What is resilience?
Resilience is the ability to react to and recover from things that have a negative impact on our lives.1 These influences may be internal (e.g. attitudes, self-confidence) or external (e.g. your social support).
We distinguish between three different types of resilience:
Cognitive resilience: The ability to maintain a certain level of cognitive performance despite negative brain-related changes.2
Physical resilience: The ability to maintain physical function in the face of age-related losses or disease.3
Mental resilience: The ability to maintain good mental health by positively adapting in the face of adversity.1
Resilience is what allows us to bounce back from the changes and challenges we face in our daily life. It is one of the most important and enduring determinants of health across our lifecourse.
This study aims to help us learn more about resilience: how does it change over time and why? How can we improve and build resilience going forward? How does resilience relate to mental health and cognition as we age?
By participating in this study, you will contribute to answer these questions and may even learn some valuable things about yourself.
1 Sisto, A., Vicinanza, F., Campanozzi, L.L., Ricci, G., Tartaglini, D., & Tambone, V. (2019). Towards a Transversal Definition of Psychological Resilience: A Literature Review. Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania), 55(11), 745. https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina55110745
2 Kremen, W.S., Elman, J.A., Panizzon, M.S., Eglit, G., Sanderson-Cimino, M., Williams, M.E., Lyons, M.J., & Franz, C.E. (2022). Cognitive Reserve and Related Constructs: A Unified Framework Across Cognitive and Brain Dimensions of Aging. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 14, 834765. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2022.834765
3 Resnick, B., Galik, E., Dorsey, S., Scheve, A., & Gutkin, S. (2011). Reliability and Validity Testing of the Physical Resilience Measure. The Gerontologist, 51(5), 643–652. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnr016