What does the Brief Resilience Scale measure in Chinese Undergraduates?

This study examined the utility of an adapted version of the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) to measure the ability to bounce back from stress in Chinese undergraduates from Hong Kong and Nanjing, China. The BRS together with measures tapping optimism, self-esteem, hopelessness, and physical health were administered to 547 Hong Kong and 268 Nanjing Chinese undergraduates. Results of exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis showed that items of the BRS were loaded on one single factor in both samples. Scores of the BRS were significantly correlated with that of optimism, self-esteem, hopelessness, and physical health in the predicted direction. Results of multiple regression analyses indicated that the BRS was able to explain additional variance in physical health after the effects of resilience-conferring qualities, optimism and self-esteem, had been taken into account. Moreover, using path analysis, BRS scores were shown to substantially mediate the link between the two resilience qualities and physical health in both samples, which provide additional support to the claim that the BRS measures the ability to bounce back. This pattern of results suggests that the BRS is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring the ability to bounce back from stress in Chinese undergraduates. Implications for further research on resilience with the Chinese people were discussed.