Try "posttraumatic growth." Tedeschi & Calhoun as well as Stephen Joseph
I also suggest reviewing the work of Stevan Hobfoll on the relations between trauma exposure, posttraumatic growth, and nationalism, etc. He suggests that posttraumatic growth may be a 2-edged sword. You may also be interested in several book chapters I have written on the topic of resilience and stress resistance, published in 2007 and 2009 (with Stevan Hobfoll), as well as an invited symposium I gave on the topic in 2003. In them I make the argument that these terms (resistance, resilience) specifically refer to trajectories of adjustment in relation to focal stressors, and that there is a temptation to intermix/conflate factors theorized to promote resistance/resilience (e.g., promotive, protective, facilitative) with these "resilience" related outcomes themselves (conceptualized as domain-specific trajectories of adjustment), producing a confounded predictor/criterion methodological artifact.
Resilience research can be placed within three interrelated, cutting-edge trends in psychology: positive psychology, health and well-being, and post-traumatic growth (Linsley, 2004). Positive adaptation outcomes to psychological trauma has been explored by the literature on posttraumatic growth and Linsley (2003) has proposed the role of three dimensions, the recognition and management of uncertainty, the integration of acceptance and cognition; and the recognition and acceptance of human limitation (wisdom), as both processes and outcomes of traumatic adaptation. His review of empirical studies (Linley, 2004) have also documented positive growth following trauma and adversity associated with cognitive appraisal variables, problem-solving abilities, coping, and positive affect, independently from socio-demographic and psychological distress variables. Post-traumatic growth (PTG) is defined as a positive psychological change experienced as a result of struggling with highly challenging life circumstances (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2004) and has been found to be a major personal resource following trauma, especially in health contexts. Findings support the idea that sustained post-traumatic growth is required to support resilience processes (Helgeson, Reynolds, & Tomich, 2006; Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2004). Exposure to potentially traumatic events can lead to both post-traumatic growth and post-traumatic stress, and recently researchers have started investigating the commonalities and differences in the pathways through which they occur.However, the fact that PTG can positively correlate with both PTSD and resilience need further exploration. Shuettler and Boals (2011) found that PTSD symptoms were best predicted by visceral reactions to the events, event centrality, avoidant coping and a negative perspective of event, while PTG was best predicted by event centrality, problem-focused coping, and a positive perspective. Differential path, thus, seem tocharacterize PTSD and PTG. Finally, according to Tugade and Fredrickson (2007), positive emotionality and cognitive appraisals of threat would mediate the effect of resilience on regulating physiological arousal associated with stress. Their findings suggest that positive emotions contribute to the ability for resilient individuals to psychologically recover from negative emotional arousal and could reveal the dynamics of psychological resilience as they rather appear to aid resilient individuals in their ability to build psychological resources that are essential for coping effectively with stressful encounters, and lead to post-traumatic growth.
I hope this helps!
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