Measuring Resiliency in Adolescent Girls Involved in Child Welfare: Evaluating Reliability and Validity

Background: Childhood abuse and neglect have been shown to have longstanding negative consequences for a child’s development. However, studies have also noted that there is variation in how children respond to adversity, and that some children adapt well despite histories of trauma and difficult life circumstances. The 14-item Resilience Scale (RS-14) developed by Wagnild &Young (1993) is one of the most widely used instruments for assessing resiliency, however, the reliability and validity of this measure has not been examined with adolescents who are involved in the child welfare system due to histories of abuse and neglect. Thus, the current study addressed the following questions: 1) to what extent does the RS-14 demonstrate internal consistency and test-retest reliability, and concurrent validity in adolescent girls with histories of abuse and neglect? 2) Are there multiple dimensions or factors of resilience being measured by the RS-14 for this population?

Methods: The sample consisted of 244 adolescent girls involved in child welfare, ages 12-19 years (M = 14.9, SD =1.64), ethnicity: youths of color (75%) and white (25%). Data were collected by in-person interviews assessing resiliency (14 items using a Likert scale ranging from 1= strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree), PTSD symptoms (Foa et al., 2001), depressive symptoms (Kovacs, 2003), and social problem solving skills (D’Zurilla et al., 2002). Data analyses for the RS-14 included computing Cronbach’s alpha, correlations and t-test difference scores, and exploratory factor analysis using the principal components method.

Results: The mean score of the RS-14 scale was 75.84 (SD = 13.9), which was within the range Wagnild (2011) defined as “moderate resilience.” Results indicated that the internal consistency of the RS-14 was α = .86 for the current sample.  The test-retest stability coefficients were r = 0.74 (p < .0001) for the 3-month interval, and r = 0.39 (p<.0001) for the 6-month interval. Girls who reported higher levels of resiliency had greater social problem solving skills than those with lower levels of resiliency (r = 0.46, p < .0001). Additionally, the RS-14 differentiated between girls who scored above and below the clinical cut-off scores for PTSD (t (242) = -5.03, p<.0001) and depression (t (176) = -6.02, p < .0001), with girls who were more resilient reporting significantly fewer symptoms. Results of exploratory factor analysis using the principal components method suggested a 2-factor solution: belief in oneself (7 items), and ability to cope with difficult situations (7 items).

 

Conclusions: The RS-14 demonstrates good internal consistency reliability and good test-retest reliability over a 3-month time frame with adolescent girls with histories of abuse and neglect. Additionally, there is evidence for concurrent validity of the RS-14. Two dimensions or factors of resilience related to sense of self and coping emerged from this study which may deepen our understanding of protective factors in this population. Furthermore, future research can explore the role of resiliency in mitigating the influence of childhood abuse on negative mental health and behavioral outcomes in this population.