Development and psychometric evaluation of the Resilience Scale

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Psychometrics
• Health Psychology

Background:

• Resilience is crucial for healthy aging.
• Validated instruments are needed to measure resilience in older adults.
• Existing measures may not fully capture the nuances of resilience in this demographic.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and psychometrically evaluate the 25-item Resilience Scale (RS).
• To assess the reliability and validity of the RS in community-dwelling older adults.
• To explore the factor structure of resilience in later life.

Main Methods:

• Principal components factor analysis with oblimin rotation was used.
• The study included 810 community-dwelling older adults.
• Concurrent validity was assessed through correlations with health, morale, life satisfaction, and depression.

Main Results:

• The Resilience Scale (RS) demonstrated a two-factor structure: Personal Competence and Acceptance of Self and Life.
• The RS showed positive correlations with adaptational outcomes (physical health, morale, life satisfaction).
• A negative correlation with depression supported the RS's concurrent validity.

Conclusions:

• The 25-item Resilience Scale (RS) is a reliable and valid instrument.
• The RS effectively measures resilience in community-dwelling older adults.
• Findings support the use of the RS for research and clinical applications in gerontology.