Resilience profiles across context: A latent profile analysis in a German, Greek, and Swiss sample of adolescents

PLoS One. 2022 Jan 27;17(1):e0263089. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0263089. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

The present study investigated resilience profiles (based on levels of symptoms of anxiety and depression and five dimensions of protective factors) of 1,160 students from Germany (n = 346, 46.0% females, Mage = 12.77, SDage = 0.78), Greece (n = 439, 54.5% females, Mage = 12.68, SDage = 0.69), and Switzerland (n = 375, 44.5% females, Mage = 12.29, SDage = 0.88) using latent profile analyses. We also checked for measurement invariance and investigated the influence of gender and migration on class membership. A three-profile-solution was found for Switzerland (nonresilient 22.1%, moderately resilient 42.9%, untroubled 34.9%), and a four-profile-solution was the best fitting model for Germany (nonresilient 15.7%, moderately resilient 44.2%, untroubled 27.3%, resilient 12.7%) and Greece (nonresilient 21.0%, moderately resilient 30.8%, untroubled 24.9%, resilient 23.3%). Measurement invariance did not hold across the three countries. Profile differences regarding class membership predictions were detected for Germany and Greece, but none for Switzerland. Results implicate that resilience profiles are highly contextually sensitive, and resilience research findings should not be generalized considering the particularity of contexts, people, and outcomes.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial
  • Multicenter Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Anxiety* / epidemiology
  • Anxiety* / ethnology
  • Anxiety* / psychology
  • Child
  • Depression* / epidemiology
  • Depression* / ethnology
  • Depression* / psychology
  • Ethnicity
  • Female
  • Germany / epidemiology
  • Germany / ethnology
  • Greece / epidemiology
  • Greece / ethnology
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Protective Factors
  • Sex Factors
  • Students / psychology*
  • Switzerland / epidemiology
  • Switzerland / ethnology

Grants and funding

This study was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) through the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) – on the move via the project Overcoming Inequalities with Education – School Resilience, grant number 51NF40-182897, awarded to WK. Additionally, the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW) generously supported the study. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.