Healthcare management strategies and psychological resilience: A comparative study

Health management behaviors may reflect not only physical needs but also psychological adaptability. This study investigated how four healthcare management strategies – prescribed medication, pain relief medication, dietary supplements, and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) – relate to resilience in generally healthy adults. Data were drawn from the MIDUS Refresher study ( N = 364), with replication analyses using MIDUS 2. Resilience was assessed through retrospective affect balance and daily negative affect, analyzed using multiple linear regressions. In the MIDUS Refresher sample, proactive strategies, particularly CAM and supplement use, were associated with greater resilience, reflected in a weaker association between daily negative affect and retrospective well-being. Prescribed and pain relief medication use showed no comparable buffering effects. These patterns did not fully replicate in MIDUS 2, suggesting that associations between healthcare strategies and resilience may depend on cohort and contextual factors.