Resilience, well-being and sources of strength in Nicaraguan high school and university students

Abstract

Resilience can contribute to the subjective well-being and flourishing of individuals, in addition to being a possible protective factor against the development of anxious and depressive symptoms that may arise in the face of life’s adversities. The aim of this article is to determine the relationship between resilience, sources of strength, well-being, flourishing and the presence of anxious and depressive symptoms in Nicaraguan high school and university students. The type of study is observational, correlational and cross-sectional. A sample of 2032 participants was selected by convenience, of which 1027 are high school students and 1005 are university students. Information was collected between March and May 2023, on sociodemographic variables and psychosocial variables such as resilience, well-being, and sources of strength. The instruments applied were the Child and Youth Resilience Scale (CYRM-28), the Flourishing Scale, Patient Health Questionnaire 4 (PHQ-4), Sources of Strength Scale, and the Adolescent Well-Being Measure (EPOCH). Descriptive statistics (frequency distribution, measures of central tendency and variability) and inferential statistics (Pearson Correlation Coefficient) were used in data processing. The main results of this research highlight that there is a moderate and significant positive correlation between resilience, flourishing, sources of strength and adolescent well-being, while a weak but significant negative correlation was found between anxious and depressive symptoms with resilience, flourishing, strength and well-being. It is concluded that youth with higher resilience have high flourishing, diverse sources of strength, and high well-being, and also tend to have fewer anxious and depressive symptoms.