A Social Ecological Measure of Resilience for Adults: The RRC-ARM

• Published in: Social indicators research 2018-02, Vol.136 (1), p.1-19
• Main Authors: Liebenberg, Linda, Moore, Jeff Christopher
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adaptation; Adults; Attachment; Children; Convergent validity; Cultural competence; Cultural identity; Ecological adaptation; Ecological Factors; Ecology; Environmental aspects; Exploratory factor analysis; Factor Analysis; Human Geography; Individual Characteristics; Measurement; Measures; Microeconomics; National identity; Place of Residence; Public Health; Quality of Life Research; Reliability; Residence; Resilience; Sex differences; Social research; Social Sciences; Sociology; Spirituality; Survivor; Validity; Victims; Vulnerability; Well being; Youth
• ISSN: 0303-8300; 1573-0921
• DOI: 10.1007/s11205-016-1523-y

Despite growing understanding of resilience as a process associated with both individual capacities and physical and relational resources located in social ecologies, most instruments designed to measure resilience overemphasize individual characteristics without adequately addressing the contextual resources that support resilience processes. Additionally, most resilience studies have focused on children and youth, without significant attention to social ecological factors that promote post-risk adaptation for adults and how this is measured. Consequently, a key issue in the continued study of adult resilience is measurement instrument development. This article details adaptation of the Child and Youth Resilience Measure for use with an adult population. The article draws on data from a mixed methods study exploring the resilience processes of Irish survivors of clerical institutional abuse. The sample included 105 adult survivors (aged 50–99) who completed the RRC-ARM and the Warwick–Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) during the first phase of the study. Exploratory factor analysis, Cronbach Alpha and MANOVA were conducted on the data. EFA identified five factors; social/community inclusion, family attachment and supports, spirituality, national and cultural identity, and personal competencies. The RRC-ARM shows good internal reliability and convergent validity with the WEMWBS, with significant differences on scale scores for men and women, as well as place of residence. This exploratory adaptation supports the potential of the RRC-ARM as a measure of social ecological resilience resources for adult populations and may have particular applications with vulnerable communities. Further validation is required in other contexts and specifically with larger samples.