Abstract
<title>Abstract</title> <p>Background: Depression and emotional distress are increasingly prevalent among students in both schools and universities, often leading to poor academic outcomes and diminished wellbeing. Promoting resilience has become a cornerstone of mental health initiatives in educational settings. Yet, there is limited evidence on the psychometric validity of resilience measures among Arab youth. This study aimed to: (1) evaluate the psychometric properties of the 10-item Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10) across two student populations—adolescents in secondary schools and university students in Jordan, and (2) explore resilience within the context of a culturally adapted digital mental health intervention. Methods: This randomized controlled trial assessed the Al-Khaizuran program, a culturally adapted and novel web-based depression-prevention program. Participants included 223 students from two educational levels: 117 adolescents from secondary schools and 106 young adults from universities. Reliability, factorial validity, and measurement invariance of the Arabic CD-RISC-10 were examined using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and multi-group CFA. Internal consistency was evaluated using Cronbach’s α and McDonald’s ω, and changes in resilience were analyzed pre- and post-intervention. Results: The Arabic CD-RISC-10 demonstrated excellent reliability among university students (α = 0.91; ω = 0.91) and acceptable reliability among school students (α = 0.70; ω = 0.71). CFA confirmed a unidimensional factor structure with excellent fit in the university sample (RMSEA = 0.032, CFI = 0.989) and acceptable fit in the school sample (RMSEA = 0.06, CFI = 0.997). Measurement invariance analysis supported configural, metric, and scalar invariance across the two groups, though strict invariance was not achieved. Resilience scores significantly improved post-intervention among university students (p < 0.001, Cohen’s d = 0.41), while no significant change was observed among school students. Conclusions: Resilience can be reliably assessed and enhanced among Arab university students through culturally adapted digital interventions, highlighting its role as a key protective factor in student mental health. Tailored measurement and intervention strategies are essential to capture developmental and cultural variability in resilience across school and university populations. Findings indicate that cultural and developmental differences influence specific resilience items, particularly those related to humor.</p>