Pushing and Pulling: Unraveling the Bidirectional Relationship Between Resilience and Benign and Malicious Envy Among Adolescents

Envy manifests in two distinct forms: benign envy, which arises from upward social comparisons and motivates self-improvement (e.g., exerting effort to bridge competence gaps), and malicious envy, which provokes hostile intentions to diminish others' advantages (e.g., derogating peers' accomplishments). Resilience, the capacity to cope effectively with adversity, may shape responses to upward social comparison by channeling envy toward benign self-improvement motivation and away from malicious, other-derogating motivation. We employed a longitudinal study and a weekly diary method to investigate the bidirectional relationship between resilience and benign and malicious envy, examining both trait and state levels. In Study 1, 208 adolescents were recruited as participants for a three-wave, three-year longitudinal study. In Study 2, 463 adolescents were recruited for a weekly diary survey over seven weeks. Our findings revealed that in the 3-year longitudinal study (trait level), resilience consistently predicted benign and malicious envy, while in the 7-week diary method (state level), a bidirectional predictive relationship exists between resilience and benign and malicious envy. Our study informs the practice of emotional well-being interventions that can effectively inhibit the negative effects of malicious envy while promoting the positive effects of benign envy by enhancing resilience.