So many resilience surveys, so little time. What resilience survey or scale are you using?

I would also add that when one has being very severely traumatised in childhood with very little or no possibility of intervention by external resources, that I believe one needs to eventually arrive at a place of acceptance.  Acceptance that one can in all likelihood never fully heal, but one can and should strive to do one's best: having access to  the most relevant/empowering resources possible (a more affirming resilience test of one's current situation being one of them).  

And that that is ok.  You're ok.  Acceptance in this context can finally give someone some peace of a kind - finally an assemblance of safety, self protection and trust, usually the key ingredients (people who haven't experienced this may take for granted/see it as a given) which is so vitally a part of this thing we call resilience.

Whilst I think there's  a few problems that could be tweaked with the resilience score on acestoohigh website (for a start resiliency is a problematic term), I have more difficulty with the resiliency score measuring one's current resiliency.  None that I have seen refer to prior trauma - people with very high ACEs from childhood, which to me, and surely others is so crucial.  Eg something that along the lines of: given the factors of your childhood and that you probably have little or no contact with your family of origin, or if you do it can be problematic if they haven't attempted to work out their issues, have you found another tribe/family of choice in which you feel safe?  Giving that trust and protection was a non event in your childhood and early adult years, how do you handle this issue now with others? The challenge would be to condense this of course!

But I hope you get the gist.  It would be so much more meaningful to put it into this context/with this backdrop in mind.  So much more empowering too. And isn't that really the critically desired outcome??

I'm really surprised no one seems to have done this.  Also, as some of us are not religious, it cannot be taken as a given and be included in the questionnaire.  Spirituality maybe, but not conventional religion as such.

This is not meant to appear ungrateful or an attack,  merely asking if people can think about the evolution/advancement  of what currently stands.

One of the greatest researchers on resiliency is Emily Werner. She studies low income families in Hawaii for years and found certain characteristics of children that were resilient:   good looking children, children who smiled easily, had a special talent, etc.  She followed these children for 40 years, instituted family visitation programs.  She taught in the Child Development department at UCD for years.  She wrote a book about her childhood experience growing up in Germany during the end of World War II.  I am sure that this experience guided her work on resilience.  The last I knew she was living in Berkeley. 

I took the 2 quick online surveys - not very useful since they are global measures. I've used the following book with groups and coaching clients and found it useful because it includes a survey/quiz that identifies factors to helps folks identify strengths and areas to develop. With one group we mapped the group strengths and areas to develop and found some interesting similarities. I recommend this and am curious about if/how it is addressed in the detailed studies. The book: The Resilience Factor: 7 Keys to Finding Your Inner Strength and Overcoming Life's Hurdles by Karen Reivich and Andrew Shatte, Ph.D. 2003. 

Ah, I see...I reloaded the page and the link has been fixed! Thanks!

The link for "What's your emotional style of resilence" doesn't work...nor does going to the "Surveys" link at the top of the page.

Hi Jane! We've also begun using the Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory when we talk about post-traumatic growth as opposed to just resilience. http://www.emdrhap.org/content...Growth-Inventory.pdf

Wow, Bonnie! That's great!  When will you be releasing information about the surveys you did? 

The link is fixed now, Cynthia. Thanks for letting me know. 

Thanks Jane!  I'm sure hoping that others might offer a scale/survey that addresses principles of the Christian faith.

We just finished collecting data from 22 Tribal Colleges-- N= 3200. We used some great measures; an ACE's measure, the Connor Davidson Resilience Scale 10, the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire,  and the Partnership victimization scale, etc, etc. etc. We are just getting ready to do the analysis for the grant AIMS (prevalence and correlates of alcohol, drug and mental disorders) and then beyond as well. Wooohooooo!! 

Hi Jane! Thanks for the info and as an fyi the link for "what's your emotional style..." doesn't work...

Oops! Thanks for the heads-up, Melanie. There's a link now. And here's a link to the original 1993 publication behind the True Resilience Scale -- http://www.resiliencescale.com...-Young-psychom-R.pdf

That's where you'll find what most of the questions are. It costs $150 for a license to use the scale; $75 if you're a student researcher.

Thanks so much for this list, Jane. I'm finding that with the folks I walk alongside of (people being released from prison/jail back to the community), sharing info with them about resilience, protective factors and brain plasticity, offers them enormous hope that, despite the horrific traumas the majority of them have suffered in their earlier lives that led to mental health issues, addictions and criminal justice system involvement, their futures can truly be different from their past.  Among the scales you've listed, the Devereaux looks like the one that will be most accessible and straightforward for us to use in our work here.  But I'd like to check out the "True Resilience Scale" as well - but it doesn't seem to have a hyperlink in your post above. Do you have a URL for that one?   Thanks again, Jane! 

Melanie