Resilience: Definition, characteristics and utility of the concept

Abstract

Resilience, or the capacity to overcome adverse events, and to be able to develop oneself success-fully despite very adverse circumstances (parents' death, wars, serious traumas, etc.), has become a concept of great interest during the last years and is becoming a popular term. In this paper we review the existing information about resilience, and clarify some of its central aspects such as its definition, characteristics, differentiation from other related concepts (competence, vulnerability, locus of control and attributional style, hardiness, recovery, risk and protective factors, positive psychology), and the types of studies that have been carried out on this topic (centred in the variable or in the person, as a trait or a behavioural pattern, as the process or the result). We conclude that resilience is a useful term that needs, however, more conceptual clarification as well as further studies to verify the utility of the explanatory power of the construct as regards the prevention and treatment of different psychopatho-logical disorders.