Brief Resilience Scale (BRS)
(Smith et al., 2008 ).
Variable
Smith et al. (2008) suggested that the original and most basic meaning of resilience is the ability to bounce
back and recover from stress ( Agnes, 2005 ). The authors refer to Carver’s (1998) definition of ‘resilience’ as
returning (i.e., bouncing back or recovery) to the previous level of psychologically healthy functioning.
Description
The BRS includes six questions, with an equal number of positive and negatively worded items to reduce the
effects of response sets. Smith et al. (2008) suggested that a mean BRS score of 3.70 ( SD50.70) provides an index
of typical resilience level. The authors suggested that BRS scores below 3.00 be considered low and that BRS
scores above 4.30 be considered as high in resilience.
Sample
Psychometric characteristics of the BRS were examined in four samples: (1) general college students ( N5259);
(2) healthy adult women ( N551); (3) women with fibromyalgia ( N532); and (4) cardiac patients ( N5228).
There were two healthy samples: college students (Sample 1, N5259) and healthy adult women (Sample 2,
N551). The healthy women had no chronic pain and served as a control group for a study of women with fibro-
myalgia. There were two patient samples: women with fibromyalgia (Sample 3, N532) and cardiac patients
(Sample 4, N5228).
Reliability
Internal Consistency
Cronbach alpha coefficients reported for the BRS in samples 1 to 4 were .84 (undergraduates), .90 (adult
women), .88 (undergraduates), .80 (cardiac rehabilitation patients) /C0(Smith et al., 2008 ).
Test/C0Retest
Test/C0retest reliability using ICCs was .69 for 48 undergraduates after two weeks, .62 after three months and
.61 for fibromyalgia patients after two weeks ( Smith et al., 2008 ).
Validity
Convergent/Concurrent
Concurrent validity evidence includes a correlation of .59 with the CD-RISC assessment of resilience, .51 and
.49 with the ER89 measure of Ego-resiliency. The BRS correlated .45 and .69 with Optimism ( Smith, Epstein,
Ortiz, Christopher, & Tooley, 2013 ).
Divergent/Discriminant
Smith et al. (2008) reported that the BRS correlates negatively with measures of anxiety, depression, negative
affect, and physical symptoms, when other resilience measures and optimism, social support, and Type B person-
ality (high negative affect and high social inhibition) were controlled ( Smith et al., 2013 ). The BRS correlated neg-
atively with anxiety ( /C0.46 to /C0.60), negatively with depression ( /C0.41 to /C0.66), and negatively with perceived
stress ( /C0.60 to/C0.68) ( Smith et al., 2013 ).
Construct/Factor Analytic
No factor analytic findings have been reported as this is a six item scale with a single score.
Criterion/Predictive
Urban firefighters (3.95, N5123), healthy women (3.93, N551), and cardiac patients (3.87, N5228) scored
significantly higher in their mean BRS score than did college students (3.56, N5259) and first-generation stu-
dents (3.54, N5151) who scored significantly higher than did women with fibromyalgia (3.18, N532) ( Smith
et al., 2013 ).301 MEASURES REVIEWED HERE
III. EMOTION REGULATION