, within this more acute context, necessarily takes on a different
pattern. As opposed to the gradual sweep toward positive outcome with
chronic adversity, single incident, acute stressors allow for a more focused
and relatively more proscribed coping efforts. As a result, minimal-impact
resilience following acute stressor events suggests a relatively stable trajectory of continuous healthy adjustment, with little or no lasting impact
on functioning. In one study, for example, resilience was identified in
over 50% of high exposure survivors who either witnessed the September
11th terrorist attack or were in the World Trade Center during the attack
(Bonanno, Galea, Bucciarelli, & Vlahov, 2006). We have labeled this pattern
minimal-impact resilience. For instance, someone involved in an automobile
accident who sustains a serious injury may initially experience unease,
be preoccupied with the accident, and have difficulty sleeping. However,
within a relatively short period of time, these symptoms abate and they
experience no further disruption in normal functioning. They are able to
recall all important aspects of the event itself while maintaining the ability
to experience positive emotions toward friends and family. A growing body
of research in the trauma and loss literature provides compelling evidence
indicating a set of prototypical outcomes of adjustment following PTEs with
the minimal-impact resilience trajectory identified as the most common
outcome (Bonanno et al., 2010). Prospective and longitudinal research have
now consistently identified trajectories of minimal impact resilience in adults
exposed to a variety of acute highly stressful events such as bereavement
(Bonanno, Moskowtiz, Papa, & Folkman, 2005; Mancini et al., 2011), natural
disasters, terrorists attacks (Bonanno et al., 2008; Norris, Tracy, & Galea,
2009), traumatic injury (deRoon-Cassini, Mancini, Rusch, & Bonanno, 2010),
and military deployment (Bonanno et al., 2012; Dickstein et al., 2010).
PREDICTORS OF MINIMAL-IMPACT RESILIENCE
Although no single predictor exerts a dominant influence on resilient
outcomes, research over the past decade has produced a body of evidence
for a set of factors that independently predict a minimal impact resilience
trajectory. These factors include person-centered variables (e.g., personality),

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contextual factors (e.g., social support), resources (e.g., income), exposure,
and facets of coping and emotion regulation (for review see, Bonanno,
Westphal, & Mancini, 2011). Together this evidence suggests that resilience
does not arise as a result of a single factor or even several dominant factors
but rather from the additive effects of a variety of independent predictors,
with each of these predictors accounting for a relatively small portion of the
overall outcome variance. Importantly, as PTEs are by nature unexpected,
occurring at any time in the life course, the factors that might predict an
individual’s response are malleable and tend to vary over time. Although,
some (e.g., personality) remain relatively stable over time, other factors
(e.g., supportive resources) will fluctuate with changing life circumstances
(Hobfoll, 1989). Thus, at any given time, the same individual may be more
or less resilient depending both on recent events and the ongoing changes
in the context of their lives.
Age has long been assumed to be a risk factor following PTEs (Cook &
Elmore, 2009). More recent research suggests, however; that older adults are
more likely to evidence a stable pattern of adjustment following an acute
stressor compared to younger adults (Bonanno et al., 2007; Bonanno & Kaltman, 1999; Mancini et al., 2011) and to experience relatively lower long-term
psychological costs compared to younger adults (Huerta & Horton, 1978;
Kato et al., 1996; Knight et al., 2000). Gender has been a consistent predictor of
resilience with several studies demonstrating the association between male
gender and resilience following exposure to aversive situations even when
controlling for potential confounding factors (Hoven et al., 2005; Resnick &
Vlahov, 2004; Vernberg, LaGreca, Silverman, & Prinstein, 1996) such as prior
trauma and exposure (Bonanno et al., 2010).
The impact of proximal exposure or events that occur in consort during the
approximate time of the PTE and distal exposure (Bonanno et al., 2010), the
resulting loss of resources that arise in the aftermath of a PTE are additional
risk factors. For example, in the study of adult trauma populations, the link
between proximal exposure to PTEs and increased levels of posttraumatic
stress has been consistently demonstrated (Bonanno, Rennicke, & Dekel,
2005; Nolen-Hoeksema & Morrow, 1991). These findings indicate that while
minimal impact resilience is the most common outcome following exposure
to acute traumatic events, proximal exposure may decrease the prevalence
of resilient outcomes in adult populations.
Personality traits as we have noted earlier have also been assumed to serve
a predictive role in ascertaining resilient outcomes (Bonanno, 2012; Luthar,
2000). Unfortunately, a significant portion of the research on personality
factors and resilient outcomes in adults has assessed personality and the
outcome measure several months following exposure (Bonanno & Mancini,
2008). Of particular, importance is the timing at which these assessments are

