What is resilience in the context of stress adaptation?

• A. The ability to bounce back from adversity, maintain or regain functioning, and grow despite stress.
• B. The elimination of stressors in environment.
• C. Avoidance of any emotional response.
• D. Persistent anxiety.

Answer: (A)

Resilience in stress adaptation means bouncing back from adversity by maintaining or regaining functioning, and even growing because of the experience. It involves flexible coping, using support, and keeping daily life on track while navigating stress. This captures the best answer because it combines recovery, sustained ability to function, and potential growth—true markers of resilience—as opposed to simply trying to remove stressors or suppress emotions. The other ideas don’t fit: eliminating stressors isn’t always possible and doesn’t reflect how people cope when stress remains; avoiding emotional responses ignores the processing and regulation that resilience requires; and persistent anxiety signals ongoing distress rather than effective adaptation.