Affiliation:
1. Social Cognition Center Cologne University of Cologne Koln Germany
2. Römisch‐Germanisches Zentralmuseum Leibniz‐Forschungsinstitut für Archäologie Mainz Germany
3. Department of Legal and Social Psychology Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz Mainz Germany
Abstract
AbstractWe identified and tested a novel aspect of human resilience: The daily pursuit of maintenance goals. Taking inspiration from archaeological records, which point at routinized cultural practices as a central resilience factor, we tested whether personal routine practices, governed by maintenance goals, serve a similar function to individuals as traditional practices do to societies. Namely, we hypothesized that maintenance striving increases individuals’ resilient responses to stressful events. Confirming this prediction, a longitudinal Study 1 showed that maintenance striving but not avoidance striving, predicted subsequent increases in well‐being following the third wave of the COVID‐19 pandemic in Germany. Study 2 confirmed our predictions on trait resilience and maintenance versus avoidance motivations in the household and relationship life domains in cross‐sectional data. These studies contribute to the understanding of resilience by demonstrating the benefits of maintenance goals for both situational and trait‐level resilience.