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conducted. Although personality is relatively more stable in adulthood, it
is nonetheless not impermeable to situational and environmental stressors
even in adulthood (McCrae et al., 2000). More specifically, assessing personality variables several months after a PTE is likely to obfuscate the direction
of association between resilience and personality. Put another way, exposure
to a highly stressful event is as likely to have informed the personality
variable as much as the other way around (Bonanno & Diminich, 2013).
An impressive and growing body of research addresses this confound
by using prospective data in which the personality variable is measured
before the PTE. Several studies have demonstrated an association between
subsequent adjustment and personality variables such as, trait resilience
(Ong, Fuller-Rowell, & Bonanno, 2010), low negative affectivity (Weems
et al., 2010), ruminative response style (Nolen-Hoeksema & Morrow, 1991),
and self-enhancement (Gupta & Bonanno, 2010). Importantly, the minimal
impact resilience trajectory discussed earlier has been inimitably associated with several traits in individuals exposed to a diverse array of PTEs
such as, self-enhancement among survivors of the 9/11 terrorist attacks
(Bonanno, et al., 2005), trait coping self-efficacy following traumatic injury
(deRoon-Cassini et al., 2010) and high positive affectivity in physical traumas
and spinal cord injuries (Quale & Schanke, 2010).
The evidence suggesting that personality influences resilient outcomes is
intriguing however, as others have argued personality rarely accounts for
more than a small portion of the variance in people’s behaviors across situations (Bonanno, Brewin, Kaniasty, & LaGreca, 2010; Mischel, 1969). Therefore,
we must be cautious in associating personality with resilience (Luthar, 2000)
and consider personality as one of many factors that contribute to or impact
resilient outcomes.
KEY ISSUES FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
Psychological resilience has through the years and across disciplines
undergone multiple definitions and reconceptualizations. In this essay, we
reviewed the construct of resilience and its migration from the developmental literature into the adult literature on loss and trauma. We introduced
the terms minimal impact resilience and emergent resilience as trajectories
of positive adjustment following exposure to chronic (e.g., war) and acute
(e.g., natural disasters) situations, respectively. Given the surge of interest
in identifying factors that will predict resilient outcomes following PTEs,
we reviewed a growing body of evidence supporting the minimal impact
resilience trajectory. We close by briefly identifying potential areas for
future research that might assist in broadening our perspective on resilient
outcomes and the factors that might inform such outcomes.

