Stessful life events, personality, and hwalth: An inquiry into hardiness

Abstract

Studied personality as a conditioner of the effects of stressful life events on illness onset. Two groups of middle- and upper-level 40-49 yr old executives had comparably high degrees of stressful life events in the previous 3 yrs, as measured by the Schedule of Recent Events. One group of 86 Ss suffered high stress without falling ill, whereas the other group of 75 Ss reported becoming sick after their encounter with stressful life events. Illness was measured by the Seriousness of Illness Survey (A. R. Wyler et al 1970). Discriminant function analysis, run on half of the Ss in each group and cross-validated on the remaining cases, supported the prediction that high stress/low illness executives show, by comparison with high stress/high illness executives, more hardiness, that is, have a stronger commitment to self, an attitude of vigorousness toward the environment, a sense of meaningfulness, and an internal locus of control. (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).

Full text

JOURNAL
OF
Personality
Social Psychology
Volume
37
January
1979
Number
1
Stressful Life
Events,
Personality,
and
Health:
An
Inquiry
Into
Hardiness
Suzanne
C.
Kobasa
University
of
Chicago
Personality
was
studied
as a
conditioner
of the
effects
of
stressful
life
events
on
illness
onset.
Two
groups
of
middle
and
upper
level
executives
had
comparably
high
degrees
of
stressful life
events
in the
previous
3
years,
as
measured
by the
Holmes
and
Rahe Schedule
of
Recent Life Events.
One
group
(n
= 86)
suffered
high
stress
without falling ill, whereas
the
other
(n =
75)
reported becoming
sick
after
their
encounter with stressful
life
events.
Illness
was
measured
by the
Wyler,
Masuda,
and
Holmes Seriousness
of
Illness
Survey. Discriminant function
analysis,
run on
half
of the
subjects
in
each group
and
cross-validated
on the
remaining cases, supported
the
prediction that high
stress/low
illness executives
show,
by
comparison with
high
stress/high
illness executives, more
hardiness,
that
is,
have
a
stronger commitment
to
self,
an
attitude
of
vigorousness toward
the
environment,
a
sense
of
meaningfulness,
and an
internal locus
of
control.
An
exceptional
number
of
studies
in the
last