Resilience and self-talk in university students

Date
2006
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Abstract
One of the conceptual developments in the field of resilience is the recognition that individuals have the potential to actually benefit and thrive from adversity. Hence, the concept of four levels of resilience has been suggested - succumbing, surviving, recovering, thriving. Numerous variables have been postulated to account for individual differences in level of resilience; one that has not received attention is self-talk. Resilient self-talk is introduced as a specific type of positive self-talk utilized during difficult times in our lives ( e.g., "Everything happens for a reason"). University students (N = 291) completed a questionnaire that assessed their (a) self-perceived level of personal resilience (the 4 levels); (b) frequency of engaging in resilient self-talk and its importance to them; ( c) variables related to use of resilient self-talk, including 25 characteristics of resilient individuals ( e.g., optimism, problem-solving ability); reasons for engaging in resilient self-talk (e.g., motivation, focus), experience of life difficulty; and (d) demographic information. The relationship between frequency of self-talk and perceived level of resilience is considerably stronger than for importance; e.g. frequency (but not importance) of self-talk distinguishes between levels of resilience. A number of variables were also related to the use of resilient self-talk, particularly reframing and social support ( characteristics of resilience), and motivation (a reason for using resilient self-talk).
Description
Bibliography: p. 63-72
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Citation
Coulson, R. (2006). Resilience and self-talk in university students (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/1047
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