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Highly stressful and acute life events can and most certainly do affect
our psychological well-being. Relatedly, studies that have demonstrated
minimal-impact resilience have also consistently identified trajectories
of chronic dysfunction and recovery (Bonanno, 2004). In the service of
advancing the literature, researchers should focus on the emergence of these
disparate pathways (Masten, 2011). To that end, Bonanno (2012) proposed a
set of methodological criteria to guide future research; specifically that the
temporal bounds of the PTE be clearly defined, with measurements obtained
across multiple time points with the initial assessment obtained soon after
exposure to the PTE, and that minimal-impact resilience is categorized as a
stable pattern of healthy adjustment following the PTE and not merely as
the absence of pathology.
Recent years have also brought about an interest in programs that build
resilience en mass. A number of prophylactic interventions of this type have
been attempted in response to important social problems such as suicide, and
military preparedness. However, data for the efficacy of these interventions
is unconvincing and, in fact, some findings suggest that prophylactic interventions may do more harm than good [for reviews see Bonanno, Westphal,
& Mancini (2011) and McNally (2012)]. We would argue that one reason for
this reputed failure is that research on minimal-impact resilience is nascent,
and there is still much that we do not know about the factors that promote
such outcomes. What we do know, as we indicted above, is that no single
factor or process is likely to account for much of the variance in outcomes,
and therefore that resilience building enterprises are not likely to produce a
measurable effect unless they target a wide-range of factors.
Finally, another fruitful area for future study is in the neuroscience
of resilience (James et al., 2013; Ryff & Singer, 2002). There has been a
surge of research in the past decade examining the role of genetics, brain
structures, and neuroendocrine response. The potential interaction of how
these processes interact with stress and the possible role in both health
and pathology is increasingly coming into focus (Chrousos, 2009; Conrad,
2011). For example, specific underlying mechanisms that appear to underlie
post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and non-dysfunctional responses
to PTEs are increasingly well-understood, both at the level of functional
neuroscience (Liberzon & Sripada, 2007) and neuroendocrine responding
(Yehuda & Ledoux, 2007). Innovative work by de Quervain and colleagues
on the role of glutocorticoids in regulating memory for stressful events is
particularly compelling (de Quervain, 2006). This work although still in
progress, is particularly intriguing as it suggests that cortisol and other
aspects of the Hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis (HPA) axis serve to keep
memories of a highly aversive event in check. The implication is that such
mechanisms serve somewhat of a protective factor allowing for limited

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memory consolidation of the event while restricting the process by which
memories are elaborated upon through working memory and with material
from long-term memory.
As intriguing as these findings are, describing these advances in neuroscience in terms of resilience per se seems to us premature. To further advance
our understanding, researchers might move forward utilizing a trajectory
approach examining prototypical outcomes following exposure to PTE’s and
the potential neurological underpinnings. Such research would be instrumental in illuminating the mechanisms that might underlie minimal-impact
resilience. Perhaps even more importantly, and to illuminate the conceptual
limits of these constructs, future research should focus on relating neuroscience findings with trajectory research, paving the way for new thinking
and innovative research.
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FURTHER READING
Bonanno, G. A. (2004). Loss, trauma, and human resilience: Have we underestimated
the human capacity to thrive after extremely aversive events? American Psychologist, 59, 20–28.
La Greca, A. M., Silverman, W. K., Lai, B., & Jaccard, J. (2010). Hurricane-related exposure experiences and stressors, other life events, and social support: Concurrent
and prospective impact on children’s persistent posttraumatic stress symptoms.

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Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 78(6), 794–805. US: American Psychological Association. doi:10.1037/a0020775
Luthar, S. S., & Cicchetti, D. (2000). The construct of resilience: Implications for interventions and social policies. Development & Psychopathology, 12(4), 857–885.
Luthar, S. S., Sawyer, J. A., & Brown, P. J. (2007). Conceptual issues in studies of
resilience. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1094(1), 105–115.
Masten, A. S., & Narayan, A. J. (2012). Child development in the context of disaster,
war, and terrorism: Pathways of risk and resilience. Annual Review of Psychology,
63(1), 227–257. doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-120710-100356
Ryff, C. D., Singer, B. H., & Dienberg-Love, G. (2004). Positive health: connecting well-being with biology. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of
London. Series B: Biological Sciences, 359(1449), 1383–1394.

