Resilient coping in the general population: standardization of the brief resilient coping scale (BRCS)

BACKGROUND: There has been a marked tendency for researchers, clinicians, and policy makers to shift their focus from risk to resilience. This should be assessed by comparing the outcome to a context specific reference group. The objectives of the study were to generate normative data for the BRCS for different age groups for men and women and to further investigate the construct validity and factor structure in a general population. METHODS: Nationally representative face-to face household surveys were conducted in Germany in 2013 (n = 2508). RESULTS: Normative data for the BRCS were generated for men and women (53.2% female) and different age levels (mean age (SD) of 49.7 (18.0) years). Men had significantly higher mean scores compared with women (14.9 [SD = 3.2] vs. 14.6 [SD = 3.1]). The results of the EFA and CFA clearly indicate a unidimensional solution with one factor. Furthermore, the invariance of the one-factor model was tested for the whole sample across gender and six age groups. CONCLUSIONS: The normative data provide a framework for the interpretation and comparisons of resilience with other populations. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12955-017-0822-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.