The Relationship of Demographic Profile and Resilience

Abstract

Resilience is a learned ability to rebound in spite of difficulties in life. People who are highly resilient are more optimistic, exhibit a high level of internal calmness, high life energy levels, curiosity, flexibility, and self-confidence. With the challenging curriculum and world of work, there is a need to determine students’ level of resilience in order to be used as the basis for interventions for them to have a greater probability of success in life. Many studies have dealt with resilience but very few focused on senior high school students. Moreover, none has been found focusing on senior high school students in the Philippines. There are also conflicting results on the relationship of resilience to some demographic profiles such as age, income, gender, religion, and academic achievement in terms of grade point average. All of these variables are within the framework of the Ecological Model of Resilience by Gamerzy which states that the self, the family, and the social environment influence resilience. Cochran’s formula was used to determine the sample size (n=304). Stratified random sampling was used to select respondents from each section and gender (n=304, N=1460, p=0.5) with 258 questionnaires returned. The demographic profile was determined and the resilience was measured using the Resilience Scale by Wagnild and Young with the lowest score of 25 and the highest of 175. The higher the score, the better is the resilience. Very high internal consistency (α=.95) of the Resilience Scale was found with Grade 11 senior high school students as respondents. Grade 11 students at San Jose-Litex Senior High School have resilience “On the Low End” (M=123.67, SD=27.07), which should be a focus of concern not just of the school but of the families as well especially that the students are in their adolescent stage and may have difficulties in facing challenges in their everyday lives. Gender (χ2 (5,258)=12.539, p=.028) with females being more resilient and monthly family income (χ2(30,258)=45.858, p=.032) vary significantly with resiliency. However, strand (χ2(15,258)=19.966, p=.173), age (χ2(5,258)=1.430, p=.92), religion (χ2(30,258)=24.924, p=.729), type of junior high school completed from (χ2(5,258)=8.060, p=.153), grade weighted average in Grade 10 (χ2 (15,258)=7.700, p=.279), and type of residence (χ2 (15,258)=13.815, p=.540) do not have a significant relationship with resiliency.Results imply the need for inclusion of resilience assessment for incoming Grade 11 students. There is also a need to study other variables that may relate to resilience.