ERICA D. DIMINICH SHORT BIOGRAPHY
Erica D. Diminich, MS, is a doctoral student at Teachers College, Columbia
University, and Lab Manager of the Loss, Trauma and Emotion (LTE) Lab.
She received her BA in Liberal Arts from New York University. Erica’s
research interests include emotion regulation, specifically how emotion
in psychopathology becomes dsyregulated across divergent channels of
responding (experiential, behavioral).
GEORGE A. BONANNO SHORT BIOGRAPHY
George A. Bonanno, PhD is a professor of Clinical Psychology and director
of the Loss, Trauma, and Emotion Lab in the Department of Counseling and
Clinical Psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University. He received
his PhD from Yale University in 1991 and has been a visiting professor at the
University of Hong Kong, Cattolica Università in Milano, Italy, and the Lund
University in Sweden. Professor Bonanno’s interests center on the question
of how human beings cope with loss, trauma, and other forms of extreme
adversity, with an emphasis on resilience and the salutary role of emotion
regulatory processes. Professor Bonanno’s recent empirical and theoretical
work has focused on defining and documenting resilience in the face of
loss or potential traumatic events, including disaster, the death of loved
ones, terrorist attack, bio-epidemic, traumatic injury, and life-threatening
injuries and medical events, and on identifying the range of psychological
and contextual variables that predict both psychopathological and resilient
outcomes, as well as other patterns of outcome (e.g., gradual recovery and
delayed reactions). His research has been funded by the National Institutes
of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation,
and featured in various print, television, and radio media, including The

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EMERGING TRENDS IN THE SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES

New York Times, Science News, Scientific American, Wall Street Journal, The
Washington Post, Time, Newsweek, CNN, 20/20, and NPR. He coedited the
book, Emotion: Current Issues and Future Directions (Guilford), and recently
authored The Other Side of Sadness: What the New Science of Bereavement Can
Tell Us about Life after Loss (Basic Books).
Links:
The Loss, Trauma, and Emotion Lab at Columbia University: http://www.
tc.edu/LTElab/
The Other Side of Sadness: What the New Science of Bereavement Tells us
about Life After Loss (2009). Basic Books: http://www.amazon.com/TheOther-Side-Sadness-Bereavement/dp/0465021905/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&
qid=1399812584&sr=8-1&keywords=the+other+side+of+sadness
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Resilience

13

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Resilience
ERICA D. DIMINICH and GEORGE A. BONANNO

Abstract
Research on resilience is still evolving. For decades, developmental researchers have
documented resilient outcomes in children exposed to chronic maltreatment who
nonetheless thrived. Relatively more recently the study of resilience has migrated
to the investigation of acute and potentially traumatic life events (PTE) in adults. We
first consider some of the key differences in the conceptualization of resilience following chronic adversity versus resilience following single-incident traumas, and then
describe some of the misunderstandings that have developed about these constructs.
We describe the terms emergent resilience and minimal-impact resilience (Bonanno &
Diminich, 2013) to represent trajectories of positive adjustment in these two domains,
respectively. In particular, we focus on minimal-impact resilience, and review recent
advances in the literature. We then briefly discuss the most widely researched factors
(e.g., age, gender, personality) suggested to influence resilient outcomes following
exposure to PTEs. In closing, we suggest future areas of research to further expand
the study of resilience within the social sciences.

INTRODUCTION
TRAJECTORIES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL RESILIENCE
The term resilience has for centuries been widely researched across the social
sciences, and over time has undergone multiple conceptual definitions. The
central objective in this research has been to identify processes or mechanisms underlying psychological resilient outcomes as well as protective and
predisposing factors that might modify the negative effects of adverse circumstances. For decades, research on psychological resilience was focused
primarily on behavioral variables. However, this research has more recently
moved toward advancing understanding of the biological, neurological, and
genetic processes underlying stress responses.
In this essay, we review the emergent body of research on psychological
resilience, beginning with a brief historical overview of the construct as
it originated in the developmental literature and then moving to its more

Emerging Trends in the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Edited by Robert Scott and Stephen Kosslyn.
© 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 978-1-118-90077-2.

