Effects of Cognitive Hardiness on Stress, Health, Performance, andCardiovascular/Neuroendocrine Function

摘要

Cognitive hardiness is a psychological construct of stress resiliency which hasbeen postulated to moderate stress-illness and stress-performance relationships. Hardiness has also been thought to exert main effects on health and performance outcomes. In Study 1, relationships between hardiness, perceived stress, depression, and academic performance were investigated. Hardiness was found to be positively predictive of academic performance; the effect was partially mediated by course load. Hardiness was also revealed to moderate the stress-depression relationship. The negative relationship between stress and academic performance was mediated by depression. A model explaining 30% of the variance in academic performance is presented and discussed. Study 2 was an extensive exploratory effort that investigated the relationships between hardiness, stress, performance, illness/injury, appraisal processes, and physiological reactivity to a realistic stressor in 23 helicopter pilots. Main and moderating effects for hardiness were demonstrated in stress-performance and stress-illness relationships and outcomes. Hardiness was predictive of challenge appraisals, cortisol baselines and reactivity, and performance. Mediated relationships are discussed. Relations between cortisol reactivity and performance suggest profound and disturbing adverse impact on work-related cognitive function. Higher order curvilinear relationships between hardiness, cortisol reactivity, challenge appraisals, and performance were revealed. Implications, future research initiatives, and appropriate research designs are discussed.