Resilience and Young Adulthood: Testing the Mediating Effects of Positive Emotion and Social Connectedness on Distress
Abstract
Objective: To examine the potentially mediating effects of positive emotion and social
support on the relationship of resilience and gender to distress indicated by poor
psychological adjustment and physical health outcomes. Design/Setting: Participants in
the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health; Harris,
2013) completed in-home interviews as part of Wave IV data collection. These data,
collected when the participants were young adults, are part of a larger longitudinal
dataset that began with Wave I data collection when the participants were in middle
school. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.
Participants: Participants include the 5,114 respondents comprising the Wave IV Public
Use Sample provided by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Carolina
Population Center, 2008). The sample was predominately in their mid-twenties,
Caucasian, and had completed at least a high school education. The sample was 54%
female and 42% male. Main outcome Measures: Items from the NEO-PI-R were used
to identify resilient, overcontrolled, and undercontrolled personality prototypes. Items
from the CES-D10 were used to assess positive affect and depression. Additional
questions from the Wave IV in-home interview regarding health outcomes, and social
support including familial relationships, friendships, and romantic relationships were
also included. Results: Both significant indirect and direct effects were observed from
personality to the psychological distress outcome variable. The resilient prototype had
significant indirect effects on psychological distress through its advantageous effects on
positive affect and social support. A significant direct effect was observed from gender
to both the psychological distress and the physical health outcomes.
Conclusions: Resilience appears to impact psychological distress through advantageous
associations with social support and positive affect. These anticipated relationships are
independent of the significant association of gender to psychological distress.
Understanding the interactions between social support and positive affect over time in
supporting psychological adjustment and overall well-being across the lifespan is a
promising avenue requiring longitudinal research. Individuals endorsing psychological
distress (for example, anxiety and depression symptoms) may benefit from interventions
that promote social connectedness which may increase the likelihood of receiving social
support and experiencing positive emotions.
Citation
Leuthold, Elizabeth Tumlinson Brower (2018). Resilience and Young Adulthood: Testing the Mediating Effects of Positive Emotion and Social Connectedness on Distress. Doctoral dissertation, Texas A & M University. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /173644.