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EMERGING TRENDS IN THE SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES

recent reconceptualization in the study of adults exposed to isolated and
potentially traumatic events (PTEs) (Bonanno, 2004). We consider misunderstandings surrounding the term resilience that have proliferated as the
construct migrated across literatures. We then describe emergent resilience
and minimal-impact resilience as distinct outcome trajectories of positive
adjustment that follow exposure to chronically aversive life circumstances
and acute trauma, respectively (Bonanno & Diminich, 2013). We present
a brief overview of some of the factors that predict the minimal-impact
resilience pattern and we conclude by offering methodological criteria to
guide future studies of resilience.
FOUNDATIONAL RESEARCH
The study of psychological resilience has an illustrious history, first gaining
currency as a psychological construct in the developmental literature where
scientists interested in the etiology of psychopathology, began studying
children exposed to chronic adversity (e.g., poverty) who nonetheless
evidenced favorable adjustment (Garmezy, 1972; Masten, 2001). Seminal
work in developmental research effectively broadened the corpus of developmental theory to encompass positive adaptation and adjustment (Rutter,
1979; Werner, 1995).
The use of the term resilience in the developmental literature came to
connote a relatively positive psychological outcome over a broad sweep
of time in spite of exposure to chronically aversive circumstances (Rutter,
2006). Chronically stressful experiences tend to lead to enduring changes
in a wide-range of psychological and physiological functions (de Kloet
et al., 2011; Offidani & Ruini, 2012). As a consequence, favorable outcomes
following exposure to chronic stress are typically only apparent after a
period of time has passed following the alleviation of the stress. We have
referred to this outcome path elsewhere as emergent resilience (Bonanno &
Diminich, 2013). For example, individuals exposed to the constant stressors
of civil war may witness numerous acts of violence, often leading to serious
injury or even death, endure physical and psychological deprivations, such
as limited food or electricity, and suffer the loss of multiple close friends and
relatives. During this time they may struggle with anxious or depressive
symptoms, bouts of irritability or aggression, have difficulty in concentrating
or sleeping, and experience frequent stress-related physiological symptoms.
However, when the war ends, they may find that they gradually feel less
anxious, regain the ability to concentrate and experience loving feelings
toward others, and regain a sense of optimism about the future.

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CUTTING EDGE RESEARCH
Researchers have over the past several decades shifted their attention from
studying resilient outcomes in children raised under corrosive circumstances to understanding resilient outcomes in adults in the aftermath of
PTEs (Bonanno et al., 2002; Ryff, Singer, & Dienberg-Love, 2004). PTE’s
are isolated events (e.g., bereavement, natural disasters) occurring in an
otherwise non-caustic environment that warrant a wide range of responses,
thus the experiences are “potentially” traumatic (Bonanno, 2004). The nature
of resilience, within this more acute context, necessarily takes on a different
pattern. As opposed to the gradual sweep toward positive outcome with
chronic adversity, single incident, acute stressors allow for a more focused
and relatively more proscribed coping efforts. As a result, minimal-impact
resilience following acute stressor events suggests a relatively stable trajectory of continuous healthy adjustment, with little or no lasting impact
on functioning. In one study, for example, resilience was identified in
over 50% of high exposure survivors who either witnessed the September
11th terrorist attack or were in the World Trade Center during the attack
(Bonanno, Galea, Bucciarelli, & Vlahov, 2006). We have labeled this pattern
minimal-impact resilience. For instance, someone involved in an automobile
accident who sustains a serious injury may initially experience unease,
be preoccupied with the accident, and have difficulty sleeping. However,
within a relatively short period of time, these symptoms abate and they
experience no further disruption in normal functioning. They are able to
recall all important aspects of the event itself while maintaining the ability
to experience positive emotions toward friends and family. A growing body
of research in the trauma and loss literature provides compelling evidence
indicating a set of prototypical outcomes of adjustment following PTEs with
the minimal-impact resilience trajectory identified as the most common
outcome (Bonanno et al., 2010). Prospective and longitudinal research have
now consistently identified trajectories of minimal impact resilience in adults
exposed to a variety of acute highly stressful events such as bereavement
(Bonanno, Moskowtiz, Papa, & Folkman, 2005; Mancini et al., 2011), natural
disasters, terrorists attacks (Bonanno et al., 2008; Norris, Tracy, & Galea,
2009), traumatic injury (deRoon-Cassini, Mancini, Rusch, & Bonanno, 2010),
and military deployment (Bonanno et al., 2012; Dickstein et al., 2010).
PREDICTORS OF MINIMAL-IMPACT RESILIENCE
Although no single predictor exerts a dominant influence on resilient
outcomes, research over the past decade has produced a body of evidence
for a set of factors that independently predict a minimal impact resilience
trajectory. These factors include person-centered variables (e.g., personality),

