Page 141 - Biobehavioral Resilence to Stress

118 Biobehavioral Resilience to Stress

the construct of resilience is not yet well-defined in terms of its essential

contributing factors, it is clear that resilience promotes eff ective adjustment
to adversity. As such, it may help us to better understand key characteristics
and coping strategies that enable some individuals to avoid the potentially
debilitating effects of extreme stress and trauma. For example, in a study that

examined postbereavement responses, resilient people were those who were
characterized as experiencing less enduring grief symptoms after the loss of

a loved one (Bonanno et al., 2002). After controlling other predictors such as
subjective well-being, researchers found that resilient individuals also scored
higher on indexes of global adjustment, work and social adjustment, and
psychological and physical health adjustment (Klohnen, 1996). Fredrickson,

Tugade, Waugh, and Larkin (2003) found that after the September 11, 2001,
terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, self-reported resilient people felt
more positive emotions in response to the event (but nearly the same nega-
tive emotions), and these positive emotions were associated with a reduced
incidence of depression (Fredrickson et al., 2003). Certainly, resilience also
plays a role in confronting the daily stresses of ordinary life. Although the
everyday stresses of life, work, relationships, and finances may not qualify

as severe or potentially traumatic, the cumulative physiological eff ects of
chronic daily stress can produce adverse consequences for physical and men-
tal health (Kohn, Lafreniere & Gurevich, 1991).
In this chapter, we focus on two phenomena that have broad relevance to
stress in general: anticipation and recovery. Specifically, we show how stress

anticipation relates to stress recovery. To the extent that the specifi c anticipa-
tive strategies may promote (versus hinder) recovery from exposure to stress,
they may be considered as important to resilience (versus vulnerability).
Anticipation of stress is common with respect to daily stressors, which
are sometimes stressful in large part because they are foreseen. Examples

include anticipation of a final exam in school, diffi cult conversations with
loved ones, or a job interview. By contrast, severely stressful events may be
traumatic precisely because they are shocking, that is, they occur without
warning and allow little or no time or opportunity for anticipation or prepa-
ration. Nonetheless, some severely stressful experiences may be anticipated,

such as job loss due to lay-offs, the decision to file for divorce, the loss of a

loved one due to lengthy illness, or, in the case of military service members,
deployment to combat.
Much of the existing literature on resilience to stress considers resilience
in response to stressful events that have already occurred, that is, subjects
of study are selected on the basis of having already experienced severe
stress or trauma. Indeed, resilience researchers tend to define resilience as

demonstrated coping in the face of an already-experienced trauma (Bonanno,
2004; Luthar & Cicchetti, 2000). Such studies have been informative in many

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