Thriving through adversity: The role of passion and emotions in the resilience process.

OBJECTIVES

Two cross-sectional (Studies 1, N = 283 and 2, N = 275) and one prospective (Study 3, N = 238) studies investigated the role of passion (for academia) and emotions in the process of resilience in the education domain and in life in general.

METHOD

Participants were examined when facing a stressful situation related to their passion for academia (end-of-term exam period and a timed education task).

RESULTS

All three studies showed that harmonious passion, through its positive relationship with positive emotions, was positively associated with high positive outcomes in the education domain (satisfaction with one's studies, subjective and objective performance in one's studies) and in life in general via the subjective evaluation of one's life and general health indicators (subjective vitality and fewer negative physical symptoms). On the other hand, obsessive passion was related to mixed effects on resilience. Specifically, obsessive passion related to low levels of functioning (Studies 1 and 3) and also hindered the positive outcomes (Studies 1-3) through its positive relationships with positive and negative emotions, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

In sum, under stress, harmonious passion facilitates high resilience across life domains, whereas obsessive passion yields low resilience across the life or no resilience at all.