Resilience in a sample of Mexican American adolescents with substance use disorders

Resolving the many tasks of adolescent development requires resilience. However, understanding the role that resilience plays in adolescent development involves adequate measurement of the construct. The Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) is a widely used measure of resilience, but a stable latent factor structure has not been identified across studies. The measure has typically been examined in adult samples while little attention has been given to its use with adolescents in general and ethnic minority adolescents in particular. The primary purpose of the current study is to identify a latent factor structure of the CD-RISC in a sample of primarily Mexican American adolescents (N = 106). Two competing model structures were tested via confirmatory factor analysis and results supported a 7-item unidimensional factor model. Support was also found for the construct validity of the measure in relation to ethnic identity and depressive symptoms for adolescents in this sample. Implications of the study findings for adolescents and avenues of future research are discussed.