The Age-invariant Role of Resilience Resources in Emotional Symptomatology

Method: A sample of 718 Brazilians completed self-reports on perceived stress, depressive and anxious symptomatology, social support and individual resilience. The sample comprised two age groups: a sample of adults aged 60 or older ( = 361; 38.78% men; = 67.32 years, = 5.76, range = 60-86), and a sample of younger adults ( = 357; 29.41% men; = 41.37 years, = 7.23, range = 18-59). Multigroup multiple indicator, multiple cause (MIMIC) modelling was used to test for the direct and indirect effects of resilience resources on emotional symptom development, considering the age groups.

Results: The relationship between individual resilience resources and depressive or anxiety symptomatology was found to take place exclusively through stressfulness appraisal. On the other hand, social resilience resources showed a direct and indirect effect on emotional symptoms. This pattern of relationships was found to be invariant across age groups.

Conclusion: Our findings suggest that both individual and social resilience resources are negatively related to both depressive and anxiety symptoms in adults regardless of age, thus opening the way to future research analysing how interventions may build resilience resources to minimise the influence of stressful and traumatic events across the lifespan.