Study Of Marching Band Shows That Resilience Is A Process, Not A Fixed Trait

By Emily Reynolds Resilience allows you to bounce back when things get hard, whether that’s something as small as a bad day in the office or more serious adverse events. And while it can be easy to think of resilience as something we either do or don’t have, research suggests that isn’t the case: rather, our level of resilience changes in different contexts. A new study, published in Group & Organization Management, looks closely at resilience in the workplace. It, too, finds that resilience isn’t a static phenomenon, and that it should be seen as something distinctly more flexible instead. Participants were members of a marching band at a university in the United States, chosen because of the high levels of commitment and effort that were required for them to remain on top of performances and practice. Participants first indicated whether or not they were new to the band and completed a measure of emotional stability, indicating how much they agreed with statements like “I change my mood a lot”. Then, every week over a twelve week period, participants completed scales measuring emotional exhaustion (e.g. “I feel emotionally drained”) and commitment (e.g. “I feel a strong sense of belonging to the marching band”), and stated how high their workload was. Finally, at the end of the period participants indicated whether they intended to stay in the band. The researchers also looked at whether they actually remained in the band during the...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Occupational Source Type: blogs