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EMERGING TRENDS IN THE SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES

contextual factors (e.g., social support), resources (e.g., income), exposure,
and facets of coping and emotion regulation (for review see, Bonanno,
Westphal, & Mancini, 2011). Together this evidence suggests that resilience
does not arise as a result of a single factor or even several dominant factors
but rather from the additive effects of a variety of independent predictors,
with each of these predictors accounting for a relatively small portion of the
overall outcome variance. Importantly, as PTEs are by nature unexpected,
occurring at any time in the life course, the factors that might predict an
individual’s response are malleable and tend to vary over time. Although,
some (e.g., personality) remain relatively stable over time, other factors
(e.g., supportive resources) will fluctuate with changing life circumstances
(Hobfoll, 1989). Thus, at any given time, the same individual may be more
or less resilient depending both on recent events and the ongoing changes
in the context of their lives.
Age has long been assumed to be a risk factor following PTEs (Cook &
Elmore, 2009). More recent research suggests, however; that older adults are
more likely to evidence a stable pattern of adjustment following an acute
stressor compared to younger adults (Bonanno et al., 2007; Bonanno & Kaltman, 1999; Mancini et al., 2011) and to experience relatively lower long-term
psychological costs compared to younger adults (Huerta & Horton, 1978;
Kato et al., 1996; Knight et al., 2000). Gender has been a consistent predictor of
resilience with several studies demonstrating the association between male
gender and resilience following exposure to aversive situations even when
controlling for potential confounding factors (Hoven et al., 2005; Resnick &
Vlahov, 2004; Vernberg, LaGreca, Silverman, & Prinstein, 1996) such as prior
trauma and exposure (Bonanno et al., 2010).
The impact of proximal exposure or events that occur in consort during the
approximate time of the PTE and distal exposure (Bonanno et al., 2010), the
resulting loss of resources that arise in the aftermath of a PTE are additional
risk factors. For example, in the study of adult trauma populations, the link
between proximal exposure to PTEs and increased levels of posttraumatic
stress has been consistently demonstrated (Bonanno, Rennicke, & Dekel,
2005; Nolen-Hoeksema & Morrow, 1991). These findings indicate that while
minimal impact resilience is the most common outcome following exposure
to acute traumatic events, proximal exposure may decrease the prevalence
of resilient outcomes in adult populations.
Personality traits as we have noted earlier have also been assumed to serve
a predictive role in ascertaining resilient outcomes (Bonanno, 2012; Luthar,
2000). Unfortunately, a significant portion of the research on personality
factors and resilient outcomes in adults has assessed personality and the
outcome measure several months following exposure (Bonanno & Mancini,
2008). Of particular, importance is the timing at which these assessments are

