National resilience: Development and validation of a new four-dimensional model for disaster preparedness assessment

The studies described here aim to develop and empirically validate a more accurate and reliable model for assessing national resilience, emphasizing its importance for disaster risk reduction and disaster preparedness. Two large-scale surveys were conducted in Israel—Study 1 in 2019 (N = 748) and Study 2 in 2020 (N = 1198)—during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, a 13-item scale was developed to assess four dimensions of national resilience: Patriotism (α = 0.860), Political Trust (α = 0.783), Perceived Internal Threats (α = 0.768), and Perceived External Threats (α = 0.787). Together, these four factors explained 61.69 % of the total variance. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) confirmed the four-factor structure as the best-fitting model (GFI = 0.916; CFI = 0.867; RMSEA = 0.095), outperforming both the one- and three-factor alternatives. The model proved to be consistent across different demographic groups and in different social contexts. The results provide a validated and scalable tool for assessing the socio-psychological dimensions of national resilience. By capturing citizens’ emotional engagement, trust in institutions, and perceptions of internal and external threats, the model provides an evidence-based framework for assessing a nation's adaptive capacity. It enables policymakers and disaster management experts to monitor the resilience of the population over time, identify weaknesses in social cohesion or institutional confidence, and develop targeted interventions to strengthen national preparedness in the face of complex and evolving crises.