Interrelations of resilience factors and their incremental impact for mental health: Insights from network modeling using a prospective study across seven timepoints

Abstract

Resilience as an outcome can be viewed as trajectory of stable good mental health or the quick regain of mental health during or after stressor exposure. Resilience factors (RFs) are psychological resources that buffer the potential negative effects of stress on mental health. A problem of resilience research is the large number of conceptually overlapping RFs complicating their understanding as well as the planning and evaluation of resilience interventions. The current study sheds light on interrelations of RFs in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic as a use case for major disruptions. The prospective study assessed a population sample of 1,275 German-speaking people (Mage=50.06, 51.5% female) from February 2020 to March 2021 at six critical timepoints during the pandemic. We assessed coping, hardiness, control beliefs, optimism, self-efficacy, sense of coherence (SOC), sense of mastery, social support as well as dispositional resilience as psychological RFs in February 2020, and mental health (i.e., psychopathological symptoms, COVID-19-related rumination, stress-related growth) at all timepoints. Analyses used partial correlation network models and LASSO regressions. Pre-pandemic RFs were strongly interrelated with SOC being the most central node. During the pandemic, networks for all outcomes remained stable. Pre-pandemic SOC was the strongest partial correlate of psychopathological symptoms and COVID-19-related rumination, while stress-related growth showed unique associations with positive reframing and optimism. LASSO regressions supported SOC’s incremental validity beyond other RFs for psychopathological symptoms and COVID-19-related rumination, while SOC was unrelated to stress-related growth. Either longitudinally or cross-sectionally, the sum of RFs at most accounted for 39% of the variance in mental health. Our findings provide evidence for SOC playing an important role for mental health and suggest to further examine SOC’s incremental validity. Given the differential associations for negative and positive mental health outcomes, resilience research may benefit from using multidimensional outcomes.

Digital interventions to promote psychological resilience: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Resilience factors are internal and external resources that come into play when coping with various stressors 1 . These factors include dispositional variables such as resilience-promoting traits (e.g., optimism), beliefs (e.g., self-efficacy), and coping strategies (e.g., flexible or active coping) 9,10 , social and cultural factors (e.g., perceived social support, community cohesion) 6 . Recent approaches in resilience research suggest that these resilience factors show substantial interrelations 10 and may converge into a smaller number of higher-level resilience mechanisms (e.g., positive appraisal style 11 ; regulatory flexibility 12 ), which mediate their association with resilient outcomes 11 .…”

“…These factors include dispositional variables such as resilience-promoting traits (e.g., optimism), beliefs (e.g., self-efficacy), and coping strategies (e.g., flexible or active coping) 9,10 , social and cultural factors (e.g., perceived social support, community cohesion) 6 . Recent approaches in resilience research suggest that these resilience factors show substantial interrelations 10 and may converge into a smaller number of higher-level resilience mechanisms (e.g., positive appraisal style 11 ; regulatory flexibility 12 ), which mediate their association with resilient outcomes 11 . Most resiliencepromoting interventions use approaches adapted from psychotherapy (e.g., cognitive-behavioral or mindfulness-based interventions) to enhance these factors with a broad set of exercises 13,14 (e.g., psychoeducation, relaxation, training of cognitive strategies).…”

Individual, social and societal resilience factors in the face of societal challenges and crises: A systematic review of adult populations from OECD member states

“…Consequently, previous qualitative reviews on resilience factors 11,12,28,29 comprised a large number of potentially resilience-promoting traits and beliefs. However, a major short-coming of research into individual resilience factors is the missing conceptual clarity 11,30,31 with substantial empirical and conceptual overlaps of different factors (e.g., self-efficacy and locus of control, meaning in life and spirituality) 32 . As many individual resilience factors are examined in single studies without studying their incremental validity above other (resilience) factors, knowledge on their unique value to predict resilient responses is rare, with some findings suggesting a decreasing relevance in joint models 16,[32][33][34] .…”

“…However, a major short-coming of research into individual resilience factors is the missing conceptual clarity 11,30,31 with substantial empirical and conceptual overlaps of different factors (e.g., self-efficacy and locus of control, meaning in life and spirituality) 32 . As many individual resilience factors are examined in single studies without studying their incremental validity above other (resilience) factors, knowledge on their unique value to predict resilient responses is rare, with some findings suggesting a decreasing relevance in joint models 16,[32][33][34] . This complicates basic research into resilience 35 , the development and evaluation of resilience interventions 32 as well as the monitoring of resilience factors as part of public mental health surveillance 4 .…”

“…As many individual resilience factors are examined in single studies without studying their incremental validity above other (resilience) factors, knowledge on their unique value to predict resilient responses is rare, with some findings suggesting a decreasing relevance in joint models 16,[32][33][34] . This complicates basic research into resilience 35 , the development and evaluation of resilience interventions 32 as well as the monitoring of resilience factors as part of public mental health surveillance 4 .…”