Beyond Survival: A wellbeing-centric indicator for assessing rural individuals’ resilience to climate change

Rural resilience to climate change is shaped by interacting material, institutional, and psychosocial processes; however, measurement efforts have tended to prioritize household assets and community-capital indices, thereby under-representing individual subjective experience. This study develops a theory-driven, wellbeing-centric indicator to assess individual-level resilience among rural inhabitants. Grounded in in-depth qualitative interviews (purposive, maximum-variation sampling; n = 66) and triangulated with key-informant input and participatory observation, three interrelated dimensions were identified— livelihood and life structure, relational belonging and sense of place, and psychological wellbeing and adaptive agency—comprising nine components and multiple empirically derived psychological anchors (e.g., financial security, role continuity, place attachment, self-efficacy, and emotion regulation). We argue that wellbeing plays a dual role in resilience: as a normative outcome that resilient systems seek to protect and as a psychosocial resource that mediates adaptive behavior. Framed within a multilevel model that explicitly recognizes governmental, community, and market determinants, the indicator is designed to complement existing measures of resilience to climate change. The wellbeing-centric indicator is offered as a complementary tool to existing material and community measures to render individual psychosocial pathways to adaptation both visible and actionable in rural settings. • Individual-level, interdependent dimensions of rural resilience to climate change are under-explored. • Resilience is reframed as transformative adaptation—an active, ongoing reconfiguration of livelihoods and wellbeing—rather than mere post-shock recovery. • A theory-driven, wellbeing-centered indicator and assessment tool is developed, with empirically derived psychosocial anchors for context-specific measurement. • A person-centered framework position wellbeing as a normative outcome and resource that mediates adaptive behavior. • Three interrelated dimensions provide a practical basis for tailored adaptive strategies.