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Positive Affect as Source of Resilience in Adulthood and Later Life

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Resilience and Aging

Part of the book series: Risk, Systems and Decisions ((RSD))

Abstract

In this chapter, we describe a program of research on resilience and aging from a developmental psychological perspective. We begin with a selective review of the broad literature on resilience, giving emphasis to the major approaches, empirical findings, and guiding principles that characterize prior studies. We then examine the relevance of positive affect as a basic building block of resilience in adulthood and later life. We put forth a dynamic conception of resilience to elucidate, theoretically and empirically, how some individuals are able to maintain, recover, or improve their health and well-being in the face of life challenges. Selected parts of ongoing studies are integrated to illustrate how our formulation of resilience guides our program of empirical research on positive affect and aging. We conclude with a brief consideration of future research directions to advance understanding of adulthood resilience.

Positively toned emotions serve three basic psychological functions in coping, namely, as breathers from stress, as sustainers of coping effort and commitment, and as restorers. To our knowledge, these functions, though features of everyday living, have neither been noted nor studied in research on human adaptation.

(Lazarus et al. 1980, p. 208).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Development, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

    Anthony D. Ong

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA

    C. S. Bergeman

  3. Division of Geriatrics, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA

    M. Carrington Reid

Authors
  1. Anthony D. Ong
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  2. C. S. Bergeman
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  3. M. Carrington Reid
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Correspondence to Anthony D. Ong .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Simon Fraser University, Gerontology Research Centre, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Andrew V. Wister

  2. Simon Fraser University, Gerontology Research Centre, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Theodore D. Cosco

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Ong, A.D., Bergeman, C.S., Reid, M.C. (2020). Positive Affect as Source of Resilience in Adulthood and Later Life. In: Wister, A.V., Cosco, T.D. (eds) Resilience and Aging. Risk, Systems and Decisions. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57089-7_7

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