Psychosocial Correlates of Resilience Among Older Adults in Mexico
Patricia-Elizabeth Cossío-Torres1
, Aldanely Padrón-Salas*1, Anuradha Sathiyaseelan2, Manuel Soria-Orozco1 and Amado Nieto-Caraveo11Department of Public Health, Autonomous University of San Luis Potosi, San Luis Potosí, 78210, Mexico.
2Department of Psychology, Christ University, Bangalore, India.
Corresponding Author E-mail: aldanely.padron@gmail.com
Abstract: There is a tremendous global increase in the older adults’ population. Mental health in older age is as important in as it is for other age categories. Majority of older adults show healthy states, vitality, good humor and enthusiasm in performing various activities, interest in continuing to contribute to their family and society despite the difficulties of this stage of life due to large part to resilience they have. The aim of the study was to establish social and psychosocial factors associated with resilience. A cross-sectional and correlation study was conducted on older adults who were hospitalized in a public General Hospital of Mexico in 2013. Resilience, gender, occupation, family environment, self-esteem, presence of critical life events, and the presence of significant persons were assessed. 186 older adults participated. Higher levels of resilience were found in males and employed people. Participants with a functional family and high self-esteem had the highest levels of resilience. Besides, 15% of the variance of the total resilience score was explained by family environment, and 27% was explained by self-esteem (p<0.05). Although all participants were older adults, individual characteristics such as gender, occupation and self-esteem; besides family environment, were found to be associated to the levels of resilience in this population. Specific programs- -enhancing these factors are needed to improve resilience.
Keywords: Critical Events; Family; Older Adults; Resilience; Self-Esteem; Significant Persons Back to TOC