title: The brief resilience scale: assessing the ability to bounce back.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  While resilience has been defined as resistance to illness, adaptation, and thriving, the ability to bounce back or recover from stress is closest to its original meaning. Previous resilience measures assess resources that may promote resilience rather than recovery, resistance, adaptation, or thriving.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To test a new brief resilience scale.
  
  
  METHODS
  The brief resilience scale (BRS) was created to assess the ability to bounce back or recover from stress. Its psychometric characteristics were examined in four samples, including two student samples and samples with cardiac and chronic pain patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The BRS was reliable and measured as a unitary construct. It was predictably related to personal characteristics, social relations, coping, and health in all samples. It was negatively related to anxiety, depression, negative affect, and physical symptoms when other resilience measures and optimism, social support, and Type D personality (high negative affect and high social inhibition) were controlled. There were large differences in BRS scores between cardiac patients with and without Type D and women with and without fibromyalgia.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The BRS is a reliable means of assessing resilience as the ability to bounce back or recover from stress and may provide unique and important information about people coping with health-related stressors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131-1161, USA. bwsmith@unm.edu
authors.forename: Bruce W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Jeanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dalen
authors.forename: Kathryn
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wiggins
authors.forename: Erin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tooley
authors.forename: Paulette
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Christopher
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bernard
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005356:Fibromyalgia / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010146:Pain / Q000523:psychology; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012803:Sick Role; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards