Measuring Family Resilience: Evaluating the Walsh Family Resilience Questionnaire

Abstract

With a continued focus by practitioners, such as marriage and family counselors, behavioral/social scientists, and policy makers, on promoting resilience among families, it is important to ensure that reliable and valid instruments exist to accurately measure resilience. Using a sample of 603 college students from a large, public university in a mid-South U.S. state, this study investigated the measurement of family resilience operationalized by Walsh (the Walsh Family Resilience Questionnaire [WFRQ]) based on the three-domain theoretical framework. Item-level analysis was conducted to examine reliability followed by a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to examine construct validity and confirm the proposed three-factor structure of family resilience. Item-level analysis was examined through individual item mean scores and bivariate correlations, and the CFA was evaluated through examination of model fit and significance of pathways between factors and individual items. Results from the item analysis indicated that individuals reported that the proposed family resilience items characterized how their families rebounded from stressful events. Results from the CFA upheld the theorized three-factor structure comprised of (1) belief systems, (2) organization patterns, and (3) communication/problem-solving. Altogether, these findings demonstrate the suitability of the WFRQ and provide practitioners and scholars alike a more holistic insight into resilience beyond the individual level.