Psychological well-being, resilience, and social support expectancy: Junior high school students facing high school entrance examinations

Resilience is a psychological trait that enables individuals to maintain their psychological well-being despite experiencing difficulties. The purpose of the present study 1 vas to investigate the relationship among psychological well-being, resilience, and social support in third-year junior high school students who were preparing for high school entrance examinations. (In Japan, in order to be admitted to a high school, junior high school students must succeed on an entrance examination.) Before taking the entrance examinations, 538 students completed questionnaires measuring their resilience, perceived social support, stress responses, and experience of academic stressors. After the examination, 263 of the students completed a Self-Growth Scale. The results suggested that resilience consists of 3 factors : self-directedness, optimism, and relation-orientedness. Self-directedness, optimism, and perceived support from mother, friends, and teachers alleviated stress responses, though social support was a more effective stress reliever than resilience for the girls. Self-directedness was found to relate strongly to feelings of self-growth. Friends' support was correlated most positively to self-directedness and relation-orientedness. The role of resilience and social support in the maintenance of psychological well-being under stressful conditions was discussed.