What does it really mean to be resilient?

Cynthia A. Lietz and Breanna M. Carpenter Lietz

Chapter 2 in How to Build Resilience in College Students, 2026, pp 12-24 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Resilience is a process of coping and adaptation that occurs over time. Higher than typical doses of trauma, loss, and other challenges put people at risk for poor outcomes as they relate to their physical and mental health, their social functioning, and their performance in educational settings, something that is not uncommon in students who are pursuing an undergraduate degree. The recognition that behavioral concerns and poor academic outcomes can be a result of trauma is part of becoming a trauma-informed institution. Considering the impact of one's trauma without coupling that understanding with resilience-promoting activities can be damaging because the assumption that risk is deterministic of negative outcomes undermines a college student's sense of hope about his or her future. Although risk does predict a higher likelihood of poor outcomes, there are many examples of people overcoming these odds and developing into well-functioning, satisfied adults. In this chapter, we describe the concepts of trauma and resilience as they relate to college students. We also discuss the importance of adopting a resilience-promoting, trauma-informed approach in postsecondary educational institutions.

Keywords: Resilience; Risk; Protective factors; Strengths; Trauma; College students (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035365081
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.elgaronline.com/doi/10.4337/9781035365098.00007 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:24725_2

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.e-elgar.com

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Jack Sweeney ().