Abstract
Researchers have expressed divergent views regarding the resilience definition. The purpose of the study was to analyze the concepts of resilience and then develop the assessment tool for resilience. The tool comprises of four scales named “Mental Asset Scale,” “Spiritual Asset Scale,” “Sociability Asset Scale” and “Family Asset Scale.” The researcher of the study conducted two empirical studies to evaluate the validity of the four scales. In study one, the researcher conducted exploratory factor analysis (N = 765) to uncover the underlying structure of each scale and tested convergent and discriminant validity of the four scales with the Brief Resilience Scale, the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, and the Resilience Scale for Adults. In study two, the researcher used a sample of 728 college students to do confirmatory factor analysis and used a sample of 138 economically disadvantaged college students to evaluate incremental validity of the assessment tool for resilience. Results of the hierarchical regression analysis showed that spiritual, sociability and family assets could predict economically vulnerable college students’ positive adjustment, even when personality variables and other resilience measurements were statistically controlled. The results of this study support the internal consistency reliability and construct validity of the four scales in the assessment tool as an instrument to measure resilience.