Aside from the occasional appearance at a Broadway show or walk in the woods around her home in Chappaqua, N.Y., Mrs. Clinton has kept a low profile since her election loss in November. As her husband and daughter, Chelsea Clinton, dive into their efforts at the Clinton Foundation, Mrs. Clinton has given no signal about what she will do next. “She’s just not there yet,” said a friend who talked to her recently.

Asked how she’s doing, Mrs. Clinton has told friends that she is “surviving,” said several people who have spoken with her but would describe the content of the private conversations only on the condition of anonymity.

Mrs. Clinton has pointed to the decision by the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, to release a letter related to her private email server days before the election and to the Russian government’s cyberattacks on Democratic targets as the reasons for her defeat.

In December, at an event in Manhattan to thank her top donors, Mrs. Clinton said the hacking attacks carried out by Russia were intended “to undermine our democracy” and were ordered by President Vladimir V. Putin “because he has a personal beef against me.”

Just as her candidacy divided many women, Mrs. Clinton’s attendance at the inauguration prompted mixed reactions.

To some, her presence was a reminder of the missteps of Mrs. Clinton’s campaign in a race that many Democrats considered hers to lose. Half a dozen elected officials who campaigned aggressively for Mrs. Clinton declined to comment when asked about her attendance on Friday.