Resilience predictors in the post-pandemic era: A study on Italian adolescents

Abstract

Resilience is the ability to emerge strengthened from adversity. Recently, as the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted adolescents' growth processes, investigating which psychosocial variables make adolescents resilient has become essential. The aim of the study is to investigate which are the significant predictors of resilience in a sample of Italian adolescent students (N = 1266, 47% male, mean age = 14.96 years) one year after the end of the pandemic. Participants responded to a battery of tests, administered online, that included measures of: resilience, ad hoc items on meditation frequency, self-compassion, self-efficacy in managing positive and negative emotions, and coping. The results of a linear regression model revealed that the predictors of resilience in adolescents in the post-pandemic period were: frequency of meditation (ß =.61, p <.01), self-efficacy in regulating positive and negative emotions (ß =. 41, p 001; ß = 19, p 001), self-reliance (ß = .11, p 001), mindfulness (ß = .11, p 01), low over-identification (ß = -.06, p 05), future perspective (ß = .11, p 001) and problem orientation (ß = .17, p 001). These findings emphasize the importance of cultivating these psychosocial variables to promote adolescents resilience in the face of adversity. The implications of the present study are discussed.