Hardiness

Kobasa (1979) argues that people vary greatly in their ability to cope with stress . Challenge: involved in what they do, have direction in life, Commitment: View stressful situations as a challenge, not a threat, Control: Strong sense of control, can influence their own lives. Kobasa went on to explain that hardy people experience less stress than others and so are healthier generally.This could be shown by a negative relationship between hardiness and illness for example (a direct effect). Hardiness could also have a buffering effect i.e. Hardy people are cope better and so are more resistant than none hardy people at resisting illness.

Research Evidence

 A pilot study was carried out on highly stressed male executives. The key finding was that those who were didn’t suffer from illness were more likely to be hardy. These findings have been replicated several times. For example, both predictable (child leaving home) and unpredictable life events (losing your job) show that hardy people cope better than none hardy people at both types.

Klag and Bradley (2004) carried out a thorough test of Kobasa’s ideas. They looked at four…