A stigma-conscious framework for resilience and posttraumatic change

Members of stigmatized groups face severe, chronic adversities that produce qualitatively unique and often challenging experiences. Further, access to resources relevant to overcoming adversity (e.g., time, money, energy, support) is depleted and blocked by stigmatization. However, current approaches to resilience and posttraumatic growth do not account for stigma, hindering our understanding of both constructs. Thus, drawing from the conservation of resources theory (Hobfoll, 1989), we develop a stigma-conscious framework on resilience and posttraumatic change (PTC) that extends existing work by enhancing realism and generalizability for stigmatized groups. We present a multilevel framework that explains how and why stigmatization directly (as an input) and indirectly (as an influencer of resource-related mechanisms) shapes resilience and PTC processes and outcomes. This framework advances interpretations of past work on resilience and posttraumatic growth, their respective conceptualizations and operationalizations, future model development, and interventions. We encourage and guide scholars to integrate stigma into resilience and PTC research and applications. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).