The Essential Resilience Scale: Instrument Development and Prediction of Perceived Health and Behaviour

Further advancement in stress and health research calls for better tools to assess resilience. In this study, we developed the Essential Resilience Scale (ERS) and investigated the association between ERS scores and several health and behaviour measures. We developed the ERS with an operationalized definition of resilience—an individual's capability to anticipate, be flexible with and bounce back from three types of traumatic and adverse events (physical, emotional and social). The 15‐item ERS was assessed using survey data from a diverse sample (n = 238, aged 18–45 years, 76 rural‐to‐urban migrants, 85 rural residents, 77 urban residents) recruited in Wuhan, China. Results showed a high reliability of the ERS (α = 0.94). Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated a satisfactory fit of the proposed second‐order ERS measurement model (goodness‐of‐fit index = 0.94, comparative fit index = 0.98, root mean square error of approximation = 0.06, chi‐square/df = 1.75). Multivariate regression analysis indicated that ERS scores significantly predicted perceived health status, stress, anxiety, depression and cigarette smoking after controlling for important covariates. Findings of this study indicate high reliability and validity of the scale and its potential use in advancing stress and health research. Further studies are implied to provide additional support for the ERS and its relations with other health outcomes. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.