Improving Psychological Well-Being: Personal Development and Resilience

Abstract

Two people can be working in very similar situations, with equally similar personal and family circumstances, yet one seems to be positive , resilient and psychologically healthy, the other doesn't. How can this be and what does it imply? Essentially, this can happen because there are two main sets of factors that exert an influence on people's PWB. The first set of factors relates to the situation-especially the work situation. Much of the material in this book has concentrated on the impact that these situational factors (management, type of work, access to resources, levels of control and autonomy, personal circumstances etc.) can have on PWB. There is no doubt that "situation" factors can have a major impact on PWB but it is very important to recognize that the impact of the situation on PWB can be significantly moderated by "person" factors-qualities such as optimism, resilience or positive thinking that are related to the individual himself or herself. These "person" factors help to explain the differences in PWB experienced by two people who are working in essentially the same situation (see Figure 8.1). Earlier chapters (4 and 6) have explained how certain underlying personality factors are related to people's levels of PWB. Personality factors reflect the relatively fixed and stable "person" factors. This chapter takes a more dynamic perspective and moves on from the links between relatively stable personality factors and PWB to explore what can be done to protect and enhance PWB through "person" factors that can be changed and developed. As explained in Chapter 6, the two main personality traits associated with PWB are extraversion and 95 I. Robertson et al., Well-Being