R2 Resilience Factors
Below are the 52 factors of resilience based on our science. Each factor contains a downloadable PDF summary, which can be accessed by clicking on the factor title or icon.
Rugged Qualities
- A powerful identity: Our identity depends upon the many diverse roles we play.
- Altruism/Cooperation: Helping others without expecting a reward, as well as supporting others and a willingness to ask for support.
- Communication skills: The ability to communicate well with those around us and tell them what we need.
- Conscientiousness: Being careful and diligent when carrying out a task.
- Help-seeking: Knowing who to ask and where to go to get help when we need it.
- Creativity: Thinking and doing things in new or different ways.
- Critical thinking: The ability to think about an issue carefully and make better judgements.
- Decision-making: To confidently make decisions about important things that affect us.
- Empathy: Understanding and appreciating the needs and feelings of others.
- Flexibility: Being able to easily shift our attention; to think about things differently as we gain new information.
- Goal-setting: Focused attention on achieving the things that matter most to us.
- Gratitude: Appreciating the positive aspects of life.
- Humour: Looking for the amusing parts of life; maintaining a good mood under stress.
- Meaning-making/spirituality: The belief that our lives have a higher purpose and are meaningful.
- Mindfulness and self-regulation: Being aware of ourselves and the world around us; being able to control our thoughts, feelings and behaviours.
- Morality: Having a code of conduct that guides us through life and promotes socially just behaviour and kindness towards others.
- Motivation/perseverance: The ability to continue behaving in ways that help us get through difficult times.
- Optimism/hope: A belief that things will get better in the future.
- Physical activity: Being active enough to maintain physical and mental wellbeing.
- Positive emotions: Pleasant and enjoyable feelings that help us endure difficult times.
- Problem-solving: The ability to consider potential solutions to a problem and choose the best one.
- Self-actualisation: Personal growth and the experience of reaching our full potential.
- Self-care/Self-Compassion: Taking the time to physically and mentally recover from stress.
- Self-efficacy: Our belief in our ability to change the world around us and have control over the decisions that affect our lives.
- Self-esteem/confidence: The feeling that we are showing others our best selves without inhibition.
- Sleep hygiene: Maintaining healthy patterns of sleep such as bedtime routines and getting the right amount of rest.
Resources
- A diverse community: Engaging with others from different backgrounds and cultures.
- A supportive peer group: Building and maintaining relationships with supportive peers.
- Access to mental and physical health care: The ability to access health care when and where we need it.
- Access to leisure activities and spaces: Having places where we can go to engage in leisure activities.
- Accountability/Reasonable consequences for one’s actions/Opportunities to fix one’s mistakes: Having reasonable consequences for our actions and the opportunities to correct what we’ve done wrong.
- Advocacy if treated poorly: When treated unfairly, access to someone who will speak up for our needs.
- Appropriate use of social media: Contact with others through social media without feeling the pressure of social comparisons.
- Contact with extended family: The opportunity to spend time with the people we consider to be in our extended family.
- Contact with one’s elders: Contact with people who are generations older than us.
- Cultural practices/family and community traditions: Awareness of community and family traditions which are part of our culture, and opportunities to participate in cultural practices.
- Education/training: Opportunities to learn the skills we need to succeed in life.
- Equitable access to opportunities: Opportunities to realize our full potential, without experiencing prejudice.
- “Good enough” parenting/caregiving: Being cared for by others in ways that make us feel like we matter.
- Housing, supports, and connectivity: Being adequately housed, with the supports we need, and confident that we can live where we want to live.
- Meaningful employment: Participating in work we recognise as valuable.
- Mentors and mentoring: Guidance and support from those more experienced than ourselves.
- Opportunities to make decisions for oneself (appropriate to one’s age and abilities): Access to opportunities to make decisions that affect our lives.
- Opportunities to use one’s talents: Opportunities to use our talents and be acknowledged for the contribution we make.
- Regular routines: Parts of our lives are predictably the same from one day to the next.
- Physical safety/public security: Living free of harm and having trust in authority figures.
- Proper nutrition: Access to food which is appropriate for our lifestyle and good health.
- Protection from discrimination and respect for one’s human rights: Living free from discrimination.
- Reasonable expectations for how one should behave: Reasonable expectations from others that we behave in ways that are in our own best interest (like going to school or work, or completing tasks on time).
- Relationships with others in one’s community: In addition to family and friends, interactions with a large social network.
- Social efficacy and citizenship: Experiences of social and political power that let us shape the world around us.
- Transportation: Having the means to reach the places we need to go, whether by public transit or in a personal vehicle.