An examination of resilience cross-culturally in child and adolescent survivors of the 2008 China earthquake using the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC).
BACKGROUND
The 2008 Sichuan earthquake in China destroyed towns and village, displaced over a million people and caused thousands of deaths. There is a need to understand how children and adolescents are able to bounce back after this distressing event. This study conducts a psychometric assessment of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) and the measure's validity among children and adolescent survivors in order to identify the factors associated with resilience in this socio-cultural setting.


METHODS
Translated and culturally verified versions of the CD-RISC, UCLA-PTSD Index and Birleson Self-rating Depression Scale were used to collect data from 2132 children and adolescents located in post-disaster areas 1 year after the event.


RESULTS
Through exploratory factor analysis, a 2-factor model was found and defined by Chinese scholars as Rational Thinking and Self-Awareness. Internal consistency of total CD-RISC was 0.86, 0.91 for Rational Thinking and 0.74 for Self-Awareness. Convergent validity between items ranged from 0.17-0.69 and 0.12-0.20 to the total score. Items related to post-traumatic stress disorder loaded separately than CD-RISC items, demonstrating discriminant validity.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings demonstrate that resilience may be understood and manifested dissimilarly in different socio-cultural settings. This study confirms the applicability of the CD-RISC scale to Chinese children and adolescent earthquake survivors, and adds to the richness of resilience research cross-culturally.
Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 624 N. Broadway, Baltimore, MD 21205. Electronic address: cfu@jhsph.edu.
Christine
C
Fu
Division of Geriatric Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
Jeannie-Marie
JM
Leoutsakos
Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 624 N. Broadway, Baltimore, MD 21205.
Carol
C
Underwood
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002681:China; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D004190:Disasters; D055866:Earthquakes; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D055500:Resilience, Psychological; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis*; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
Children; China; Earthquake; Post-traumatic stress; Resilience