Personal Resources Associated with Resilience to COVID-19 Challenges among Emerging Adults in India

The pandemic and the lockdowns that followed led to significant changes in people's lives. Emerging adults were among the vulnerable groups affected badly by COVID-19-related stressors due to their stage of development. The present study aimed to investigate personal resources associated with emerging adults' resilience to COVID-19 challenges, as reported by a sample of Indian emerging adults. The data were collected from 50 participants (25 males & 25 females) aged 18-29, using a semi-structured interview schedule. The inductive thematic analysis technique was used to analyze the data, which revealed interesting findings on resilience among emerging adults. The results revealed that personal resources, namely, a sense of agency, positive goal focus, nurturing positivity, engaging in physical activities, engaging in hobbies, improving physical health, and experiential connection with nature, were associated with resilience to COVID-19 challenges among emerging adults. These findings compel us to examine resilience in terms of the personal characteristics of an individual, which offer ways to increase psychological resilience during difficult times.