Measuring resilience across the life course: findings from hrs and add health

Abstract The study and measurement of psychological resilience (PR) is increasingly of interest to interdisciplinary audiences focused on successful aging across the life course. Though existing nationally representative datasets have not directly measured PR previously, recent advances have produced two novel measures showing promise among older and younger adults, respectively. We examine whether these measures capture similar internalized resources and if they effectively measure PR across race/ethnicity, gender, SES, and age. Analyses use two PR measures: the Simplified Resilience Scale (SRS) created in the 2006/8 Health and Retirement Study (N=14,064), and the Add Health Resilience Scale (AHRS) created in Wave 4 (2008) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (N=4,936). Both scales reflect Wagnild and Young’s (1993) conceptualization of PR as an internalized, multidimensional psychological resource that is protective for health and wellbeing. Confirmatory Factor Analyses suggest that both measures capture a single construct of PR well, on average (one-factor structure; CFI >.95, RMSEA <.06). These measures also perform similarly across social groups; we observed configural, metric, and at least partial scalar invariance across race/ethnicity, gender, education, and age. Assessing the validity of these measures across diverse US populations at various life stages is critical to understanding how PR shapes aging processes over the life course, and for promoting successful aging throughout mid and later life. Future research can advance understanding of PR and its measurement by leveraging intersectional combinations of social statuses including race/ethnicity, gender, education, and age.