Measuring resilience in competitive tennis players: psychometric properties of the Resilience Scale for Adults

Abstract

he Resilience Scale for Adults is considered a valid and reliable measure of resilience resources and has received validation support across several populations. This study attempted to validate and examine the psychometric properties of the instrument in a sample of competitive tennis players to prospectively appropriate the inventory for use among athletes. The tennis athletes (n = 365) completed the Resilience Scale for Adults, the Sports Mental Toughness Questionnaire, and the stress items included on the Recovery-Stress Questionnaire for Athletes. Confirmatory factor analysis model fit indices revealed an acceptable level of fit for the original six-factor structure. The Resilience Scale for Adults scale and subscales were negatively associated with stress and correlated positively with mental toughness, providing evidence of the convergent validity of the Resilience Scale for Adults. Collectively, the findings offer initial support for using the Resilience Scale for Adults to assess a broad range of protective factors among competitive tennis players. Further research is required to explore the adaptation or refinement of the Resilience Scale for Adults for use in multiple sporting contexts