Positive Personality as a Predictor of High Resilience in Adolescence

Abstract

This study was realized in order to explore the predictive relationships of dispositional optimism, life satisfaction, and generalized self-efficacy beliefs with resilience in a sample of 464 early, middle, and late Sicilian adolescents, randomly chosen from different Public Schools in Sicily, Italy. We used the following measures: the Italian version of Resiliency Attitudes and Skills Profile (De Caroli & Sagone, 2014), the Life Satisfaction Scale (Diener et al., 1985), the Life Orientation Test-Revised (Scheier & Carver, 1992), and the Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale (Schwarzer et al., 1995). Consistently with initial hypotheses, we found that highly optimist adolescents reported a more resilient profile than lowly optimist ones; highly satisfied and self-efficient adolescents showed a more resilient profile than lowly satisfied and self-efficient ones; additionally, the more the adolescents were optimist, the more they considered themselves as highly selfefficient and satisfied with their life, as well as the more the adolescents were satisfied with their life, the more they valued themselves as highly self-efficient in various circumstances. Future research will develop the role of positive aspects in depth (that is, optimism and life satisfaction) in healthy growth during infancy.