Construct Validity and Population-Based Norms of the German Brief Resilience Scale (BRS)

The Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) measures the ability to recover from stress. To provide further evidence for construct validity of the German BRS and to determine population-based norms, a large sample (N = 1,128) representative of the German adult population completed a survey including the BRS and instruments measuring perceived stress and the resilience factors optimism, self-efficacy, and locus of control. Confirmatory factor analyses showed best model fit for a five-factor model differentiating the ability to recover from stress from the three resilience factors. On the basis of latent and manifest correlations, convergent and discriminant validity of the BRS were fair to good. Female sex, older age, lower weekly working time, higher perceived stress, lower optimism, and self-efficacy as well as higher external locus of control predicted lower BRS scores, that is, lower ability to recover from stress.