The Simplified Resilience Score: A Measure of Resilience in the HRS

The Health and Retirement Study (HRS) psychosocial measurement does not include direct measurement of psychological resilience but does include items that can be used to create a resilience measure. Therefore, we developed a simplified resilience score (SRS) designed to capture adjustment and management of adversity. We followed the Wagnild and Young Resilience Scale in developing the SRS. Paralleling the Wagnild and Young (1993), we used five primary psychosocial domains to inform the development of the SRS. The domains are perseverance or the ability to keep going despite major setbacks, equanimity, which describes being able to adjust to change, often with humor, meaningfulness or the realization that life has a purpose, self-reliance or recognition of one’s one inner strengths, and existential aloneness or the realization that some experiences must be faced alone (Wagnild & Young, 1993).

Wagnild G. M., & Young H. M (1993). Development and psychometric evaluation of the Resilience Scale. Journal of Nursing Measurement, 1, 165–178

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