Resilience in Troubled Times: Emotional Reactions of Teaching College Faculty during the COVID-19 Crisis

Abstract

We hypothesized perceptions of the COVID-19 would mediate the associations between individual faculty members’ resilience and certain demographics (age, gender, academic rank, exposure to COVID-19) and their emotional reactions to the COVID-19 crisis. Ninety-eight college faculty participated in this preliminary study, recruited at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel. The results suggest reported perception of the COVID-19 situation as either a threat or opportunity mediated the associations between reported resilience, demographic variables, and positive and negative emotional responses to the situation. Age was positively associated with the perception of opportunities. Gender, exposure to COVID-19, and resilience were associated with the perception of both threats and opportunities. Higher-ranking faculty perceived the change as threatening more frequently than they saw it as an opportunity. The results are discussed in light of positive psychology models of effective coping.