title: Psychometric and neurobiological assessment of resilience in a non-clinical sample of adults.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Resilient individuals are capable of adjusting and coping successfully in the face of adversity. Efforts to assess resilience and its biomarkers have focused on individuals with a history of trauma and related disorders.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To psychologically assess resilience in a non-clinical community population through questionnaires, and analyse the associations between the psychological parameters and salivary cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEA-S) as putative biomarkers of resilience.
  
  
  METHODS
  An opportunistic sample (n=196) completed a cross-sectional survey assessing resilience, self-reported depressive symptoms and anxiety, and possible correlates. A sub-sample (n=32) selected in order to maximise variation of mental health, provided saliva samples for enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA) detection of cortisol and DHEA-S.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Resilience correlated negatively with depressive symptoms, trait anxiety and early life stress, and positively with self-efficacy, optimism, social support and wellbeing (all r>0.40; all p-values ≤0.001 except for early life stress: r=-0.20; p≤0.05). Resilience and DHEA-S concentrations correlated significantly (r=0.35; p≤0.05); this relationship remained stable after adjustment for demographics. Gender differences were observed for DHEA-S and cortisol (p≤0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Resilience is associated with positive aspects of psychological health and salivary DHEA-S, suggesting the latter can be treated as a biomarker of resilience in a non-clinical sample of adults.
authors: Department of Life Sciences, University of Roehampton, United Kingdom.
authors: Natalia
authors: N
authors: Petros
authors: Jolanta
authors: J
authors: Opacka-Juffry
authors: Jörg H
authors: JH
authors: Huber
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D019314:Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D006262:Health; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000032:analysis; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011594:Psychometrics; D055500:Resilience, Psychological; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D019314:Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate; D006854:Hydrocortisone
keywords: Cortisol; DHEA; DHEA-S; Dehydroepiandrosterone; Depression; Early life stress; Enzyme-linked immunoassay; Hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis; Resilience; Social support