Resilience, meaning, and well-being

In this issue of The Counseling Psychologist, Smith presents an array of important strengh-related literature and offers propositions, stages, and counseling reconnnendations to foster resilience among youth. This article argues, however, that the strengthbased counseling model is not sufficiently operational or clearly distinguishable from other models and that more inclusion of the adult well-being literature could help to clarify key constructs and relationships among variables. The author proffers a focal operationalization of psychological resilience as generalized self-cfficacy and discusses the importance of cultural moderators of resilience effects and meaning in life as a predictor of well-being. He recommends studying the incremental therapeutic benefits of strength-focused interventions.