When Life Gives You Lemons: The Development and Validation of the Resilience Scale for Older Adults
Abstract
The study of resilience, or positive adaptation in the face of adversity, is important across the lifespan, but may be particularly relevant for older adults who tend to experience an increasing number of challenges. Traditionally, resilience assessment has largely focused on child and young-to-middle aged adult populations, and as such, the literature is lacking a validated resilience measure developed specifically for older adults. This dissertation aimed to improve the measurement of resilience in older populations by developing and validating a new resilience measure that is relevant and appropriate for older adults. In Study 1, a qualitative metasynthesis was conducted to develop a theoretical model of resilience in older adulthood that is grounded in numerous qualitative studies examining resilience from older adults’ perspectives. Using this new theoretical model, Studies 2a, 2b and 2c employed exploratory factor analyses, confirmatory factor analyses, and analysis of gender invariance to develop and provide initial validation for the Resilience Scale for Older Adults (RSOA). The RSOA consists of four factors that measure resilience protective factors in the following domains: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Spiritual, and Experiential. Lastly, Study 3 evaluated the practical applicability of the RSOA by using this new measure to explore the relationship between perceived stress, adverse life events, and quality of life (QOL) in older adults. Overall, results provide promising initial validity evidence for the RSOA and findings suggest it is generally appropriate for an older adult population, although the Spiritual factor may be better suited as a supplemental, rather than core protective factor. Additionally, resilience as measured by the RSOA mediates the relationship between perceived stress and QOL, but only the Interpersonal resilience factor plays a key role in the relationship between cumulative adverse life events and QOL. The implications for resilience assessment in research and practice are discussed.