Roberta Renati

The resilience scale for adults in italy: A validation study comparing clinical substance abusers with a nonclinical sample.

This article reports a validation study of the Italian version of the Resilience Scale for Adults (RSA), a measure designed to assess individual, family, and social resilience protective resources. The RSA was administered to a clinical (i.e., substance use disorders, or SUD; N = 437) and a nonclinical sample (N = 337). A confirmatory factor analyses supported the original 6-factor structure of the RSA in both samples. The RSA correlated positively with functional coping strategies and negatively with perceived stress and dysfunctional coping strategies. Moreover, the RSA subscales discriminated between SUD and non-SUD individuals. Factorial invariance testing also confirmed comparable psychometric properties across gender. The results confirm good psychometric properties of the Italian RSA and provide support for the construct validity of the scale. The RSA may be suited for use in studies examining natural course and intervention trials. (PsycINFO Database Record

Challenges raising a gifted child Stress and resilience factors within the family

The research on families of the gifted is extremely limited. In the past, families of the gifted have been studied mainly for two reasons: to discover how family life creates or supports giftedness or eminence, or to understand how one gifted child affects siblings. Few studies, however, have examined the impact of gifted children on the lives of parents. Most studies highlight that many gifted have unique needs and vulnerabilities. Although there is limited empirical research on the experience of parenting a gifted child, there is clinical and anecdotal evidence that the role presents unique parenting challenges. This article presents preliminary research data on the experiences of parenting a gifted child within the family. The authors embrace a risk and resilience model, supported by clinical data obtained from families with a gifted child seen at a leading center for gifted children in Milan.