Overcoming unpleasant affective experiences while learning: latent profiles of resilience while learning

Purpose Resilience while learning is the capacity to initiate, persist and direct effort toward learning when experiencing unpleasant affective states. The underlying mechanisms of resilience are emotional buffering and self-regulation when experiencing unpleasant affective states. The authors identified four factors that support resilience while learning: positive emotional engagement, creative problem-solving, learning identity and social support. The authors developed and tested scales and found evidence to support the four-factor model of resilience. The authors offer a person-centered approach to resilience in learning by conducting a latent profile analysis that tested the likelihood of resilience based on profiles of differences in scores on these factors under two affective conditions: (unpleasant) learning during frustration versus (pleasant) learning during progress. A quarter of individuals activated the four resilience factors in pleasant and unpleasant affective states, while 75% of participants saw decrements in these factors when faced with frustration. The results support a four-factor, person-centered approach to resilience while learning. Design/methodology/approach The authors develop and test a four-factor model of resilience and test the model in a group of 330 management undergraduate and graduate students. Each participant identified two learning episodes in their responses, one while frustrated and one while making progress, and ranked the level of intensity on the four resilience factors. Analysis on an additional 88 subjects provided additional support for the validation and reliability of scales. Findings Results revealed 2 latent profiles groups, with 25% of the sample associated with resilience (low difference on resilience factors between the two learning episodes) and 75% who remain susceptible to unpleasant emotions (high difference between the two learning episodes). Research limitations/implications The study supports a person-centered approach to resilience while learning (in contrast to a variable centered approach). Practical implications The study provides a means to classify individuals using a person-centered, rather than a variable-centered approach. An understanding of how individuals buffer and self-regulate while experiencing unpleasant affect while learning can help educators, consultants and managers develop better interventions for learning. Social implications This study addresses the growing concern over student success associated with increased dropout rates among undergraduate business students, and the failure of many management developments and executive training efforts. This study suggests that looking at specific variables may not provide insight into the complex relationship between learning outcomes and factors that support resilience in learning. Originality/value There is growing interest in understanding resilience factors from a person-centered perspective using analytical methods such as latent profile analysis. This is the first study to look at how individuals can be grouped into similar profiles based on four resilience factors.