Abstract
Early in psychologists’ study of the relationship between stress and health, a question arose about people who experience high levels of stress in their lives but do not suffer negative health consequences: What is it that enables some people not to get sick and even thrive under stress? Suzanne C. Kobasa (now Ouellette) proposed that peoples’ personalities make a critical difference for how they perceive and respond to stressful life events. Concerned that stress researchers painted a too-passive picture of people as victims of stress, she sought to understand individuals’ distinctive experiences and attempts to find meaning in the face of stress. She drew from existential philosophy and psychology and adult development research to propose the personality construct of hardiness as a buffer of the health-damaging effects of stressful life events. Kobasa characterized hardiness as having three components: commitment, control, and challenge. Commitment represents engagement in life and a view of experiences as meaningful, purposeful, and interesting; control is an individual’s effort to maintain some influence over what life brings; challenge is an orientation toward change as an inevitable and even rewarding part of life that is matched by an ability to be cognitively flexible and tolerant of ambiguity.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Bibliography
Florian, V., Mikulincer, M., Taubman, O. (1995). Does hardiness contribute to mental health during a stressful real-life situation? The roles of appraisal and coping. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 687–695.
Funk, S. C. (1992). Hardiness: A review of theory and research. Health Psychology, 11, 335–345.
Kobasa, S. C. (1979). Stressful life events, personality, and health: An inquiry into hardiness. Journal of Personaliot and Social Psychology, 37, 1–11.
Kobasa, S. C. (1982). The hardy personality: Toward a social psychology of stress and health. In G. Sanders J. Suls (Eds.); Social psychology of health and illness (pp. 00–00 ). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Kobasa, S. C., Maddi, S. R., Kahn, S. (1982). Hardiness and health: A prospective study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 42, 168–177.
Maddi, S. R. (1999). The personality construct of hardiness: I. Effects on experiencing, coping, and strain. Consulting Psychology Journal, 51, 95–105.
Ouellette, S. C. (1998). The relationship between personality and health: What self and identity have to do with it. In R. Contrada R. Ashmore (Eds.), Self, social identity, and physical health (pp. 00–00 ). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ouellette, S. C. DiPlacido, J. (2001). Personality’s role in the protection and enhancement of health: Where the research has been, where it is stuck, how it might move. In A. Baum, T. A. Revenson, J. Singer (Eds.), Handbook of health psychology (pp. 00–00 ). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Becker, M. H. (1974). The health belief model and personal health behavior. Health Education Monographs, 2 (4).
Gilliam, G. A., Eke, A., Aymer, F., O’Neil, C. (2001). Developing a theory-based, culturally sensitive intervention for adolescents: The Antigua School Project. In B. A. Dicks (Ed.), HIV/AIDS and children in the English speaking Caribbean (pp. 105–126 ). New York: Haworth.
Harrison, J. A., Mullen, P. D., Green, L. W. (1992). A meta-analysis of studies of the health belief model with adults. Health Education Research, 7, 107–116.
Hochbaum, G. M. (1956). Why people seek diagnostic x-rays. Public Health Reports, 71, 377–380.
Hochbaum, G. M. (1958). Public participation in medical screening programs: A sociopsychological study (Public Health Service Publication No. 572 ). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Janz, N. K., Becker, M. H. (1984). The health belief model: A decade later. Health Education Quarterly, 11, 1–47.
Orbell, S., Crombie, I., Johnston, G. (1996). Social cognition and social structure in the prediction of cervical screening uptake. British Journal of Health Psychology, 1, 35–50.
Rosenstock, I. M. (1966). Why people use health services. Millbank Memorial Fund Quarterly, 44, 99–124.
Rosenstock, I. M. (1974). The health belief model and preventative health behavior, Health Education Monographs, 2, 354–386.
Rosenstock, I. M., Strecher, V. J., Becker, M. H. (1988). Social learning theory and the health belief model. Health Education Quarterly, 15, 175–183.
Sheeran, P Abraham, C. (1996). The health belief model. In M. Conner P Norman (Eds.), Predicting health behavior: Research and practice with social cognition models (pp. 23–61 ). Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.
Williamson, S. Wardle, J. (2002). Increasing participation with colorectal cancer screening: The development of a psycho-educational intervention. In D. Rutter L. Quine (Eds.), Changing health behavior: Intervention and research with social cognition models (pp. 105–122 ). Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.
