Students’ perceptions of resilience promoting factors in Chinese and American middle schools

Abstract

The current study first examined the applicability of the ClassMaps Survey (CMS)—a measurement of resilience in classroom/school settings developed in the US with Chinese middle school students and then compared the group differences on student perceptions of the resilience factors in the CMS across the two cultures. The findings suggest that the CMS and all its seven subscales have good to acceptable scalar measurement equivalence. The current study supports the use of the CMS and its seven subscales with Chinese middle school students as a measurement of resilience in classroom context. Furthermore, the study found that Chinese students scored significantly higher on academic self-determination, behavior self-control, teacher-student relationship, home-school relationship, and peer conflict but significantly lower on academic self-efficacy than American students. There was no significant difference in peer friendships between the two groups. Implications for resilience promotion in school settings were discussed in cultural context.