Social and emotional resources inventory, The: comprehensive measure of protective factors

2012 Fall.Includes bibliographical references.Most children experience mild to moderate risk factors in their lives (Lamb-Parker, LeBuffe, Powell & Halpern, 2008) and do well in spite of their early adversity, but it was not until 40 years ago that researchers began investigating how even children who have experienced severe risk often achieved satisfactory outcomes in spite of their early adverse experiences (Prince-Embury, 2010). This concept has been labeled resilience, and one application of resiliency research is to look at what characteristics counteract risk to produce successful outcomes. These characteristics are referred to as protective factors, which can occur in three domains: individual (e.g. intelligence, sociability, self-esteem), family (e.g. authoritative parenting, socioeconomic advantage) and community (attending effective schools, access to quality health care). Despite the amount of research on potential protective factors, there is a need for a more effective and comprehensive way to measure protective factors. This study describes the development of a comprehensive measure of protective factors, the Social and Emotional Resources Inventory (SERI). Results indicated that the SERI has a 12-factor internal structure and good to excellent reliability. The 12 factors that emerged from the analysis are: Intelligence, Parenting Practices, Parent Connections, Self-Esteem, Talent, Faith, Money, Prosocial Adults, Kin Connections, Good Schools, Prosocial Organizations and Resources. This measure was also found to have good psychometrics and will be useful for researchers and clinicians who wish to gain a comprehensive view of the protective factors operating in an individual's life