Citation: Bromley, E., Johnson, J. G., & Cohen, P. (2006). Personality strengths in adolescence and decreased risk of developing mental health problems in early adulthood. Comprehensive psychiatry, 47(4), 315-324.
PMID or DOI: PMID: 16769307, DOI: 10.1016/j.comppsych.2005.11.003
Main positive psychological well-being construct measured: Ego resilience
Sub-constructs measured: Confident optimism, productive activity, insight and warmth, and skilled expressiveness
Available subscales: Confident optimism, productive activity, insight and warmth, and skilled expressiveness
Description: The Ego Resilience Scale assesses the construct of ego resilience developed for youth, a measure of positive, adaptive, and healthy personality functioning that facilitates flexible and resourceful adaptation to life stressors. This measure was operationalized using the California Adult Q Set, a comprehensive list of personality descriptors, through a consensus process by multiple experts identifying traits of prototypical ego-resilient individuals. These traits are related to coping skills, ego integration, impulse control and responsibility, self-esteem, and social interaction with peers, siblings and adults. The measure was developed to assess ego resilience of youth, with maternal and offspring items for each subscale.
Number of items: 105 items
Example statement/item: A maternal item: “Is your son/daughter usually confident about his/her ability to do things well?” An offspring item: “I believe that my work will give me a good chance to get ahead in the future.”
Response options: Items have a variety of response formats, but item thresholds were derived to create dichotomized dummy variables for each item: absent=0 or present=1
Total score: Sum across individual dummy variables for items within subscales are calculated to obtain a total score for each ego resilience trait. Possible scores ranged from 0 to 26 for confident optimism, from 0 to 22 for productive activity, from 0 to 38 for insight and warmth, and from 0 to 19 for skilled expressiveness.