Protective Factors and Resiliency: The Ability to Bounce Back

This study examined the relationship between resiliency and protective traits or characteristics, as well as demographic, social engagement and behavioral factors. The study opens with a comprehensive literature review of the psychology of resiliency. This review focuses on the definition, history (and historical trends and periods related to psychological resiliency), and measurement of resiliency. An online survey was then conducted via Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT), and completed by 200 individuals. The survey found resiliency to be positively associated with the expected protective factors, including: well-being, mindfulness, gratefulness, and life-satisfaction. Resiliency was also, as expected, negatively associated with anxiety. Perfectionism was not found to be associated with resiliency. Demographic factors were not found to be associated with resiliency, and while having a bicultural identity was not associated with resiliency, participating in events of more than one culture was associated with resiliency. Results are discussed in relation to opportunities for and approaches to promoting resiliency