Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Feb 26:15:1245765.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1245765. eCollection 2024.

Psychological and social determinants of adaptation: the impact of finances, loneliness, information access and chronic stress on resilience activation

Leia Y Saltzman  1 , Tonya Cross Hansel  1
Affiliations

Psychological and social determinants of adaptation: the impact of finances, loneliness, information access and chronic stress on resilience activation

Leia Y Saltzman et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Background: Many people who face adversity, such as disasters, demonstrate resilience. However, less is known about reactions to large scale disasters with longer recovery periods. The concern is that protracted disasters may result in more chronic or accumulated stressors with an uncertain or unknown end point and can exhaust the natural coping methods and ability to rebound. Thus, understanding patterns of longer-term disaster recovery, inclusive of resilience, is needed. Further resilience is not individual specific rather social determinants, such as support networks and available resources, are contributing factors.

Methods: The purpose of this study is to improve understanding of mental health and resilience during increased stress, we aim to identify profiles of adaptation and psychological and social determinants that predict membership within predominant symptom groupings. We conducted an exploratory cross-section study (N = 334) with two phases of multivariate analysis. Latent profile models were estimated to identify groups based on depression, anxiety, and resilience scores. The second phase included a step-wise multinomial logistic regression to predict class membership.

Results: We identified four distinct groups: 33% of participants were categorized as anxious, 18% depressed, 9% comorbid, and 40% with above average levels of resilience. Psychosocial factors such as demographics, trauma history, information access, loneliness, and lack of financial resources predicted poorer mental health outcomes and lower resilience.

Conclusion: This study identified factors that contribute to overall wellbeing despite chronic stressors. Social determinants of adaptation, found in this study population, include loneliness, finances, and information access. The findings from this study support the need for both psychological and social adaption supports, inclusive of mental health treatment, to strengthen resilience activation.

Keywords: chronic stress; finances; loneliness; mental health; resilience.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

References

    1. Abramson D. M., Grattan L. M., Mayer B., Colten C. E., Arosemena F. A., Bedimo-Rung A., et al. . (2015). The resilience activation framework: a conceptual model of how access to social resources promotes adaptation and rapid recovery in post-disaster settings. J. Behav. Health Serv. Res. 42, 42–57. doi: 10.1007/s11414-014-9410-2 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Alexander D. E. (2013). Resilience and disaster risk reduction: an etymological journey. Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. 13, 2707–2716. doi: 10.5194/nhess-13-2707-2013 - DOI
    1. Barzilay R., Moore T. M., Greenberg D. M., DiDomenico G. E., Brown L. A., White L. K., et al. . (2020). Resilience, COVID-19-related stress, anxiety and depression during the pandemic in a large population enriched for healthcare providers. Transl. Psychiatry 10, 291–298. doi: 10.1038/s41398-020-00982-4, PMID: - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Blanc J., Louis E. F., Joseph J., Castor C., Jean-Louis G. (2020). What the world could learn from the Haitian resilience while managing COVID-19. Psychol. Trauma Theory Res. Pract. Policy 12, 569–571. doi: 10.1037/tra0000903, PMID: - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bollyky T. J., Bown C. P. (2020). The tragedy of vaccine nationalism: only cooperation can end the pandemic. Foreign Aff. 99:96.

LinkOut - more resources