Measuring Resilience with the RS-14: A Tale of Two Samples

The purpose of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of the RS-14 and to provide reliability and validity support for using the RS-14 to measure overall resilience. The study was conducted with two large samples:

  • Individuals seeking mental health clinical services following the 2010 Gulf oil spill (N=1,032)
  • University students (N=1,765).

Exploratory and confirmatory factor-analytic methods were used. College students reported greater resilience (average score = 74.88) than the clinical sample (average score = 63.11). Reliability coefficients were excellent (.93 for clinical sample and .96 for college sample).  The RS-14 correlated significantly and as expected with measures of positive concepts such as perceived meaning in life and satisfaction with life and indexes of psychological distress (e.g., depression, anxiety, stress, and posttraumatic stress), supporting the construct validity of the RS-14. As proposed by Wagnild in 2009, the current study supported a one factor model.

Reference:

Aiena BJ, Baczwaski BJ, Schulenberg SE, Buchanan E. (2014). Measuring Resilience with the RS-14: A Tale of Two Samples.  Journal of Personality Assessment, DOI: 10.1080/00223891.2014.951445. 1-10.