CHAPTER
11
Measures of Resiliency
Sandra Prince-Embury1, Donald H. Saklofske2and Ashley K. V esely2
1Resiliency Institute of Allenhurst LLC, West Allenhurst, NJ, USA;2University of Western Ontario, London,
Ontario, Canada
Resilience, resiliency or the ability to ‘bounce back’ in the face of adversity has been a topic of investigation
by psychology theorists for the past 50 years. Within e veryday lexicon, we see references to ‘she is a strong
woman,’ ‘he is a real survivor,’ or ‘how did they mana ge to overcome such hardships experienced during the
war!’ Researchers had also observed that some youth and adults managed to survive exposure to adversity
and even thrive in later life, while others were less succ essful to the point of developing various physical and
psychological disorders, sometimes leading to death by suicide, personal neglect, or excessive stress on the
physical self.
Interest in this topic has grown as technologically enha nced information access has increased awareness of
the overwhelming physical and psychological events that impact us on a daily basis. This can range from nat-
ural disasters such as the earthquake that struck Japan or the great Indian Ocean Tsunami in recent times, the
horrific list of man-made disasters ranging from terror ist attacks in African and Middle East counties, or the
Holocaust of WWII, to the random killings of civilians in schools and public places in the USA and other
countries. Each day, news reports on the web, televisi on, and radio bring more reports of the ‘inhuman’ civil
wars that have recently engulfed countries such as Syria. The economic instability caused by faltering country
economies in Europe has led to lost jobs and pensions, as well as future job uncertainty amongst youth. The
stresses and strains of everyday life that include caring for an ill child or parent, studying for a difficult
exam, or the threat of job loss are exacerbated as con ditions become more extreme and tax human capacity
and spirit.
This chapter will present a theoretical discussion of resilience/resiliency as well as measurement issues
related to tapping these constructs. One major measurem ent issue is that lack of consensus regarding the pre-
cise definition of resilience. For example, Luthar, Cicchetti, and Becker (2000) have pointed to the distinction
between the terms ‘resiliency’ and ‘resilience.’ ‘Resilien ce’ refers to the interaction between the person and his
or her environment that brings about a ‘resilient’ out come. Resiliency on the other hand refers to personal
qualities that influence the individual’s ability to ex perience a resilient outcome. The majority of the measures
reviewed in this chapter pertain to personal attributes with the exception of the ClassMaps Survey, which tar-
gets the interaction occurring in a particular classroom and the CYRM-28 which look s at the individual within
a cultural context.
DEVELOPMENTAL VIEWS OF RESILIENCY
The study of resilient children and adults has gone t hrough many rich phases of discovery, identifying
aspects of both the person and environment that appear to serve as protective or mitigating factors influencing
the impact of adversity (see Luthar, 2003, 2006; Masten, 2007 ). The particular focus of much of the
290Measures of Personality and Social Psychological Constructs.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-386915-9.00011-5 ©2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.