On a recent trip to New York City, I had the privilege of visiting
the 9/11 Memorial Museum. This experience touched me deeply and
inspired awe. The exhibits showcased human malevolence and hatred, but
they also vividly demonstrated the resilience
of the human spirit in the face of even the most awful events. This
visit renewed my interest in human resilience – the ability to
experience negative events yet still maintain a sense of wellbeing and
not get derailed by them. Some research shows that resilience is
actually the most common response to potentially traumatic
events. It’s also true that not everyone is resilient; some people
succumb to the long-term negative physical and psychological effects of
chronic stress
and trauma. What makes the difference? A 2017 study suggests that a
single character strength is the prime predictor of continued wellbeing
in the face of negative life events.
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| Source: pixel2013/Pixabay |
Which character strength has the strongest protective effect?
In this study, published in the Journal of Personality, researchers from George Mason University (including fellow Psychology Today
blogger Todd Kashdan) compared the effects of seven different character
strengths in their ability to predict resilience, defined as continued
wellbeing despite the occurrence of negative life events. In this study
of almost 800 adults from 42 countries, participants completed
questionnaires assessing different strengths (hope, grit, meaning in
life, curiosity, gratitude,
beliefs in the ability to control life outcomes), their use of
strengths in everyday life, subjective well-being, and negative life
events. Subjective wellbeing was defined as a combination of
satisfaction with life, happiness, and low depression.
Negative life events were defined as experiencing serious conflict,
financial or job loss, disappointment, illness or injury, or a loved one
having a serious problem.
The data were analyzed using lagged analyses (meaning the variables
were measured at different time points). Character strengths were
measured 3 months prior to subjective well-being and negative life
events were measured in the intervening time period. In other words, the
researchers looked at which character strengths predicted future
wellbeing and happiness, despite the negative life events that
participants experienced in between.
Of all the character strengths assessed, only hope
was a significant moderator of well-being in the face of negative life
events. In other words, hope acted as a protective factor; in those with
high hope, wellbeing was high even when many negative life events
occurred. The other strengths, including grit, gratitude, meaning and so
on did not protect against the negative impact of adversity.
How was this character strength defined?
What does it mean to be hopeful and why does hope have such a strong
protective effect? Hope, as defined in this study, is different than
just being optimistic about things getting better in the future. Rather, hope was defined as a positive and goal-oriented type of motivation.
Hope involves having goals and pursuing them energetically and
flexibly, finding many different pathways to getting positive results.
Seeing hope in this way makes it clearer why it can help us withstand
negative life events. Hope involves having a flexible approach in which
we see many different paths to a positive end result. If you have high
hope and you encounter obstacles, you can just take a different path.
You are therefore less likely to see the failure as terminal or the
result of personal deficiency. This attitude can carry you through hard
times with both continued optimism
and continued, flexible problem-solving efforts. With this approach,
you are more likely to feel good about yourself and about life in
general.
Putting the research results into practice
Below is an exercise to help you become more hopeful:
(1) Think of some important life goals. Describe them in general
terms, rather than being too specific (e.g., good relationships,
building wealth, meaningful work, being healthy etc.)
(2) Pick one or two life goals that are most important to you and
describe as many different strategies as you can for achieving them.
For example, if your goal is “being healthy,” you might write down
“regular medical checkups,” “eating more fruits and vegetables,”
“exercising regularly,” “getting more sleep” and so on.
(3) Think about any obstacles you may face to achieving these goals (e.g., lack of time, money, lazy habits, lack of self-confidence etc.)
(4) Now think about what coping strategies you can use to
overcome these obstacles. For example, you may eliminate some things
from your schedule to make more time or you may use positive self-talk and environmental structuring to overcome a lazy habit.
About Melanie Greenberg, Ph.D., is
a licensed clinical psychologist and life coach practicing
internationally via distance technologies. She is a former professor,
national speaker, and the author of The Stress Proof Brain.
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