Baum, A., Revenson, T. A., Singer, J. E. (Eds.). (2001). Handbook of health psychology. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/ brfss/
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/
Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. (2000). Report of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee on the dietary guidelines for americans, 2000. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture. Available at http:// www.ars.usda.gov/dgac
Glanz, K., Lewis, E. M., Rimer, B. K. (Eds.). (1997). Health behavior and health education: Theory, research, and practice ( 2nd ed. ). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Green, L. W, Kreuter, M. W. (1991). Health promotion and planning: An educational and environmental approach ( 2nd ed. ). Mountain View, CA: Mayfield.
Healthy People 2010. Available at http://www.health.gov/healthypeople/
Kaplan, R. M., Sallis, J. E, Patterson, T. L. (Eds.). (1993). Health and human behavior. New York: McGraw-Hill.
McGinnis, J. M., Foege, W. H. (1993). Actual causes of death in the United States. Journal of the American Medical Association, 270, 2207–2212.
National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine. Dietary reference intakes for energy, carbohydrate, fiber, fat, fatty acids, cholesterol, protein, and amino acids. Available at http://www.iom.edu/
National Center for Health Statistics. Healthy People 2000 final review. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/hp2k/review/ highlightshp2000.htm
National Center for Health Statistics. National health and nutrition examination survey. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes.htm
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Clinical guidelines on the identification, evaluation, and treatment of overweight and obesity in adults. Available at http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/obesity/ob_home.htm
O’Donnell, M. P. (1989). Definition of health promotion: Part III: Expanding the definition. American Journal of Health Promotion, 3, 5.
Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Available at http://odphp.osophs.dhhs.gov/
Office of the Surgeon General. Available at http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/ sgoffice.htm
Office of the Surgeon General. Physical activity and health: A report of the Surgeon General Available at http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/sgr/sgr.htm
Office of the Surgeon General. Reducing tobacco use: A report of the Surgeon General Available at http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/sgr_tobacco_use.htm
Pate, R. R., Pratt, M., Blair, S. N., et al. (1995). Physical activity and public health: A recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American College of Sports Medicine. Journal of the American Medical Association, 273,402–407.
Smith, T. W, Kendall, P. C., Keefe, E J. (Eds.). (2002). Behavioral medicine and clinical health psychology [Special issue]. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 70(3).
Wing, R. R., Voorhees, C. C., Hill, D. R. (Eds.). (2000). Maintenance of behavior change in cardiorespiratory risk reduction [Special issue]. Health Psychology /9(Supplement 1).
World Health Organization. Available at http://www.who.int/about/overview/ en/
Abramson, L. Y., Seligman, M. E. P., Teasdale, J. D. (1978). Learned helplessness in humans: Critique and reformulation. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 87, 49–74.
Buchanan, G. M., Seligman, M. E. P. (Eds.). (1995). Explanatory style. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Cardemil, E. V., Reivich, K. J., Seligman, M. E. P. (2002). The prevention of depressive symptoms in low-income minority middle school students. Prevention and Treatment, 5 (8). Available at http://journals.apa.org/prevention/volume5/pre0050008a.html
Freres, D. R., Gillham, J. E., Reivich, K. J., Shatté, A. J. (2002). Preventing depressive symptoms in middle school students: The Penn Resiliency Program. International Journal of Emergency Mental Health, 4, 31–40.
Garber, J., Seligman, M. E. P. (Eds.). (1980). Human helplessness: Theory and applications. New York: Academic.
Gillham, J. E., Reivich, K. J., Jaycox, L. H., Seligman, M. E. P. (1995). Prevention of depressive symptoms in schoolchildren: Two-year follow-up. Psychological Science, 6, 343–351.
Gillham, J. E., Shatté, A. J., Freres, D. R. (2000). Preventing depression: A review of cognitive—behavioral and family interventions. Applied and Preventive Psychology, 9, 63–88.
Jaycox, I.. H., Reivich, K. J., Gillham, J., Seligman, M. E.P. (1994). Prevention of depressive symptoms in school children. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 32, 801–816.
Maier, S. F., Seligman, M. E. P. (1976). Learned helplessness: Theory and evidence. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 105, 3–46.
Peterson, C. (1991). Meaning and measurement of explanatory style. Psychological Inquiry 2, 1–10.
Peterson, C., Bossio, L. M. (1991). Health and optimism. New York: Free Press.
Peterson, C., Maier, S. F., Seligman, M. E. P. (1993). Learned helplessness: A theory for the age of personal control. New York: Oxford University Press.
Peterson, C., Seligman, M. E. P. (1984). Causal explanations as a risk factor for depression: Theory and evidence. Psychological Review, 91, 347–374.