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5

conducted. Although personality is relatively more stable in adulthood, it
is nonetheless not impermeable to situational and environmental stressors
even in adulthood (McCrae et al., 2000). More specifically, assessing personality variables several months after a PTE is likely to obfuscate the direction
of association between resilience and personality. Put another way, exposure
to a highly stressful event is as likely to have informed the personality
variable as much as the other way around (Bonanno & Diminich, 2013).
An impressive and growing body of research addresses this confound
by using prospective data in which the personality variable is measured
before the PTE. Several studies have demonstrated an association between
subsequent adjustment and personality variables such as, trait resilience
(Ong, Fuller-Rowell, & Bonanno, 2010), low negative affectivity (Weems
et al., 2010), ruminative response style (Nolen-Hoeksema & Morrow, 1991),
and self-enhancement (Gupta & Bonanno, 2010). Importantly, the minimal
impact resilience trajectory discussed earlier has been inimitably associated with several traits in individuals exposed to a diverse array of PTEs
such as, self-enhancement among survivors of the 9/11 terrorist attacks
(Bonanno, et al., 2005), trait coping self-efficacy following traumatic injury
(deRoon-Cassini et al., 2010) and high positive affectivity in physical traumas
and spinal cord injuries (Quale & Schanke, 2010).
The evidence suggesting that personality influences resilient outcomes is
intriguing however, as others have argued personality rarely accounts for
more than a small portion of the variance in people’s behaviors across situations (Bonanno, Brewin, Kaniasty, & LaGreca, 2010; Mischel, 1969). Therefore,
we must be cautious in associating personality with resilience (Luthar, 2000)
and consider personality as one of many factors that contribute to or impact
resilient outcomes.
KEY ISSUES FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
Psychological resilience has through the years and across disciplines
undergone multiple definitions and reconceptualizations. In this essay, we
reviewed the construct of resilience and its migration from the developmental literature into the adult literature on loss and trauma. We introduced
the terms minimal impact resilience and emergent resilience as trajectories
of positive adjustment following exposure to chronic (e.g., war) and acute
(e.g., natural disasters) situations, respectively. Given the surge of interest
in identifying factors that will predict resilient outcomes following PTEs,
we reviewed a growing body of evidence supporting the minimal impact
resilience trajectory. We close by briefly identifying potential areas for
future research that might assist in broadening our perspective on resilient
outcomes and the factors that might inform such outcomes.

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Highly stressful and acute life events can and most certainly do affect
our psychological well-being. Relatedly, studies that have demonstrated
minimal-impact resilience have also consistently identified trajectories
of chronic dysfunction and recovery (Bonanno, 2004). In the service of
advancing the literature, researchers should focus on the emergence of these
disparate pathways (Masten, 2011). To that end, Bonanno (2012) proposed a
set of methodological criteria to guide future research; specifically that the
temporal bounds of the PTE be clearly defined, with measurements obtained
across multiple time points with the initial assessment obtained soon after
exposure to the PTE, and that minimal-impact resilience is categorized as a
stable pattern of healthy adjustment following the PTE and not merely as
the absence of pathology.
Recent years have also brought about an interest in programs that build
resilience en mass. A number of prophylactic interventions of this type have
been attempted in response to important social problems such as suicide, and
military preparedness. However, data for the efficacy of these interventions
is unconvincing and, in fact, some findings suggest that prophylactic interventions may do more harm than good [for reviews see Bonanno, Westphal,
& Mancini (2011) and McNally (2012)]. We would argue that one reason for
this reputed failure is that research on minimal-impact resilience is nascent,
and there is still much that we do not know about the factors that promote
such outcomes. What we do know, as we indicted above, is that no single
factor or process is likely to account for much of the variance in outcomes,
and therefore that resilience building enterprises are not likely to produce a
measurable effect unless they target a wide-range of factors.
Finally, another fruitful area for future study is in the neuroscience
of resilience (James et al., 2013; Ryff & Singer, 2002). There has been a
surge of research in the past decade examining the role of genetics, brain
structures, and neuroendocrine response. The potential interaction of how
these processes interact with stress and the possible role in both health
and pathology is increasingly coming into focus (Chrousos, 2009; Conrad,
2011). For example, specific underlying mechanisms that appear to underlie
post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and non-dysfunctional responses
to PTEs are increasingly well-understood, both at the level of functional
neuroscience (Liberzon & Sripada, 2007) and neuroendocrine responding
(Yehuda & Ledoux, 2007). Innovative work by de Quervain and colleagues
on the role of glutocorticoids in regulating memory for stressful events is
particularly compelling (de Quervain, 2006). This work although still in
progress, is particularly intriguing as it suggests that cortisol and other
aspects of the Hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis (HPA) axis serve to keep
memories of a highly aversive event in check. The implication is that such
mechanisms serve somewhat of a protective factor allowing for limited

