College of Graduate Studies and the Division of Human Services at Concordia University-Chicago, River Forest, IL, USA.
Leadership and Gerontology, Concordia University-Chicago, River Forest, IL, USA.
Aging Ment Health. 2020 Jul;24(7):1108-1115. doi: 10.1080/13607863.2019.1594162. Epub 2019 Apr 19.
We explore the internal and external resources that older adults use to negotiate adversity and related to later life. We investigated the experiences older adults had with adversity and explored the factors that promote and protect resilience and the how these factors shaped the process of managing adversity related to aging. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 64 resilient adults ranging in age from 53 to 94 years of age, with an average of 71. Participants were defined as resilient on the basis of their willingness to identify as such. Grounded Theory coding techniques were applied to identify themes reflecting distinct ways in which participants dealt with what they indicated were the most significant hardships and adversities in their lives. What emerged from the narratives about resilience and adversity were accounts of expressions of resilience that reflected the importance in having a resilient identity. Three major themes reflecting psychological and behavioral factors were derived from the data: 1. having vital components of resilience, or behaviors and beliefs in place, that encompass resilience as a way of being; 2. a broad but articulate set of strategies that participants actively engaged with to manage adversity, and 3. a set of protective practices used to prevent risk and prevail in the face of hardship. Findings suggest that dealing with adversity in later life requires the use of substantial internal and external resources in what can characterized as a proactive fashion. The results are presented as an interpretation of the participants' perceptions of their resilience and the role it plays in self-concept, strategic planning, and proactive practices. Implications for helping to put resilience into everyday practice are considered.
我们探讨了老年人用来应对逆境以及与晚年相关的内外资源。我们调查了老年人的逆境经历，并探讨了促进和保护韧性的因素，以及这些因素如何塑造与衰老相关的逆境管理过程。我们对 64 名年龄在 53 至 94 岁之间、平均年龄为 71 岁的有韧性的成年人进行了半结构化访谈，参与者是根据他们愿意自我认同的程度来定义的。扎根理论编码技术被应用于识别主题，这些主题反映了参与者处理他们认为是一生中最重大的困难和逆境的独特方式。从韧性和逆境的叙述中浮现出的是反映韧性身份重要性的韧性表达的描述。从数据中得出了三个反映心理和行为因素的主要主题：1. 拥有作为一种存在方式的韧性的重要组成部分，或行为和信念；2. 参与者积极参与管理逆境的广泛但明确的一系列策略；3. 一组用于预防风险和在困难面前取得胜利的保护措施。研究结果表明，在晚年应对逆境需要大量的内外资源，这可以被描述为一种积极主动的方式。研究结果以参与者对自己韧性的看法及其在自我概念、战略规划和积极主动的实践中的作用的解释呈现。考虑了将韧性纳入日常实践的意义。
