The Hardiness Survey was created for wide Internet audience. The test (the test time is about 20 minutes) is intended for advisory work and complex psychological diagnostics, can use for testing of teenagers and adults, aged 15 to 75.
Hardiness is a set of attitudes and skills that promote resiliency under stressful circumstances by enhancing performance, leadership, morale, and health (e.g., Maddi, 2002). The HardiAttitudes are the 3Cs of commitment, control, and challenge (Maddi & Kobasa, 1984). Commitment is the conviction that staying involved with people and events, rather than pulling back, is the way to find meaning and value in your life. Control is the inclination to try to influence what is going on around you, rather than sink into powerlessness. Challenge is the belief that, as life is continually changing, you are most fulfilled by continuing to learn from your experiences, whether they are positive or negative, rather than by expecting easy comfort and security. In short, the HardiAttitudes provide the existential courage and motivation to work on transforming stressful circumstances from potential disasters into opportunities instead (Maddi, 2002). This transformation is accomplished through the HardiSkills (Khoshaba & Maddi, 2001). These skills are for transformational coping (solving problems, rather than denying or avoiding them), activistic social support (giving and getting assistance and encouragement, rather than overprotection or competition), and self-care (relaxation, nutrition, and exercise regimens leading to the moderate arousal that facilitates coping and social support efforts). As the rate of change mounts in our world, the combination of attitudes and skills constituting hardiness is all the more important in preserving and enhancing health and performance.
Hardiness was discovered through a longitudinal study of 450 male and female managers at Illinois Bell Telephone (IBT), from 1975 through 1986, that was designed to precede and follow the federal deregulation of the AT&T monopoly in 1981, so as to make way for a competitive telecommunications industry (Maddi & Kobasa, 1984). Throughout the study, the managers were tested in various psychological and medical ways each year. Still regarded as the largest upheaval in corporate history, the 1981 deregulation led to major downsizing and disruption at IBT. Indeed, two thirds of the managers in the sample showed marked decreases in health and performance. In contrast, however, the other third not only survived but actually thrived on the upheaval. A determination of how this third of the sample differed from the other two thirds, in the years preceding the deregulation, disclosed the importance of HardiAttitudes and HardiSkills is resilient, as opposed to vulnerable, responses.
By now, there are hardiness assessment and training techniques useful not only in research but in practice as well. The latest and best HardiAttitudes measure is the Personal Views Survey III-R (Maddi & Khoshaba, 2001), an 18-item rating scale questionnaire with adequate reliability and validity. The HardiSurvey III-R (Maddi & Khoshaba, 2001) is a 65-item rating scale questionnaire, also with adequate reliability and validity, which measures not only HardiAttitudes but also stress, strain, and HardiSkills. This test generates a comprehensive report comparing the person’s stress vulnerability and stress resistance. Both tests can be administered on the Internet, or in hard copy form.
The test target: the Hardiness Survey allows to assess your hardiness and there is very useful tool for advisory work of psychologist!
The presentation of the Hardiness Survey
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