Abstract
There has been a need for an instrument which not only can adequately evaluate trait-like resilience, but also can be applied to Polish adolescents and young adults. The purpose of this study was to validate the Resilience Scale RS-14 (Wagnild, 2009a,b). We aimed to examine and assess the psychometric properties of the Polish version in three different samples. The first sample was made up of adolescents aged 13–17 (N = 400).The second sample was made up of a problem group aged 13–18 (N = 656) who had special needs and attended either Probation Centers, Youth Sociotherapy Centers, or Youth Educational Centers. The third sample was made up of students in early adulthood aged 19–27 (N = 1,659). Exploratory and confirmatory factor-analytic methods were employed. CFA demonstrated a good fit of the factor structure in all three samples. The original one-dimensional structure of the RS short form was confirmed. All items loaded (>0.40) onto 1 factor, indicating cohesive structure for a 1-factor model explaining 35.02% of the variance in the whole sample, 34.62% in the young adolescent sample, 31.11% in the problem sample, and 38.51% in the early adulthood sample. Descriptive statistics, reliability (young adolescence α = 0.85, problem sampleα = 0.82 early adulthood α = 0.87) and validity data were calculated; test-retest showed good stability [r(40) = 0.88; p < 0.001]. The validity of the scale RS-14 was applied in two groups (the N = 382 early adulthood aged 19–27, and the N = 120 problem group aged 13–18) and was subsequently evaluated. The RS-14 correlated significantly, as expected, with measures of positive concepts (satisfaction with life). Results showed that resilience was negatively related with indexes of perceived stress and the dimension-of-depression. Findings support the RS-14 to be a valid and useful instrument for assessing resilience in diverse Polish adolescent groups, including those with special needs and those in early adulthood.
Highlights
Theoretical assumptions and empirical findings show that resilience can be variously conceptualized either as an unidimensional or a multidimensional construct
Given the impact of resilience in the personal and social development of youth, and given the relevant increasing interest in resilience findings in theory and practice, this current study was impelled to report relevant validation statistics using the measures of the Scale RS-14 (Wagnild, 2009a) within the Polish population of young people
This methodological research examined the concept of resilience by validating the RS-14 with an average population of adolescents and young adults and secondly by exploring validation in the case of young people with special needs and socially maladjusted offenders who are in educational, therapeutic, probation centers
Summary
Theoretical assumptions and empirical findings show that resilience can be variously conceptualized either as an unidimensional or a multidimensional construct. Conceptualization of resilience as a multidimensional construct arises from the understanding that resilience is a dynamic process of the interaction among different constitutional, biological, cognitive, interpersonal, and contextual factors. “The interaction between the individual and the different contextual aspects leads to attitudes that elicit sustained positive outcomes with a continuous learning process of renewing and balancing situations” (Windle et al, 2011; Wiles et al, 2012; Wong and Wong, 2012; Donnellan et al, 2015). There is a difference between resilience as “adaptive outcomes in the face of adversities and coping as a set of cognitive and behavioral strategies used by an individual to manage the demands of stressful situations” (Folkman and Moskowitz, 2004). While researching “resilience, it is necessary to be sensitive to the sociocultural factors that contextualize how it is defined by different populations” (Campbell-Sills and Stein, 2007; Ungar and Liebenberg, 2011; Wyche et al, 2011; Aiena et al, 2015)
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