The associations between resilience and life history strategy among university students

Abstract

Background and aims: The aim of the study is to explore the possible relationship among the so-called „slow”, „K” life history strategy, resilience and anxiety sensitivity. Although both constructs are well known and popular in their own disciplines, their interdisciplinary integration (evolutionary-, positive- and clinical psychology) is quite novel in the field of empirical research. In our study we would like to verify the positive interrelation between resilience and K-strategy. Methods: A convenience sample of 674 undergraduate students participated in our, in which paper-pencil-based self-report questionnaires have been applied to measure the above-mentioned constructs. Participants completed the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, the Life Strategy Questionnaire and the Anxiety Sensitivity Index. Results: The correlations and linear regressions verified positive connection between resilience and K-strategy, while anxiety sensitivity showed negative interrelation. Gender differences have been identified, but the disproportionality of the sample did not allow us to interpret them in a coherent way. Conclusions: Our results demonstrated a weak association between resilience and slow life strategy among young adults. More precisely, resilient students displayed better planning skills and reported stronger interpersonal relatinships with their family, peers and intimate partners. Although anxiety sensitivity at some points had significant effects on the variables, their effect size was pretty low. Furthermore, gender differences were revealed in resilience and life history strategy, but further studies are required to determine their relevance.