Abstract
We examined individuals’ retrospective accounts and personal analyses regarding how their emotional, motivational, and epistemological
beliefs coalesced to affect their long-term coping and resilience following a critical life event. Analyses from interviewed
subjects who had encountered significant life-changing events revealed three major themes that influenced their decisions,
abilities for self-regulation, and life course paths: (1) types of unexpected events, (2) types and intensity of emotional
responses to the critical event, and (3) beliefs about primary control (i.e., personal agency and self-efficacy) and mediated
control (i.e., external sources of influence). Regarding the extent to which participants experienced resiliency and current
satisfaction with their lives, a dominant theme was their ability to see their critical life events as part of a larger tapestry—involving
issues of personal and externally mediated controls—that provided a framework for their positive redirections, perceptions
of self-efficacy, and abilities for coping and self-regulation.
beliefs coalesced to affect their long-term coping and resilience following a critical life event. Analyses from interviewed
subjects who had encountered significant life-changing events revealed three major themes that influenced their decisions,
abilities for self-regulation, and life course paths: (1) types of unexpected events, (2) types and intensity of emotional
responses to the critical event, and (3) beliefs about primary control (i.e., personal agency and self-efficacy) and mediated
control (i.e., external sources of influence). Regarding the extent to which participants experienced resiliency and current
satisfaction with their lives, a dominant theme was their ability to see their critical life events as part of a larger tapestry—involving
issues of personal and externally mediated controls—that provided a framework for their positive redirections, perceptions
of self-efficacy, and abilities for coping and self-regulation.