Resilience and Perceived Social Support among the Aspirants of Competitive Examinations

Abstract

Resilience and perceived social support are two related concepts. Although there is a
wealth of research about resilience, social support and their relationship with each other in
different populations, only afewstudies assessed resilience and socialsupport among the aspirants
of competitive examinations. Hence the present study aims to fill this gap in the literature. The
sample of the study consisted of 225 aspirants of competitive examinationsfrom Kerala,whose age
ranged from 18 to 36. Resilience scale by Wagnild and Young (1987) and Multidimensional Scale
of Perceived Social Support by Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet and Farley (1988) were used for data
collection. The findings revealed that there is a significant positive correlation between resilience
and perceived social support. It was also identified that the participants have a low resilience and a
moderate perceived social support. Low resilience negatively impacts their mental health and
hence strategiesto enhance resilience should beadopted.