Personality and social resources in stress resistance.

Abstract

This study examined personality, social assets, and perceived social support as moderators of the effects of stressful life events on illness onset. In a group of 170 middle and upper level executives, personality hardiness and stressful life events consistently influenced illness scores, the former serving to lower symptomatology, the latter to increase it. Perceived boss support had its predicted positive effect. Executives under high stress who perceived support from their supervisors had lower illness scores than those without support. Perceived family support, on the other hand, showed a negative effect on health when reported by those low in hardiness. Finally, social assets made no significant impact on health status. These results underscore the value of differentiating between kinds of social resources, and of monitoring the effects of two or more stress-resistance resources in a single study.

Prospective predictors of positive emotions following spousal loss.

“…Psychologically "brittle" children, by contrast, exhibited behavioral problems, depressive symptoms, and higher levels of drug use in adolescence (Block, Block, & Keyes, 1988;Block & Gjerde, 1990). Studies of diverse populations have also empha-sized the inherent flexibility of trait resilience in adulthood: Psychologically resilient or "hardy" adults appear to be those who are committed to what they were doing, in control of their problems, and willing to accept changes in life as challenges to be mastered rather than threats to be endured (Kobasa, 1979;Kobasa, Maddi, & Kahn, 1982;Kobasa & Puccetti, 1983;Maddi, Bartone, & Puccetti, 1987).…”

Vivo Questionnaire: A Measure of Human Worldviews and Identity in Trauma, Crisis, and Loss—Validation and Preliminary Findings

“…An initial pool of 128 expressions in Spanish was derived from survivors' testimonies and expert consensus corresponding to (a) basic beliefs, (b) signs of subjective damage, resilience and growth, (c) ways of social, cognitive and behavioural appraisal and processing of extreme experiences (Pérez-Sales, 2006) and an extensive review of existing models and measures on the impact of extreme experiences (Antonovsky, 1987;Calhoun & Tedeschi, 1999;Ehlers & Clark, 2000;Epstein, 1989;Janoff-Bulman, 1992;Kauffman, 2002;Kobasa, 1983;Pennebaker, 1990;Stroebe, Schut, & Finkenauer, 2000), ethnographic and qualitative studies (Lifton, 1967;Pérez-Sales, Bacic, & Durán, 1998) or autobiographical accounts of victims' experiences (Amery, 2001;Frankl, Lasch, & Allport, 1963;Levi, 1987;Steinberg, 2001). 80 items were suitable for the general population, 48 were meaningful only for survivors.…”

Swedish Healthcare Managers and the Media – A Study of Strategies and Support During Mass Media Attention

“…Further, shared leadership in teams have been found to contribute to higher performance than vertical leadership in many cases (Wang, Waldman & Zhang, 2014). Choi, Sung & Kim (2010) and Kobasa & Puccetti (1983) found that support from higher-level managers played a key role in overcoming major challenges. However, Arman, Wikström & Dellve (2009) pointed out that Healthcare managers spend a relatively small amount of time with their own senior managers.…”