Psychometric properties of the 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10) in male military personnel with and without PTSD

Abstract

BackgroundThe 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10) is a scale widely used to assess resilience among various clinical and nonclinical populations. Measurement invariance of a scale is essential for group comparison. However, to our knowledge, the psychometric properties, including the measurement invariance, validity and reliability, of the CD-RISC-10 in male military personnel with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are unknown. The current study aimed to determine the measurement invariance of the CD-RISC-10 and its validity and reliability in male military personnel with and without PTSD. MethodsA total of 8089 male military personnel were enrolled in the study, 370 of whom were screened as having PTSD based on the screening criteria of a Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-Civilian score ≥38 and 7719 of whom did not have PTSD. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to evaluate whether the scale had a single factor and to determine the measurement invariance in PTSD and non-PTSD samples. ResultsThe results showed that the CD-RISC-10 had satisfactory and reliable internal consistency and criterion-related validity among the PTSD (α = 0.91; r = -0.54, -0.44, -0.55, P<0.01) and non-PTSD (α = 0.94, r = -0.61, -0.49, -0.56, P<0.01) groups. The unidimensional structure of the CD-RISC-10 was verified by CFA in the PTSD and non-PTSD groups. Moreover, the scalar invariance of the CD-RISC-10 was established across PTSD and non-PTSD groups(△CFI = -0.002, △TLI = 0.001, △RMSEA =-0.001). ConclusionsThe findings indicate that the CD-RISC-10 is an effective instrument for assessing psychological resilience across PTSD and non-PTSD male military personnel.