What Makes Us Strong: Conceptual and Functional Comparisons of Psychological Flexibility and Resilience

Psychological flexibility and resilience represent adaptive functioning and the pursuit of values in the presence of adversity such as during the COVID-19 pandemic. Understanding the conceptual and functional differences between these constructs is essential given their overlapping roles as key protective factors. This study involved 1,059 participants from a Korean community sample who completed self-reported surveys measuring psychological flexibility, resilience, and mental health outcomes. Network analysis was used to create a sparse network comprising six nodes for psychological flexibility and ten nodes for resilience. Bridge strength centrality was estimated to identify the nodes connecting the two constructs. In addition, we employed a relative weights analysis to evaluate the relative significance of each psychological flexibility process on mental health outcomes while accounting for the composite resilience score. Within the psychological flexibility cluster, "Leaving thoughts be," "Steady self," "Awareness of value," and "Being engaged" emerged as bridge elements, with "Steady self" exhibiting the highest bridge strength. Additionally, different patterns were observed in the unique contribution of each psychological flexibility process to positive and negative mental health outcomes. These findings suggest the potential role of "Steady self" as a catalyst for the transfer of skills and coping mechanisms between the different dimensions of psychological flexibility and resilience. The influential processes identified in this study had predictive value in their association with mental health outcomes. Future directions and implications are discussed.