Development and Validation of the Human Resilience Scale: Evaluating Moderation Effect Between Life-Event Stress and Mental Health

Resilience refers to maintaining or quickly restoring health after experiencing stress. A recent model proposes that resilience develops with age and results from three factors: flexibility, sociality and meaning. The soundness of this model compared to the theoretical bases of existing scales motivated us to develop a new Human Resilience Scale. A total of 409 participants were included. Confirmatory factor analysis was applied to develop a 3-factor scale. Hierarchical linear regression was used to prospectively examine how resilience interacts with stress experienced between two time points 1 year apart to moderate variation in psychopathology. Incremental validity compared results from a similar regression using an existing scale. Results support that an 18-item, 3-factor model of resilience yields high statistical reliability (McDonald's ω = .91), moderates the relationship between stress and mental health more significantly than a current scale, and discriminates individuals according to their age and clinical status.