According to the American Psychological Association, resilience is the process of sufficient adaptation in the presence of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or major sources of stress such as financial and work problems, family/relationship problems and serious health problems or workplace and financial stressors (American Psychological Association, 2013). Resilience is not an attribute or personality characteristic of an individual but a dynamic process in which people show positive adaptation despite experiences of severe adversity or trauma. (LUTHAR & CICCHETTI, 2000) Resilience is a two-dimensional construct concerning exposure to adversity and the adequate outcomes of adaptation to such adversity. (LUTHAR & CICCHETTI, 2000) The two-dimensional construct implies two judgments on the meaning of adversity and a positive adaptation to adversity. (Masten & Obradovic, 2006). Adversity, also known as risk, refers to negative living situations and conditions that have been shown to be statistically associated with adjustment difficulties. An example of a situation that reflects greater adjustment difficulties is chronic exposure to community violence among children ((J, 1995) (Lynch M CD, 1998) (Richters JE, 1993). The second construct, called positive adaptation, is defined in terms of social adaptation, competence manifested by behavior or success in achieving salient developmental goals of a stage). (Luthar SS, 1991) (Masten A, 1990) (Masten A CJ, 1998) (Waters E, 1983) Adequate attachment with primary caregivers may be an example of social competence among young children, while indices such as academic functioning such as academic achievement and good relationships with peers and teachers can be appropriate indices to measure positivity and needs, and look for other ways to strengthen resilience such as meditation (American Psychological Association, 2013). Some researchers have conducted studies to examine the association between resilience and positive emotions (Tugade, Fredrickson, & Barrett, 2004). Examining the role that positive emotions play in resilience, Ong et al. (2006) reported that widows with high levels of resilience experience more positive emotions, such as peaceful and anxious negative, than those with widows with low levels of resilience. The high resilience group showed greater emotional complexity, that is, the ability to sustain the differentiation of positive and negative emotional states while under stress. They also suggested that the adaptive development of resilience is a function of increased emotional complexity while stress is present (Ong, Bergeman, Bisconti, & Wallace, 2006).
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