Resilience and Aging: From Conceptual Understandings to Opportunities for Enhancement

Abstract

Resilience and aging as a scholarly area of investigation has witnessed an upsurge of interest in recent decades. The ability to negotiate hardship and adversity over the course of one’s life, in a manner that promotes well-being and enhances quality of life, is motivating a resilience-focused research and practice agenda within gerontology. It befits researchers, clinicians, policymakers, and general members of the lay public to understand and implement key domains of resilience. In her most recent book, Resilience and Aging: Research and Practice, Helen Lavretsky, MD, MS, provides a comprehensive review of resilience in the context of aging and the relevancy resilience of interventions for older adults. Several texts exploring the topic of resilience in later life have been published in the last five years. Notable ones include: Fry and Keyes’ New Frontiers in Resilient Aging: Life Strengths and Well-Being in Late Life (2010); Hayslip and Smith’s Annual Review of Gerontology and Geriatrics (32): Emerging Perspectives on Resilience in Adulthood and Later Life (2012); Ramsey and Blieszner’s Spiritual Resiliency and Aging: Hope, Relationality, and the Creative Self (2013); Reich, Zautra, and Hall’s Handbook of Adult Resilience (2010); and Resnick, Gwyther, and Roberto’s Resilience in Aging: Concepts, Research, and Outcomes (2011). Endeavoring to advance resilience literacy for clinicians, researchers, and policymakers, Lavretsky claims to have offered a volume that can be distinguished from other texts in that “it brings together a wide variety of clinical issues, the latest neuroscientific discoveries, and matters most relevant for public policy makers to understand