Gender and age differences on resilience in Norwegian adolescents 13-18 years

Abstract

Background: The present study investigates gender and age differences on resilience factors comprising personal competence, structured style, social competence, social resources, and family cohesion. Methods: The cross-sectional sample consists of 1239 adolescents 13-18 years from Mid-Norway. The participants responded on The Resilience Scale for Adolescents. Data was analyzed using two-way between groups ANOVA. Three age groups were used: 13-14 years, 15-16 years, 17-18 years. Results: Significant main effects of gender were found on resilience factors comprising personal competence, structured style and family cohesion, where boys had higher mean scores than girls. No significant main effects of age or interaction effects of gender by age on any of the resilience factors were found. However, boys had higher mean scores than girls across the three age groups on the resilience factors of personal competence, structured style and family cohesion, whereas girls had higher scores on social competence and social support. Discussion: Although significant gender differences are found on resilience factors, the mean scores on resilience do not appear to differ significantly across age groups.