This report is one of a series designed to support Air Force leaders in promoting resilience among Airmen, its civilian employees, and Air Force family members. The research sponsors requested that RAND assess the current resilience-related constructs and measures in the scientific literature and report any evidence of initiatives that promote resilience across a number of domains. We did not limit our search to research conducted in military settings or with military personnel, as Air Force leaders sought the potential opportunity to apply the results of these studies to a population that had not yet been addressed (i.e., Airmen). Further,...

Research on psychological resilience has expanded considerably in recent years. This growth has resulted in many different definitions and models to describe the situational factors, individual traits, and internal and external resources that can facilitate resilience. The focus of these models can be characterized along a state-trait continuum. Models that focus on relatively stable factors, such as personality, intelligence, or core self-evaluations, are considered to be more trait-like, whereas state-like models emphasize malleable or changeable factors, such as an individual’s moods, self-efficacy, or optimism (Luthans et al., 2007). Although trait models can enhance our theoretical understanding of resilience, state-like models...

This chapter reviews prominent constructs within the psychological domain that have been linked to health, well-being, and resilience. They include self-regulation, positive and negative affect, perceived control, self-efficacy, self-esteem, and optimism. Multidimensional constructs relevant to psychological fitness were also included in the course of this review. However, these multidimensional constructs often contain dimensions that are more directly relevant to other TFF domains. For example, Ryff’s (1989) structure of well-being includespositive relations with othersas one of six core dimensions of well-being. Although relevant to psychological fitness, personal relationships are covered in detail in the companion report on social fitness...

This chapter provides an overview of interventions available to promote psychological health and well-being that have been evaluated in systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Furthermore, the interventions examined are limited to studies focusing specifically on adult populations. In general, well-designed educational, psychological, and behavioral interventions have been shown to be effective in producing the desired outcomes (Lipsey and Wilson, 1993). As in the medical field, however, most efforts have been devoted to the design of interventions to treat disorders and illness rather than to promote health and well-being. Despite relatively less attention, some effective psychological interventions have been designed to target...

This report has reviewed psychological fitness constructs related to overall health and well-being, as well as resilience and stress buffering. Following a thorough review of the scientific literature, the antecedents of psychological health, or those factors and resources that provide a base for psychological fitness, were identified. These constructs cluster into three areas: cognitive, affective, and self-regulation.

Among the most important psychological constructs for psychological fitness are self-regulation and coping strategies, positive and negative affect, perceived control, self-efficacy, self-esteem, and optimism. All have received much attention in the existing literature; however, some emerging psychological fitness constructs have seen increased attention...