A growing body of evidence suggests that most adults exposed to potentially traumatic events are
resilient. However, research on the factors that may promote or deter adult resilience has been limited.
This study examined patterns of association between resilience and various sociocontextual factors. The
authors used data from a random-digit-dial phone survey (N 2,752) conducted in the New York City
area after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack. Resilience was defined as having 1 or 0 posttraumatic
stress disorder symptoms and as being associated with low levels of depression and substance use.
Multivariate analyses indicated that the prevalence of resilience was uniquely predicted by participant
gender, age, race/ethnicity, education, level of trauma exposure, income change, social support, fre-
quency of chronic disease, and recent and past life stressors. Implications for future research and
intervention are discussed.