Seligman, M. E. P. (1975). Helplessness: On depression, development, and death. San Francisco: Freeman.
Seligman, M. E. P. (1991). Learned optimism. New York: Knopf.
Seligman, M. E. P., Castellon, C., Cacciola, J., Schulman, R, Luborsky, L., Ollove, M., et al. (1988). Explanatory style change during cognitive therapy for unipolar depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 97, 13–18.
Seligman, M. E. R, Reivich, K. J., Jaycox, L. H., Gillham, J. (1995). The optimistic child. New York: Harper Perennial.
Yu, D. L., Seligman, M. E. P. (2002). Preventing depressive symptoms in Chinese children. Prevention and Treatment, 5 (9). Available at http://journals.apa.org/prevention/volume5/pre0050009a.html
Antoni, M. H., Cruess, D. G., Cruess, S., Lutgendorf, S., Kumar, M., Iron-son, G., et al. (2000). Cognitive–behavioral stress management intervention effects on anxiety, 24-hr urinary norepinephrine output, and Tcytotoxic/suppressor cells over time among symptomatic HIV-infected gay men. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 68, 31–45.
Chesney, M. A., Ickovics, J. R., Chambers, D. B., Gifford, A. L., Neidig, J., Zwickl, B., et al. (2000). Self-reported adherence to antiretroviral medications among participants in HIV clinical trials: The AACTG adherence instruments. AIDS Care, 12, 255–266.
Coates, T. J., McKusick, L., Kuno, R., Stites, D. P. (1989). Stress reduction training changed number of sexual partners but not immune function in men with HIV. American Journal of Public Health, 79, 885–887.
Jemmott, J. B., Jemmott, L. S., Fong, G. T. (1998). Abstinence and safer sex HIV risk-reduction interventions for African American adolescents: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of the American Medical Association, 279, 1529–1536.
Kalichman, S. C., Rompa, D., Cage, M., DiFonzo, K., Simpson, D., Austin, J., et al. (2001). Effectiveness of an intervention to reduce HIV transmission risks in HIV+ people. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 21, 84–92.
Kamb, M. L., Fishbein, M., Douglas, J. M., Rhodes, E, Rogers, J., Bolan, G., et al. (1998). Efficacy of risk-reduction counseling to prevent human immunodeficiency virus and sexually transmitted diseases—A randomized controlled trial. Journal of the American Medical Association, 280, 1161–1167.
Kelly, J. A., Murphy, D. A., Bahr, G. R., Kalichman, S. C., Morgan, M. G., Stevenson, L. Y., et al. (1993). Outcome of cognitive–behavioral and support group brief therapies for depressed, HIV-infected persons. American Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 1679–1686.
National Institute of Mental Health Multisite HIV Prevention Trial Group. (1998). The NIMH multisite HIV prevention trial: Reducing HIV sexual risk behavior. Science, 280, 1889–1894.
Vanable, P. A., Ostrow, D. G., McKirnan, D. J., Taywaditep, K. J., Hope, B. A. (2000). Impact of combination therapies on HIV risk perceptions and sexual risk among HIV+ and HIV-negative gay and bisexual men. Health Psychology, 19, 134–145.
Weinhardt, L. S., Carey, M. P., Johnson, B. T., Bickham, N. L. (1999). Effects of HIV counseling and testing on sexual risk behavior: A meta-analytic review of the published research, 1985–1997. American Journal of Public Health, 89, 1397–1405.
American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Available at www.aahpm.org
American Hospice Foundation. Available at www.americanhosice.org
Berger, A. M., Portenoy, R. K., Weissman, D. E. (Eds.). (2002). Principles and practice of palliative care and supportive oncology ( 2nd ed. ). Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams Wilkins.
Doyle, D., Hanks, G. W. C., MacDonald, N. (Eds.). (1998). Oxford textbook of palliative medicine ( 2nd ed. ). New York: Oxford University Press. National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. Available at http://www.nhpco.org
Brownley, K. A., Light, K. C., Anderson, N. B. (1996). Social support and hostility interact to influence clinic, work, and home blood pressure in Black and White men and women. Psychophysiology, 33, 434–445.
Christensen, A. J., Smith, T. W. (1993). Cynical hostility, self-disclosure, and cardiovascular reactivity. Psychosomatic Medicine, 55, 532–537.
Davis, M. C., Matthews, K. A., McGrath, C. E. (2000). Hostile attitudes predict elevated vascular resistance during interpersonal stress in men and women. Psychosomatic Medicine, 62, 17–25.
