Identify the issue
Understand Yourself: Academic Resilience
- Learn about the attitudes, skills, and behaviors that are associated with personal and academic resilience.
- Learn about the advantages of resilience in overcoming obstacles and adversity in reaching your academic and career goals.
“I just get broken down. My will is broken down. Why am I putting myself through this?”
“Frankly speaking, sometimes I find it’s hard to keep going … I just need to push through.”
Graduate school is stimulating and exciting. It also is full of academic hurdles, pressure, innumerable hassles and setbacks. The extra challenges that diverse women face in STEM graduate programs can be daunting and too frequently discouraging. In CareerWISE, we are dedicated to helping you survive and thrive in your program, to persist, and to earn the PhD you set out for.
In the CareerWISE Coach, we focus on the academic resilience of women in STEM graduate programs, that is, the application of personal and interpersonal strengths to persevering and thriving in graduate school despite the pressures and challenges. We consider resilience to be a set of learnable skills involving knowledge, thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors that will enable you to deal successfully with whatever comes up.
The CareerWISE Academic Resilience Coach is a resource that is designed to fortify you with the resilience skills to “bounce back” from discouragement, regain your balance, and “bounce forward” toward completing your doctoral program.
Although encountering many stressful situations is universal, individuals differ markedly in the way they experience and cope with them. Persons with resilience skills are more effective in managing these experiences with little or no impact on their daily functioning.
Resilience is a central protective resource that can be just as or more important than the absence of risk factors in healthy adjustment to life stresses. The protective resources you build now are activated when you encounter stressful situations and significant disruptions in the future.
Resilience is associated with multiple benefits (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000; Smith, 2006). For example, people who are resilient:
are less easily threatened or disrupted by painful experiences and are therefore less vulnerable;
are more grounded and self-assured of their place in the social world;
experience improved physical and mental health and performance;
try harder and persist in the face of a challenge.
Conversely, being less hardy or resilient increases your vulnerability to stress and illness and interferes with your motivation and success. For example, those with low resilience are more likely to:
- report having less control over stress;
- report that stress has a negative impact on their academic work;
- blame problems on poor personal abilities;
- give up on their goals.
Resilient individuals show an active pattern of coping with stressful circumstances. According to the Penn Resiliency Project, the personal strengths, skills, and behaviors that characterize resilience include the following: (Gillham, Abenavoli, Brunwasser, Linkins, Reivich, & Seligman, 2013):
- Emotional competence: identifying, expressing, and regulating emotions (see Emotional Styles, Your Stress Triggers, and Mental Health and Wellness).
- Self-control: identifying and resisting impulses that get in the way of meeting long-term goals and being resourceful (see Be Resourceful)
- Problem-solving and decision making: making informed decisions based on evidence and remaining flexible (see Problem Solving modules).
- Social awareness: empathizing and considering the perspectives of others (see Consider Other Perspectives)
- Social competence: working through challenges in salient interpersonal relationships (see Interpersonal Communication Styles and The Relationship)
- Self-efficacy and realistic optimism: having confidence in yourself and your ability to reach goals and implement coping skills (see Coping and Self-Efficacy and Motivation and Career Goals )
Resilient people also:
- Make and carry out realistic plans (see Set SMART Objectives)
- Demonstrate strong communication skills (see our Communicate Effectively modules)
- Build meaningful and supportive relationships (see The Relationship, What You Want in a Mentor)
- Care for themselves during times of stress (see Mental Health and Wellness)
- Utilize their character strengths (see Build on Your Strengths)
How you think is also related to resilience. Some thoughts promote resilience, whereas others weaken your resilience in the face of adversity. Some examples of resilience-promoting thoughts include the following:
- “This is hard, but I can get through it.”
- “I will feel great about myself once this is all over.”
- “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”
- “This is a learning process.”
Some examples of resilience-weakening thoughts:
- “Why did I put myself through this?”
- “If I can’t do things perfectly, I will just quit.”
