RSCA Scale
Resiliency Scales for Children and Adolescents
A critical review
Katie Waghorn
West Virginia University
March 14, 2014
Author’s Note
This paper was prepared for COUN 505 taught by Dr. Tina Walsh
Introduction
Resilience is a complex construct with many definitions. Most frequently, resilience can be defined as one’s ability to “bounce back” from an adverse situation. It is “interactive and contextual” (Prince-Embury & Saklofske, 2013, pg.19). However, some believe resiliency is a personality trait. There is some aversion to the use of resiliency, however, as it gives the impression that some are better than others. Resilience is applicable to both adults and children. This paper will focus on the childhood aspect of resilience.
Over the years, it has been a topic of interest among researchers as to how some children manage to overcome adversity and thrive, while others suffer psychological and physical distress. As a result, much of the early research carried out on resilience looked at “three sets of factors implicated in the development of resilience: (1) attributes of the children themselves, (2) aspects of their families, and (3) characteristics of their wider social environments” (Vanderbilt-Adriance & Shaw, 2008, pg. 31). Recently, research has shifted from identifying key characteristics of resilient children to understanding how these factors affect a child’s ability to handle adversity. Despite extensive research on the subject, there is still controversy over how to apply these findings for practical use. This can be contributed to the fact that past research used multiple tests across different populations. According to Prince-Embury & Saklofske (2013), “the research-based tools employed in previous research have often been impractical for widespread use in the schools and communities because they are too labor intensive, expensive, or focused on presence or absence of psychiatric symptoms” (pg.13). As a
A critical review
Katie Waghorn
West Virginia University
March 14, 2014
Author’s Note
This paper was prepared for COUN 505 taught by Dr. Tina Walsh
Introduction
Resilience is a complex construct with many definitions. Most frequently, resilience can be defined as one’s ability to “bounce back” from an adverse situation. It is “interactive and contextual” (Prince-Embury & Saklofske, 2013, pg.19). However, some believe resiliency is a personality trait. There is some aversion to the use of resiliency, however, as it gives the impression that some are better than others. Resilience is applicable to both adults and children. This paper will focus on the childhood aspect of resilience.
Over the years, it has been a topic of interest among researchers as to how some children manage to overcome adversity and thrive, while others suffer psychological and physical distress. As a result, much of the early research carried out on resilience looked at “three sets of factors implicated in the development of resilience: (1) attributes of the children themselves, (2) aspects of their families, and (3) characteristics of their wider social environments” (Vanderbilt-Adriance & Shaw, 2008, pg. 31). Recently, research has shifted from identifying key characteristics of resilient children to understanding how these factors affect a child’s ability to handle adversity. Despite extensive research on the subject, there is still controversy over how to apply these findings for practical use. This can be contributed to the fact that past research used multiple tests across different populations. According to Prince-Embury & Saklofske (2013), “the research-based tools employed in previous research have often been impractical for widespread use in the schools and communities because they are too labor intensive, expensive, or focused on presence or absence of psychiatric symptoms” (pg.13). As a
References: Cui, L., Teng, X., Li, X., & Oei, T. P. S. (2010). The factor structure and psychometric properties of the Resiliency Scale in Chinese undergraduates Doll, B., Pfohl, W., & Yoon, J. (2010). Handbook of youth prevention science. (pp. 1- 496) Prince-Embury, S., & Saklofske, D. H. (2013). Resilience in children, adolescents, and adults: translating research into practice, the springer series on human exceptionality Prince-Embury, S. (2007). Resiliency Scales for Children and Adolescents: Profiles of personal strengths Prince-Embury, S. (2009). The Resiliency Scales for Children and Adolescents as related to parent education level and race/ethnicity Prince-Embury, S. (2010). Psychometric properties of the resiliency scales for children and adolescents and use for youth with psychiatric disorders Vanderbilt-Adriance, E., & Shaw, D. S. (2008). Conceptualizing and re-evaluating resilience across levels of risk, time, and domains of competence Van Wyk, H. (2011). The relationship between vulnerability factors and life satisfaction in adolescents: A cross cultural study