Personality factors and stress: hardiness

definition
1. research considered so far in this section suggests that our reactions to stressors are determined by a complex interplay of different variables
2. To name just a few, these include Type A and B personality, social support, locus of control, culture and gender. Such variables go some way to explaining differences in what people perceive as stressful, but they do not fully account for why some individuals are more susceptible to stress than others
The hardy personality
1. Kobasa (Kobasa and Maddi 1977) found that there were certain individuals who seemed to be generally better equipped than others to resist the effects of stress. She described them as having a hardy personality, and claimed that this consists of three key factors that help keep stress at a minimum
2. control
  1. the individual has an internal LOC: they feel they are in control of what happens to them rather than feeling they are a victim of circumstances
3. commitment
  1. the individual gets involved in life and engages with those around them. This means they are less likely to give up when the going gets tough, especially if they have gathered social support around themselves
4. challenge
  1. the hardy individual seems to appraise situations in a different way to others, seeing any changes in life as a positive challenge. This leaves them less vulnerable to stressful feelings of being unable to cope
5. hardiness emphasises that being in control is important to reduce stress levels. there is research evidence to support this argument. However, the role of control is not always clear. If someone feels they have to be totally in control, they may have associated issues that can lead to obsessive behaviour, which then raises the levels of anxiety. This makes the relationship complicated
Evaluation of hardy personality research
1. evidence in favour of hardiness
  1. Kobasa et al. (1985) carried out a prospective longitudinal study, which she began by measuring ppts' hardiness, social support and exercise, al of which she thought were protective against stress. She then followed up the ppts to assess their psychological and physical health. Those with no protective factors, suggesting that these acted in a cumulative way
    1. hardiness, however, had the most effect, lending validity to the idea that it protects against stress
2. Sample bias
  1. much of Kobasa's work was conducted on professional men, which means that there is an androcentric sample bias in her work. This doesn't mean that she is wrong, but that generalising to both genders and cross culturally is problematic. It might mean that being hardy reduces stress to a greater extent for men only
3. Distinction between factors
  1. control, commitment and challenge have not been defined exactly, neither has how they work together
    1. it may be that:
      1. only one of those is the key factor to reducing stress (control is most likely), or
      2. they vary in importance, or
      3. they operate in a linear fashion e.g. people with internal LOC only commit to things hey think they can manage and so they see it is a challenge, or
      4. they work together synergistically, such that their combined effect is more powerful than simply adding their individual contributions together
4. Practical applications to stress management: hardiness training
  1. Kobasa's work has led her to develop a stress management programme which an individual can learn to become hardy. It is a three-stage process that involves:
    1. focusing
      1. the individual is able to notice their stressors
    2. reliving stressful encounters
      1. the client would think about recent stressful situations and how they could have been dealt with differently to reduce the level of stress experienced
    3. self-improvement
      1. the stage in which an individual learns to avoid stress in the future by thinking about and appraising potentially stressful situations differently. This invariably means that they need to feel in control and see problems as a challenge rather than as overwhelming
  2. hardiness is determined by measuring the 3 variables separately, so in theory, the focus of training can be adapted to work on the weakest one. The fact that this programme is successful for some highly committed and motivated individuals highlights the effect that hardiness and, more generally, personality may have on the individual's experience of stress. However, it is also true that the success of a treatment does not necessarily mean that the theory behind it is sound. Improvements might come about for other reasons, such as the beneficial effect of the care and attention someone else gives to your welfare, or it may even be a placebo effect- it only works because you believe it will

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Personality factors and stress: hardiness

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	Created by Bethan Stevenson almost 11 years ago