- “If this is so difficult for me, maybe I don’t belong here.”
Self-test
Choose the best answer to fill in the blank. A resilient person _________:
- A. Does not see challenges as negative.
- B. Aggressively addresses obstacles the moment they occur.
- C. Always fights back against opposition.
- D. Gathers resources in order to help navigate through difficulties.
|
Factor |
Definition |
How it can affect you |
|
Risk factors |
Risk factors are environmental conditions that make individuals more susceptible to negative outcomes, whether academic or personal. |
Gender bias in STEM can serve as a risk factor that impedes academic and personal resilience. Sexism, microaggressions, and other forms of discrimination are environmental conditions that put women in STEM in danger of harmful effects. |
|
Protective factor |
Protective factors are internal or external strengths that an individual possesses that mitigate risk factors. These may include social support, self-esteem, or coping skills. |
Developing a strong support system both within and outside your academic department may serve as a protective factor. Moving through the CareerWISE Resilience Coach can help you learn about and develop skills that mitigate risk factors. |
|
Vulnerability factor |
Vulnerability factors are aspects of an individual that become salient and expose someone to danger depending on the situation. Vulnerability factors may not be particularly relevant during low-risk situations but can be detrimental during situations with higher stakes. |
Gender can serve as a vulnerability factor for women in STEM. While gender may not be particularly salient in academic departments where there is a relatively equal balance of genders, it may increase a woman’s vulnerability in the male-dominated environment that is STEM. |
|
Compensatory strategies |
Compensatory strategies are behaviors that individuals use to protect themselves. While these strategies are particularly important in high-risk situations, they have positive effects regardless of risk level. |
Having high educational aspirations to succeed in STEM despite obstacles, delays, and setbacks is a compensatory strategy. Another compensatory strategy may be purposefully developing a strong network of supportive peers; see Online Resource and Supports for more. |
Hardiness describes a set of three attitudes that strengthen resilience: commitment, control, and challenge (the “Three C’s”) (Kobasa, 1979). Think of these attitudes as approaches to life..
COMMITMENT refers to the attitude of being dedicated to and deeply involved in the different facets of your life. Commitment contrasts with alienation.
CONTROL reflects your desire to have an influence on the outcomes going on around you, no matter how difficult. Control contrasts with powerlessness.
CHALLENGE epitomizes an expectation that life is capricious, that change will stimulate personal growth, and that you will appraise potentially stressful situations as exciting and stimulating rather than threatening. Challenge contrasts with a need for security.
The attitudes of hardiness make it easier for you to convert your stresses into advantages and turn potential disasters into opportunities for personal growth (Maddi, 2006). Learning from and finding meaning in challenges you encounter can facilitate your growth in creativity, wisdom, and fulfillment.
Read over the following scenarios. Pick YOUR response, not what you think is the “right” hardy response.
The last time an experiment went differently than you predicted, did you:
a. Snap at your labmate and stomp out of the building?
b. Become intrigued by the result, and look for an opportunity to learn something new?
c. Begrudgingly start over and this time work alone?
If you find that you are not getting the support you need from your advisor would you:
a. Accept the situation as it is, even if you encounter delays in your progress toward graduation? After all, no one is perfect.
b. Feel terrible and helpless?
c. Find a way to get the support you need, either by approaching your advisor directly, switching to another advisor, or finding an informal mentor?
Your labmate has endless annoying habits, but none of them are serious enough to merit a formal complaint. However, each day is filled with humorless jokes, silly requests, and his aloof attitude. You:
a. Learn to tolerate these frustrating habits since it’s not seriously affecting your work.
b. Fixate on these things and become increasingly annoyed.
c. Confront him about his annoying personality.
You have been struggling a lot to get your thesis done. Your advisor broke it to you that you may want to consider just completing your master's degree in chemistry, as you may not have what it takes to be a PhD candidate. You:
a. Accept the criticism and think, “Well, if I just do a master's, I can be out of school next year.”
b. Continue to work diligently toward completing your thesis and know that this is only a short-term milestone; you are committed to staying on the PhD course.
c. Wonder if you’re even in the right field.
