An exploratory study of different styles of resilient behavior amongst a population of homeless adults using the organizing precepts of individual psychology

This dissertation constitutes an initial effort to better understand the expression of resilient behavior as a dynamic, adaptive, and contextual phenomenon through the organizing precepts of Individual Psychology. This has been affected through the creation of a new measure (the Styles of Resilience Questionnaire) which was devised from a broad range of literature on resilience and applied to the measuring, analyzing, and understanding of five distinct styles of resilient behavior. The measure has also allowed for some investigation of the role social interest (a construct crucial to the views of Individual Psychology) can be seen to have upon impacting adaptive responses to adversity. The Styles of Resilience Questionnaire was administered on a group of 28 adults residing in two different Chicago area homeless shelters. A total of six different measures were derived from the Styles of Resilience Questionnaire which were reflective of five distinct styles of resilient behavior (Buoyant Attitude, Functional Resilience, Social Resilience, and Spiritual Resilience) as well as an overall score for resilience (The Combined Score). Variables relating to an individual's adjustment to existing circumstances and past experiences in a multitude of life areas were assessed through the administration of the Resilience Scale and the Beck's Depression Inventory II and via the participants' responses to an extensive structured interview. A total of 204 relationships were explored through the use of Pearson correlation coefficients, resulting in the identification of 33 statistically significant relationships between measures and variables. Although significant crossover was identified for two of the measures (Buoyant Attitude and Functional Resilience) unique relationships were identified between variables and three other measures (Social Resilience, Spiritual Resilience, and Combative Resilience) which were interpretable through ecological views of resilience and using the organizing precepts of Individual Psychology. Importantly, although five of these measures could be seen to relate favorably to adaptive outcomes in select areas, Combative Resilience was found to have no significant relationship to any adaptive outcomes included in the study. Select findings of the study support the potential usefulness of the Styles of Resilience Questionnaire as a theory-based measure of different styles of resilient behavior with potential to measure distinctive styles of responding to an existing adversity. Although the size and demographics of the population (28 homeless adults) make it difficult to generalize any findings to the expression of resilience broadly across populations, the study does offer a new approach for exploring and measuring unique relationships between a host of variables and a proposed set of styles of resilient behavior. Further development of the instrument and exploration in other groups is generally indicated given these preliminary results.