Child and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM-28)
(Unger & Liebenberg, 2009 , 2011).
Variable
Resilience as reported by the individual child is regarded as covering three core areas: Individual attributes,
relationships with primary care-givers, and the experience of contextual factors that facilitate a sense of belonging
(Unger & Liebenberg, 2009, 2011 ).
Description
The CYRM-28 is a 28 item self-report measure of resilience developed to be a culturally and contextually rele-
vant measure of child and youth resilience across four domains (individual, relational, community and culture).
All items are rated on a 5-point response scale with higher scores indicating increased presence of resilience pro-
cesses. The CYRM-28 has three sub-scales: Individual, relationships with primary care-givers, and contextual fac-
tors that facilitate a sense of belonging. Within each of these sub-scales there are additional clusters of questions
that provide additional insight into these three dimensions. The score for each of the clusters and/or sub-scales
is the sum of responses to the relevant questions. The higher the score, the more these resilience components are
said to be present in the lives of participating youth.
The development of the CYRM is detailed in a number of previous publications by the authors ( Ungar &
Liebenberg, 2005, 2009, 2011; Ungar et al., 2008, Lindenberg, Ungar, & Van de Vijver, 2012 ). The original CYRM
was the result of a 14-site, 11 country pilot study of resilience in which advisory groups from each community
contributed to the development of the questions.
The development of the CYRM and derivative CYRM-28 followed a multi-method model. The original con-
struction was across 14 international research sites, and more recent validation includes studies with Aboriginal
and non-Aboriginal youth in Canada and New Zealand, youth in countries like South Africa, Colombia and
China, as well as youth living in poverty or marginalized by family breakdown, exposure to violence. In order
for young people to have been selected into the validation studies, they had to be judged by their communities to
have been exposed to heightened levels of adversity that distinguished them from other children. Items emerged
from focus group interviews with youth and adults at each site.
Face-to-face meetings of all team members in 2003 helped to identify the most useful 58 items to be piloted
with youth known to be facing significant levels of adversity as defined by members of local advisory commit-
tees. This method helped the research team to identify common aspects of resilience that demonstrated construct
validity across all 14 sites.
Sample
A minimum of 60 youth participated from each of 14 international sites; the total sample included 1451 youth
(aged 13 to 23 years). The measure was translated where necessary before administration (see Ungar &
Liebenberg, 2011).
Reliability
Internal Consistency
Cronbach alpha coefficients (see Table 11.2 ) ranged from .77 to .83 in all cases (Ungar & Liebenberg, 2011).
TABLE 11.2 Cronbach Alpha Coefficients of CYRM-28 Subscales
Individual (11 items) Relational (7 items) Contextual (10 items)
Canada ( N5410) .79 .83 .82
New Zealand ( N5581) .77 .77 .75
South Africa ( N5192) .81 .81 .81306 11. MEASURES OF RESILIENCY
III. EMOTION REGULATION