Everson, S. A., Kauhanen, J., Kaplan, G., Goldberg, D., Julkunen, J., Tuomilehto, J., et al. (1997). Hostility and increased risk of mortality and myocardial infarction: The mediating role of behavioral risk factors. American Journal of Epidemiology, 146, 142–152.
Fredrickson, B. L., Maynard, K. E., Helms, M. J., Haney, T. L., Siegler, I. C., Barefoot, J. C. (2000). Hostility predicts magnitude and duration of blood pressure response to anger. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 23, 229–243.
Guyll, M., Contrada, R. J. (1998). Trait hostility and ambulatory cardiovascular activity: Responses to social interaction. Health Psychology, 17, 30–39.
Hemingway, H., Marmot, M. (1999). Psychosocial factors in the aetiology and prognosis of coronary heart disease: Systematic review of prospective cohort studies. British Medical Journal, 318, 1460–1467.
Ironson, G., Taylor, C. B., Boltwood, M., Bartzokis, T., Dennis, C., Chesney, M., Spitzer, S., Segall, G. M. (1992). Effects of anger on left ventricular ejection fraction in coronary disease. American Journal of Cardiology, 70, 281–285.
Julkunen, J., Salonen, R., Kaplan, G. A., Chesney, M. A., Salonen, J. T. (1994). Hostility and the progression of carotid atherosclerosis. Psychosomatic Medicine, 56, 519–525.
Kawachi, I., Sparrow, D., Spiro, A., III, Vokonas, P., Weiss, S. C. (1996). A prospective study of anger and coronary heart disease: The Normative Aging Study. Circulation, 94, 2090–2095.
Lepore, S. J. (1995). Cynicism, social support, and cardiovascular reactivity. Health Psychology, 14, 210–216.
Linden, W., Gerin, W., Davidson, K. (2003). Cardiovascular reactivity: Status quo and a research agenda for the new millennium. Psychosomatic Medicine, 65, 5–8.
Miller, T. Q., Smith, T. W., Turner, C. W, Guijarro, M. L., Hallet, A. J. (1996). A meta-analytic review of research on hostility and physical health. Psychological Bulletin, 119, 322–348.
Mittleman, M. A., Maclure, M., Sherwood, J. B., Mulry, R. P., Tofler, G. H., Jacobs, S. C., et al. (1995). Triggering of acute myocardial infarction onset by episodes of anger. Circulation, 92, 1720–1725.
Smith, T. W. (1992). Hostility and health: Current status of a psychosomatic hypothesis. Health Psychology, 11, 139–150.
Smith, T. W., Ruiz, J. M. (2002). Psychosocial influences on the development and course of coronary heart disease: Current status and implications for research and practice. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 70, 548–568.
Williams, J. E., Paton, C. C., Siegler, I. C., Eigenbrodt, M. L., Nieto, E J., Tyroler, H. A. (2000). Anger proneness predicts coronary heart disease risk: Prospective analysis from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study. Circulation, 101, 2034–2039.
Abramson, P. R., Pinkerton, S. D. (2002). With pleasure: Thoughts on the nature of human sexuality ( 2nd ed. ). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bancroft, J. (1989). Human sexuality and its problems ( 2nd ed. ). New York: Churchill Livingstone
Masters, W., Johnson, V. E., Kolodny, R. (1995). Human sexuality ( 5th ed. ). New York: Harper Collins.
Shover, L., and Jensen, S. B. (1988). Sexuality and chronic illness. New York: Guilford.
Anonymous. (1997). The sixth report of the Joint National Committee on prevention, detection, evaluation, and treatment of high blood pressure. Archives of Internal Medicine 157, 2413–2446.
Crasilneck, H. B., Hall, J. A. (1985). Clinical hypnosis: Principles and applications ( 2nd ed. ). Orlando, FL: Grune Stratton.
Weitzenhoffer, A. M., Hilgard, E. R. (1962). Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists.
Wester, W. C., Smith, A. H. (Eds.). (1984). Clinical hypnosis: A multidisciplinary approach. Philadelphia: Lippincott.
Starcevic, V., Lipsitt, D. R. (Eds.). (2001). Hypochondriasis: Modern perspecLives on an ancient malady. London: Oxford University Press.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2004 Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ouellette, S.C. et al. (2004). Hh. In: Christensen, A.J., Martin, R., Smyth, J.M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Health Psychology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-22557-9_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-22557-9_8
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-37569-4
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-22557-9
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive