Today’s Goals

  • Mini-review: Nature
  • Catch up: Nature relatedness
  • Understand how psychologists define resilience
  • Become familiar with the MIDUS study
  • Explore resilience findings & identify protective factors

 

Mini-review: Nature

  • What is the biophilia hypothesis?

People have a need to connect with nature Need to associate with living/life-like things

  • What is shinrin-yoku? Forest-bathing
  • Briefly describe a few individual benefits associated with exposure to nature

Community cohesion, individuals feel more connected to one another

Stress reduction, increase in overall mood, longer life-span

  • Briefly describe a few social benefits of exposure to nature

 

Resilience

  • “…maintenance, recovery, or improvement in health following challenge.” (Ryff et al., 2012)
  • “…good outcomes in spite of serious threats to adaptation or development.” or “ordinary magic” (Masten, 2001)
  • “…successful adaptation to adversity, with emphasis given to recovery (how people bounce back from challenge) and sustainability (the capacity to continue forward in the face of adversity).” (Reich et al., 2010)

 

Early Research & Observations

  • Many children of mentally ill parents do not develop mental illness or behaviour problems
  • Many low SES children grow up to be competent, caring adults
  • Many adults adapt to inevitable stressors
  • People do not become miserable with old age and its challenges

People tend to age well, on average (within happiness)

Not applicable to all cultures

Overall: people are doing relatively well in difficult situations

 

Resilience in MIDUS

  • Dealing with difficult circumstances (low SES, discrimination)
  • Dealing with aging
  • Dealing with specific challenges (abuse, illness)

 

MIDUS Overview

  • 1995/1996 7,000 US adults (age 25-74)
  • Representative sample, plus urban, twin, & sibling extra samples
  • Focus on aging through adulthood
  • 2004/2005 follow-up with more measures o Becomes longitudinal at this point

 

Protective Factors

  • Positive Emotions
  • Positive thinking (or realism?)
  • Sense of control
  • Intelligence
  • Self-complexity

One thing vs. many over-lapping things that belong to the self

Self identification

Other things to rely on

  • Religion, faith
  • Social support
  • Family cohesion, warmth, support
  • Sense of community
  • (Difficulty of outcome vs. protective factor)

 

Challenge of Inequality

  • SES and health: average linear relationship
  • Mastery/control among lower SES helped o “I can do just about anything I really set my mind to.” o Subjective health
    • IL-6 (along with other Ryff PWB indicators) figure on next page
  • Maternal warmth reduced SES health indicator disparities o “How much love and affection did she give you?” o Less high fasting glucose, high blood pressure, and dysregulated lipid profiles.
  • Race and (protective) discrimination perceptions o US Blacks resilient on PWB indicators; o Acknowledging discrimination & better cortisol
  • Physical and mental health risk (e.g., depression); cognitive changes
  • Seem buffered by good o Social support, physical exercise, sense of control, purpose in life o On subjective health, disability, IL-6
  • Volunteering & donations predict PWB, SWB
  • Social contact also helpful for cognitive decline

 

Life Challenges

  • Child physical abuse predicts poor outcomes (health, negative affect)
  • Buffered by sense of control (mastery) o “I have little control over the things that happen to me.” (R)
  • Buffered by community support o “I feel close to other people in my community.
  • Loss of Spouse o (recall ‘hedonic treadmill’ discussion) o Overall decrease in positive affect
    • Less pronounced among those with high baseline positive reappraisal
  • “I can find something positive, even in the worst situations.”
  • “I find I usually learn something meaningful from a difficult situation.” o May extend to HPA axis (cortisol)

 

Future Directions

  • More MIDUS data coming
  • Much still could be analyzed
  • Comparisons with mirror Japan study
  • (More on challenging events coming Wed.)