Postfire recovery to distress symptoms ratio as a measure of resilience of adolescents exposed to fire hazards

So far, researchers have failed to agree on how to define and measure psychological resilience. This study submits that psychological resilience to potentially traumatic events can be determined by the ratio of recovery from distressing experiences to the level of posttraumatic distress symptoms. We hypothesize that this ratio will be predicted by 3 resilience-supporting variables: community resilience, sense of coherence, and a low level of exposure to adversity. I further hypothesized that sense of coherence will mediate the links of the other two predictors and the measure of resilience. The sample included 233 Druze high school students whose hometown was endangered and damaged by the Mount Carmel wildfire, on December 2010. Results that supported these hypotheses are discussed in terms of supporting the proposed measure of resilience and its applicability in explaining posttraumatic outcomes.