The hardy responses are:
1) b; 2) c; 3) a; 4) b
You may have found that your first inclination is not the hardy response. People often have an impulsive, emotional way of responding to stressors.
The good thing is that hardiness can be learned. It’s about reflecting on situations thoughtfully. Though you may have an initial reaction of panic, you can learn how to calm yourself down and think about the situation more in-depth.
Review the following characteristics. Do these describe YOU and/or your FAMILY or CLOSE LOVED ONES, or the PEOPLE IN YOUR SOCIAL/ACADEMIC SETTINGS?
Tolerance
Feeling confident that you can do the things that are important to you
Feeling good about yourself
Strong personal values
Sense of humor
Hopeful
Possess strategies to deal with stress
Have a balanced perspective on your experience
Courage to do what is right in the face of challenges
Determination
Where you find your strengths can be an important reflection of where you also find your weaknesses.
If you have many of these characteristics but find that your academic setting does not possess or encourage these things, you should have strategies to deal with those. If you find that some of these characteristics are plentiful in your social circles but you feel a bit short on them, maybe hanging out with your friends more can help re-inspire you.
You want to stay closely connected with people and situations that encourage resilient responses to difficult circumstances. You also want to protect your strong attributes and not allow environmental obstacles to dampen your drive.
Now that you’ve learned about resilience, you may be wondering how to apply it in practical situations as a woman in STEM. In a study of 15 female engineering doctoral students, participants utilized resilient coping strategies listed below to overcome challenges they encountered in their doctoral programs (Wilkins-Yel, Simpson, & Sparks, 2019).
Perseverance: Resilience may be demonstrated by challenging yourself to take risks despite the possibility of negative outcomes and by persevering in the face of perceived “failures.” For example, applying for an engineering position that you were previously denied is a demonstration of your resilience, tenacity, and confidence.
Asserting One’s Legitimacy: Resilience for women in STEM may look like taking a stance against bias and microaggressions in your field. The Climate module describes how women often have to work harder than men to receive the same amount of recognition; resilient individuals in the study proved their competence, whether verbally or nonverbally, and challenged gendered expectations. See the Recognize Sexism and Microaggressions modules for more information on challenging gendered biases.
Support and Belongingness: Resilient individuals surround themselves with a strong academic and personal support system. In the study, participants fostered resilience by building a sense of connectedness and community with colleagues both within and outside their academic department. Organizations designated for women in STEM, such as Society of Women in Engineering (SWE), may provide you with an opportunity to foster a sense of belongingness, allowing for increased resilience. See the Online Resources and Supports section for more information.
Meaningful Impact as a Reason to Thrive: Resilience can be fostered by remembering the significance and meaning of your hard work. Resilient individuals in the study gained fulfillment and determination to persevere by remembering the impact they can have on others. Keep in mind that despite challenges and setbacks, you are paving the way for future women and girls to thrive in STEM fields.
Resilience skills are developed over time. Resilience is not in your genes, running through your blood, or something that the doctor can prescribe. Resilience is a perspective that develops in the face of adversity, a constellation of attitudes and skills that can be learned and practiced.
People who have had to overcome challenges are usually better equipped to handle future ones. That’s another way of saying that practice in being resilient helps!
Building a repertoire of skills that comprise resilience can help protect you against excessive stress, get through anything, and come out even better on the other side. The CareerWISE Academic Resilience Coach is designed to help you do just that in the realm of your graduate and career progress
When graduate school seems dismal and discouraging, remember that you can turn to your resilience resources. Although it may be easier said than done, appreciate the hurdles you encounter for allowing you to discover yourself as a person who can cope using resilience skills and resourcefulness.
