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This study used ClassMaps Survey to investigate third to fifth grade elementary students' perceptions of five relational (e.g., teacher-student relationships and peer friendships) and three individual (e.g., academic self-efficacy and behavioral self-control) resilience-promoting factors in classrooms in China and the United States. Examination of measurement equivalence indicates that the seven-factor model excluding peer aggression has acceptable strong factorial measurement equivalence. Comparison of group means revealed common strengths in teacher-student relationships, peer friendships, challenges in behavioral self-control, and peer conflict across the two cultural groups. Interventions should be built upon positive relationships and target behavioral self-control and peer conflict.

The current study first examined the applicability of the ClassMaps Survey (CMS)--a measurement of resilience in classroom/school settings developed in the US with Chinese middle school students and then compared the group differences on student perceptions of the resilience factors in the CMS across the two cultures. The findings suggest that the CMS and all its seven subscales have good to acceptable scalar measurement equivalence. The current study supports the use of the CMS and its seven subscales with Chinese middle school students as a measurement of resilience in classroom context. Furthermore, the study found that Chinese students scored significantly higher on academic self-determination, behavior self-control, teacher-student relationship, home-school relationship, and peer conflict but significantly lower on academic self-efficacy than American students. There was no significant difference in peer friendships between the two groups. Implications for resilience promotion in school settings were discussed in cultural context.