Pre-disability resilience and well-being following the onset of functional impairments

Objectives: Tested the prospective relationship of a resilient personality prototype determined prior to disability onset to well-being among persons with and without debilitating functional impairments nine to 10 years later. A resilient profile was expected to predict well-being through its beneficial associations with positive affect, perceived control and social support.

Design: Longitudinal, prospective observation study.

Methods: Data obtained from participants with no functional impairments at the first assessment of the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) project and who participated in the second survey (1147 men, 985 women at Time 1). Cluster analysis was used to create personality profiles at the first time point. Differences between resilient and non-resilient individuals were examined. A structural equation model (SEM) tested the prospective effects of resilience on positive affect, perceived control and social support to well-being.

Results: A resilient personality profile was identified, as expected (n = 877). Individuals with a resilient personality prototype reported higher social support, positive affect, perceived control, life satisfaction and self-rated health at both measurement occasions than the non-resilient group. The SEM revealed that a resilient prototype operated through the three mediating variables to prospectively predict life satisfaction, and through social support and positive affect to predict self-rated health. These effects were independent of gender and disability severity.

Conclusions: A resilient personality profile prospectively operates through positive affect, perceived control and social support to predict well-being following the onset of debilitating impairments. The theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed, and limitations are considered.