Bekki, J. M., Smith, M. L., Bernstein, B. L., & Harrison, C. (2013). Effects of an online resilience training program for women in STEM doctoral programs. Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, 19(2), 17-35. https://doi.org/10.1615/JWomenMinorScienEng.2013005351
Bowman, P. J. (2013). A strengths-based social psychological approach to resiliency: Cultural diversity, ecological, and life span issues. In S. Prince-Embury & D. H. Saklofske (Eds.), Resilience in children, adolescents, and adults (pp. 299-324). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4939-3_21
Cheng, Y., Tsai, C., & Liang, J. (2019). Academic hardiness and academic self-efficacy in graduate studies. Higher Education Research & Development, 38(5), 907-921. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2019.1612858
Fredrickson, B. L. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56(3), 218-226. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066x.56.3.218
Kobasa, S. C. (1979). Stressful life events, personality, and health: An inquiry into hardiness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.37.1.1
Maddi, S. R. (2006). Hardiness: The courage to grow from stresses. Journal of Positive Psychology, 1(3), 160-168. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760600619609
Martin A. J. (2013). Academic buoyancy and academic resilience: exploring ‘everyday’ and ‘classic’ resilience in the face of academic adversity. School Psychology International, 34(5), 488–500. https://doi.org/10.1177/0143034312472759
Martínez-Martí, M. L., & Ruch, W. (2017). Character strengths predict resilience over and above positive affect, self-efficacy, optimism, social support, self-esteem, and life satisfaction. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 12(2), 110-119. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2016.1163403
Morales, E. E. (2008). Exceptional female students of color: Academic resilience and gender in higher education. Innovative Higher Education, 33(3), 197–213. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-008-9075-y
Morales, E. E. (2008b). The resilient mind: The psychology of academic resilience. Educational Forum, 72(2), 152-167. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131720701805017
Seligman, M. E. P., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: An introduction. American Psychologist, 55(1), 5-14. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.5
Smith, E. J. (2006). The strength-based counseling model. The Counseling Psychologist, 34(1), 13-79. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000005277018
Tugade, M. M., & Fredrickson, B. L. (2004). Resilient individuals use positive emotions to bounce back from negative emotional experiences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86(2), 320-333. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.86.2.320
Wilkins-Yel, K. G., Simpson, A., & Sparks, P. D. (2019). Persisting despite the odds: Resilience and coping among women in engineering. Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, 25(4), 353-368. https://doi.org/10.1615/jwomenminorscieneng.2019026945
The importance of having a number of things in your life that bring you joy and satisfaction
Gaining Strength from Adversity
Underscores the challenges that come from being the only woman in an academic department and gives suggestions on how to gain confidence and be assertive in these situations
Working with Intelligent People Across Cultures Makes It All Worthwhile
Satisfaction comes from interacting with intelligent people across cultures
A Virtual Support System (Long Distance)
The importance of nurturing relationships outside of academia
The Opportunity to be a Jack-of-All-Trades
The opportunity for freedom, growth, and collaboration as a faculty member
Developing a Scientific Identity in an Advisor's Shadow
Challenges faced with establishing yourself as an independent researcher separate from an influential advisor
Advice for balancing research and fun in graduate school
Proactive Approach and Adapting Environments
How to adapt experimental methods to match a lifestyle
Thwarting Thoughts of Quitting
The importance of goal setting and using others' experiences to make strong choices about your own path
"We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated”
Maya Angelou.
"Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall"
Confucius
“Women are like teabags. We don’t know our true strength until we are in hot water.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
First Lady
Explains that satisfaction comes from working with students and the opportunity to make new disco
Explains that satisfaction comes from working with students and the opportunity to make new disco
The importance of learning from mistakes and persisting despite setbacks.
The importance of learning from your effort, regardless of the outcome.
Advice on how to seek out support in graduate school and how to bounce back from setbacks.
Shares the excitement that comes from collaborating with others to make new discoveries.
Elaborates on the standard practice of science despite cultural differences.
