Resilience Trajectories Among Older Adults With Disabilities: A Longitudinal Study in Anhui, China

This study applied Richardson’s Resiliency Model to measure resilience in depressive symptoms among older adults with disabilities in rural China and examined its association with age-related and cohort-specific temporal effects using the Growth Curve Model to analyze resilience trajectories. We innovatively used propensity score matching to address confounding variables when calculating the resilience score. Data were derived from the Longitudinal Study of Older Adults in Anhui Province, China, with 3,672 observations from 2001 to 2021. The results revealed that 28.30 percent of rural older adults demonstrated resilience by maintaining or improving depressive symptoms post-disability onset. Resilience scores exhibited inverted U-shaped trajectories with increasing age. Similarly, resilience trajectories followed an inverted U-shape from the earlier cohort (born in 1924 or earlier) to the later cohort (born in 1950 or later). These insights into resilience trajectories can inform targeted policies and interventions, crucial as populations age and the prevalence of disability increases.