Psychometric properties of the 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10) in male military personnel with and without PTSD

Background: The 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10) is a scale widely used to assess resilience among various clinical and nonclinical populations. Measurement invariance of a scale is essential for group comparison. However, to our knowledge, the psychometric properties, including the measurement invariance, validity and reliability, of the CD-RISC-10 in male military personnel with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are unknown. The current study aimed to determine the measurement invariance of the CD-RISC-10 and its validity and reliability in male military personnel with and without PTSD. Methods: A total of 8089 male military personnel were enrolled in the study, 370 of whom were screened as having PTSD based on the screening criteria of a Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-Civilian score ≥38 and 7719 of whom did not have PTSD. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to evaluate whether the scale had a single factor and to determine the measurement invariance in PTSD and non-PTSD samples. Results: The results showed that the CD-RISC-10 had satisfactory and reliable internal consistency and criterion-related validity among the PTSD (α = 0.91; r = -0.54, -0.44, -0.55, P<0.01) and non-PTSD (α = 0.94, r = -0.61, -0.49, -0.56, P<0.01) groups. The unidimensional structure of the CD-RISC-10 was verified by CFA in the PTSD and non-PTSD groups. Moreover, the scalar invariance of the CD-RISC-10 was established across PTSD and non-PTSD groups(△CFI = -0.002, △TLI = 0.001, △RMSEA =-0.001). Conclusions: The findings indicate that the CD-RISC-10 is an effective instrument for assessing psychological resilience across PTSD and non-PTSD male military personnel.