Resiliency Scales for Children & Adolescents - A Profile of Personal Strengths (RSCA)

Now, a tool to profile personal strengths, as well as vulnerability in teens and children down to nine years

Why do Some Children and Adolescents Adjust or Recover and Others Do Not?

The Resiliency Scales for Children & Adolescents™ measures the personal attributes of the child that are critical for resiliency. The scales are composed of three stand-alone global scales of 20-24 questions each and ten subscales:

• Sense of Mastery Scale: optimism, self-efficacy, adaptability
• Sense of Relatedness Scale: trust, support, comfort, tolerance
• Emotional Reactivity Scale: sensitivity, recovery, impairment

Why Assess Resiliency?

• Build positive psychology into your assessment practice through strength identification and enhancement
• Resiliency levels influence outcomes of many disorders
• Patterns of strengths within the resiliency domains can influence intervention strategies and goals
• Children with depression or anxiety may have different prognoses and lengths of care depending on their level of resiliency
• Victims of school bullying may respond differently depending on their resiliency profile
• Course of care may vary for children with adjustment reactions to divorce, loss, or other life events
• Children with posttraumatic stress disorder may respond differently depending on their resiliency profile

Ideal for Clinical or School Psychologists, Social Workers or Counselors

• Flexible and quick-to-administer
• Use separately, together, or in conjunction with other symptom-based measures to obtain a balanced view

Children- and Adolescent-Friendly

• Scales focus on strengths as well as symptoms and vulnerabilities
• Results are easily interpreted and discussed with children, teachers, and parents
• Third-grade reading level allows use with those who have special needs, including reading difficulty

Treatment Focused

Normed with the Beck Youth Inventories–Second Edition to link a Resiliency Profile with specific symptoms for more targeted treatment planning

Ideal When Used With:

• Beck Youth Inventories–Second Edition
• Reynolds Bully Victimization Scales
• Brown Attention-Deficit Disorder Scales

Identified Areas of Resiliency

• Sense of Mastery: optimism, self-efficacy, and adaptability increases the likelihood that the individual will be able to cope with adverse circumstances
• Sense of Relatedness: Relationships with others and sense of relatedness serve as a buffer against stress
• Emotional Reactivity: Vulnerability to stress or impact from adversity is related to the individual’s pre-existing level of emotional reactivity

Clinical Utility — A New Way to Understand Vulnerability

• Screening with the Personal Resiliency Profile
• Quantification of the Personal Resiliency Profile using the Resource and Vulnerability Indices
• Identify children who indicate low personal resources before they fall behind
• Identify children who indicate high vulnerability before the emergence of symptoms

Personal Vulnerability Index: Personal Resiliency Assessment and Intervention System

Ideal for identification and prevention, this tool allows you to compare the difference between a child’s experience of personal resources with their experience of emotional reactivity.

• Prevention: Use Vulnerability and Resource Indices for screening on an individual or group level
• Intervention planning: Use the Personal Resiliency Profile to identify relative strengths and weaknesses for intervention planning
• Intervention: Once overall initial assessment is made, use Resiliency Scales and Subscales for further inquiry and specific intervention

Journal Articles
Creating a Clinical Psychology of Resilience (PDF – 37 KB)

Canadian Journal of School Psychology
The Canadian Journal of School Psychology has dedicated a special issue on “Resiliency: Translating Theory into Application for Children and Adolescents,” with Dr. Sandra Prince-Embury as the guest editor. Dr. Prince-Embury is the author of Resiliency Scales for Children and Adolescents which is featured on the articles below.

Article
Comparison of One-, Two-, and Three-Factor Models of Personal Resiliency Using the Resiliency Scales for Children and Adolescents
Sandra Prince-Embury and Troy Courville

Abstract:
This article examines the scale structure of the Resiliency Scales for Children and Adolescents (RSCA). Confirmatory factor analysis reveals that a three-factor model is a better fit than one- or two-factor models for the normative sample. These findings lend support to the construct validity of the RSCA. The three-factor model is discussed as a framework that is useful in systematically relating critical aspects of resiliency in children and adolescents for the purpose of clinical intervention.

Canadian Journal of School Psychology 2008 23: 11-25.

To view the full article visit http://cjs.sagepub.com
*Must be an online subscriber

Article
Measurement Invariance of the Resiliency Scales for Children and Adolescents With Respect to Sex and Age Cohorts
Sandra Prince-Embury and Troy Courville

Abstract:
This article examines invariance of the three-factor structure of the Resiliency Scales for Children and Adolescents across age band and gender within normative samples. Confirmatory factor analysis reveals that the three-factor model fits for all groups. In addition, invariance analysis shows no statistical differences in factor structure between males and females. A three-group confirmatory factor analysis across age bands demonstrated partial invariance between age bands.

Canadian Journal of School Psychology 2008 23: 26-40.

To view the full article visit http://cjs.sagepub.com
*Must be an online subscriber

Article
The Resiliency Scales for Children and Adolescents, Psychological Symptoms, and Clinical Status in Adolescents
Sandra Prince-Embury

Abstract:
The Resiliency Scales for Children and Adolescents (RSCA) are three scales for assessing the relative strength of three aspects of personal resiliency as a profile in children and adolescents. This article presents preliminary evidence to support the use of the RSCA in preventive screening. First, this article examines associations between the RSCA Global scale and index scores and psychological symptoms as assessed by the Beck Youth Inventory—II in a normative sample of adolescents. A normative sample was chosen as screening would presumably occur in a non-clinical setting. Findings suggest associations between psychological symptoms and the RSCA scale and index scores. Specifically, positive associations were found between psychological symptoms and the RSCA Vulnerability Index and the Emotional Reactivity scale score. Negative associations were found between psychological symptoms and the RSCA Resource Index, Sense of Mastery, and Sense of Relatedness scale scores. Second, the RSCA is examined as a potential predictor of clinical status differentiating the normative sample from a clinical sample. Results support the use of the RSCA in screening protocols for the identification of vulnerability that does not rely on the presence of an identified disorder or clearly defined psychological symptoms.

Canadian Journal of School Psychology 2008 23: 41-56.

To view the full article visit http://cjs.sagepub.com
*Must be an online subscriber