Strategies for negotiating as a faculty member.
When it's time to graduate and when it's important to start learning on the job.
Highlights the transition into graduate level science where the answers aren't known.
The importance of goal setting and using others' experiences to make strong choices about your own p
Advice for balancing research and fun in graduate school.
Advice for students: stay focused, ask questions, and remain open-minded when working with others.
How to adapt experimental methods to match a lifestyle.
How to negotiate a schedule for raising a family and overcoming setbacks in a new career.
The importance of giving yourself credit and remembering why you are doing what you're doing.
The importance of peer relationships and the learning process that takes place despite concrete outc
Working with graduate students is a rewarding aspect of being a faculty member.
Advice for graduate students on how to maintain their confidence, courage, and dignity.
Emphasizes peer relationships and departmental climate.
How to handle being accused of having an affair with the advisor.
Explains an interdisciplinary branch of physics and the passion for research, service, and teaching.
Teaching as the impetus for work.
Discusses necessary precautions to take as a female student working late nights on campus.
Discusses necessary precautions to take as a female student working late nights on campus.
Being accused of cheating and regrets about not being more assertive.
Being accused of cheating and regrets about not being more assertive.
The importance of self-authorship and using graduate school as a process for self-definition.
Reminder that support can be found in unexpected places.
Urges female graduate students to persist in the field of mathematics because the field needs divers
How being unaware of being the only woman was advantageous to program success.
Alternatives to departmental isolation and the importance of networking.
Environmental issues faced in academia.
The importance of first impressions in choosing a graduate program.
Satisfaction comes from interacting with intelligent people across cultures.
Adjusting physical appearance to fit in with peers.
The importance of remembering that graduate school is only one part of a larger career.
Describes an incident of receiving a lower grade than a man for similar work.
The opportunity for freedom, growth, and collaboration as a faculty member.
How to survive the aftermath of a sexual harassment incident.
Highlights the gendered assumptions encountered as a faculty member.
The Importance of Having Positive Working Relationships: A Case Study
An alternative way to approach being the only woman in a given situation.
Contributions to the field are reflected through choices.
The importance of sharing stories of sexual harassment with others to gain support.
The importance of finding the right advisor to support your research goals.
How to handle being accused of having an affair with the advisor.
Explains when to confront a problem and when it may be better to maneuver around it.
How to be upfront, direct, and assertive when confronting instances of sexual harassment.
Highlights the universal customs of science.
Class performance builds confidence to remain in program.
Captures the annoyance of male colleagues making sexist assumptions and the challenges with conferen
The importance of recognizing the progress that has been made by women in science fields.
Advice for accomplishing your academic goals without making unnecessary compromises.
Emphasizes the challenge with saying no, but the importance of learning to do so.
How to make friends with colleagues to encourage a supportive environment.
Underscores the challenges that come from being the only woman in an academic department and gives s
Highlights an experience in which peers were not only colleagues, but also friends.
How the physical space in a laboratory allowed for collaboration among colleagues.
The importance of a good leader in setting standards for diversity, climate, and tenure policies.
How to observe others' reactions to subtle comments in order to gauge an appropriate response.
Urges students not to get wrapped into issues that do not directly involve them.
Departmental reactions to the choice to have children.
How to refute sexist comments and challenge gendered assumptions.
The importance of sharing stories of sexual harassment with others and realizing that you are not al
Confronting a male colleague with contradictory findings at a conference.
How colleagues can assist in making the transition into graduate life easier by sharing information
Captures the small but noticeable annoyances that come with being the only woman.
The importance of picking your battles to avoid unfair labeling.
Reminder that it is not necessary to feel comfortable socially to do good science.
Gender stereotypes faced in getting into graduate school and conducting research.
How to seek support from administrators outside the department when dealing with departmental sexism
The first realization that being a woman in science was outside the norm.
Challenges of being international and female, particularly with regards to an academic career and th
Suggestions for how to deal with sexist comments.