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7

memory consolidation of the event while restricting the process by which
memories are elaborated upon through working memory and with material
from long-term memory.
As intriguing as these findings are, describing these advances in neuroscience in terms of resilience per se seems to us premature. To further advance
our understanding, researchers might move forward utilizing a trajectory
approach examining prototypical outcomes following exposure to PTE’s and
the potential neurological underpinnings. Such research would be instrumental in illuminating the mechanisms that might underlie minimal-impact
resilience. Perhaps even more importantly, and to illuminate the conceptual
limits of these constructs, future research should focus on relating neuroscience findings with trajectory research, paving the way for new thinking
and innovative research.
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FURTHER READING
Bonanno, G. A. (2004). Loss, trauma, and human resilience: Have we underestimated
the human capacity to thrive after extremely aversive events? American Psychologist, 59, 20–28.
La Greca, A. M., Silverman, W. K., Lai, B., & Jaccard, J. (2010). Hurricane-related exposure experiences and stressors, other life events, and social support: Concurrent
and prospective impact on children’s persistent posttraumatic stress symptoms.

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Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 78(6), 794–805. US: American Psychological Association. doi:10.1037/a0020775
Luthar, S. S., & Cicchetti, D. (2000). The construct of resilience: Implications for interventions and social policies. Development & Psychopathology, 12(4), 857–885.
Luthar, S. S., Sawyer, J. A., & Brown, P. J. (2007). Conceptual issues in studies of
resilience. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1094(1), 105–115.
Masten, A. S., & Narayan, A. J. (2012). Child development in the context of disaster,
war, and terrorism: Pathways of risk and resilience. Annual Review of Psychology,
63(1), 227–257. doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-120710-100356
Ryff, C. D., Singer, B. H., & Dienberg-Love, G. (2004). Positive health: connecting well-being with biology. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of
London. Series B: Biological Sciences, 359(1449), 1383–1394.

ERICA D. DIMINICH SHORT BIOGRAPHY
Erica D. Diminich, MS, is a doctoral student at Teachers College, Columbia
University, and Lab Manager of the Loss, Trauma and Emotion (LTE) Lab.
She received her BA in Liberal Arts from New York University. Erica’s
research interests include emotion regulation, specifically how emotion
in psychopathology becomes dsyregulated across divergent channels of
responding (experiential, behavioral).
GEORGE A. BONANNO SHORT BIOGRAPHY
George A. Bonanno, PhD is a professor of Clinical Psychology and director
of the Loss, Trauma, and Emotion Lab in the Department of Counseling and
Clinical Psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University. He received
his PhD from Yale University in 1991 and has been a visiting professor at the
University of Hong Kong, Cattolica Università in Milano, Italy, and the Lund
University in Sweden. Professor Bonanno’s interests center on the question
of how human beings cope with loss, trauma, and other forms of extreme
adversity, with an emphasis on resilience and the salutary role of emotion
regulatory processes. Professor Bonanno’s recent empirical and theoretical
work has focused on defining and documenting resilience in the face of
loss or potential traumatic events, including disaster, the death of loved
ones, terrorist attack, bio-epidemic, traumatic injury, and life-threatening
injuries and medical events, and on identifying the range of psychological
and contextual variables that predict both psychopathological and resilient
outcomes, as well as other patterns of outcome (e.g., gradual recovery and
delayed reactions). His research has been funded by the National Institutes
of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation,
and featured in various print, television, and radio media, including The

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EMERGING TRENDS IN THE SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES

New York Times, Science News, Scientific American, Wall Street Journal, The
Washington Post, Time, Newsweek, CNN, 20/20, and NPR. He coedited the
book, Emotion: Current Issues and Future Directions (Guilford), and recently
authored The Other Side of Sadness: What the New Science of Bereavement Can
Tell Us about Life after Loss (Basic Books).
Links:
The Loss, Trauma, and Emotion Lab at Columbia University: http://www.
tc.edu/LTElab/
The Other Side of Sadness: What the New Science of Bereavement Tells us
about Life After Loss (2009). Basic Books: http://www.amazon.com/TheOther-Side-Sadness-Bereavement/dp/0465021905/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&
qid=1399812584&sr=8-1&keywords=the+other+side+of+sadness
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