Playing a variety of roles as the only woman in the department.
The process of establishing yourself in the same department as your spouse.
Emphasizes positive peer relationships within her cohort.
The challenges of working in male-dominated academic environments and the negative stereotypes assoc
The feasibility of pursuing a family and science.
The importance of hearing other people's stories.
The importance of understanding priorities and allocating resources accordingly.
Advises how to keep family informed about research goals and progression from student to faculty mem
Explains some of the setbacks in dating relationships.
Advises students to continue to pursue their education because the payoff is self-respect.
The importance of believing in yourself, admitting your mistakes, and continuing to do what you love
How to accept non-traditional relationships and lifestyles in academia.
Notes the challenges of a dual career marriage and the obstacles in fighting for tenure and balancin
The process of overcoming setbacks related to career options and personal relationships.
How to balance motherhood responsibilities in graduate school.
The importance of supportive peer relationships.
Being married in graduate school and having children as a faculty member.
Advisor's experiences encourage well-informed career decisions.
The importance of a supportive network of colleagues.
Doing something useful to make a difference and how to appreciate a happy, supportive work environme
Taking time off before pursuing her PhD.
How a supportive department and a modified teaching schedule allowed for maternity leave.
How to sustain taking time off and pursuing the PhD later in life.
Advises how to keep family informed about research goals and progression from student to faculty mem
The importance of a supportive extended family in helping to balance school and children.
The importance of having a number of things in your life that bring you joy and satisfaction.
Understanding your strengths and weaknesses, but ultimately giving yourself recognition for your suc
The importance of learning over time and remaining positive in the face of criticism.
Motivation for doing work: interacting with students and doing research that can make a difference i
Emphasizes the challenge with saying no, but the importance of learning to do so.
The importance of remaining passionate and remembering that the PhD opens doors.
The importance of defining clear goals, remaining self-confident, and learning to say no.
The importance of allowing yourself the opportunity to change your mind and reconsider your goals.
The importance of knowing what you want and expecting tradeoffs on the path to get it.
Making discoveries and collaborating with others brings satisfaction.
Creating a schedule and meeting an advisor's expectations.
Advises graduate students to take a semester off if they choose to have a child because it is too ch
Explains the role children play in career choices.
Using leisure activities to relieve stress and build friendships.
The satisfaction that comes from working with colleagues and interacting with others.
The decision to get married in graduate school.
The importance of maintaining a balanced lifestyle to alleviate stress.
Addresses personal relationship sacrifices.
The importance of nurturing relationships outside of academia.
Explains the choice to have children in graduate school.
Challenges with being married to a fellow academician and finding faculty positions.
How a flexible schedule as a professor made it possible to have a family and a career.
The importance of evaluating your priorities to create balance and happiness.
Appreciation for advisor's assistance in transitioning to the US.
Emphasizes the joy in working with others and giving back to society.
Chronicles the evolution of a career over time.
Suggestions for how to increase women's participation in science with an emphasis on policy change.
The importance of being open and honest with your advisor.
How a positive advisor challenged his students to think for themselves.
Highlights the obstacles faced when trying to have research reviewed by the advisor and emphasizes t
The importance of having a variety of mentors throughout your graduate experience.
Challenges faced with establishing yourself as an independent researcher separate from an influentia
The importance of asking questions and searching for creative solutions to new problems.
The importance of finding a good advisor and making sure to get everything in writing.
Challenges in confronting the advisor with news of pregnancy.
Experiences with an international advisor.
How to maintain good relationships with colleagues while being motivated to finish the program qu
The importance of giving back to students and making an impact in their future education and care
An Arizona State University project, supported by the National Science Foundation under grants 0634519, 0910384 and 1761278
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. © 2021 CareerWISE. All rights reserved. Privacy | Legal
Comments
We want to hear from you. Did this page remind you of any experiences you’ve had? Did you realize something new? Please take a moment to tell us about it—and we’ll keep it confidential.