Do these two concepts refer to the same thing in the context of positive psychology? Is one more comprehensive than another? Do you have useful reference recommendations?
Well...
Hardiness is often considered an important factor in psychological resilience..
In addition, there is a book chapter by S. R. Maddi, Hardiness, SpringerBriefs in Psychology,DOI: 10.1007/978-94-007-5222-1_2, © The Author(s) 2013 titled Personal Hardiness as the Basis for Resilience - which is self-explanatory - this chapter might assist you with the understanding
Regards
This is a great article which should clarify a few things - it places the concept of resilience in a broader theoretical context. All the best
Resilience takes in account the own vulnerabity while hardiness only looks at ones strenght. Resilience makes it possible to keep on not denying fragility but receiving, uderstanding, accepting and growing with it
I am basing my answer here on my ongoing work with Project Competence, the longitudinal study of resilience spearheaded by Ann Masten. Most often, resilience is conceptualized as an outcome that involves two parts: 1) an experience of significant adversity (adversity can be operationalized many different ways), and 2) a positive outcome despite the adversity (e.g., avoidance of psychological disorder, positive competence in various life tasks). Many different factors contribute to resilience, including both environmental and individual factors. Hardiness is seen as one potential individual factor that may promote resilience as an outcome; people vary in terms of how much they can cope with adversity, and hardiness taps that ability. So, hardiness is a much narrower construct involving an individual difference that may promote resilience as an outcome.
I believe hardiness is more of a state of being. It relates to the nature, or inner strength in a person and is a prerequisite to resilience. Resilience is both a state of being, and an ongoing response to circumstances. My dissertation topic had to do with resilience and posttraumatic growth experiences among a sample of Native Americans. I found, among other things, those who experienced high levels of growth listed as sources of that growth, their own identity, their traditional beliefs and teachings, and sprituality.
Tedeschi is a great author, by the way, concerning posttraumatic growth.
Psychological Hardiness Definition is a tendency that allows an characteristic to accept the encounters and variations in life with good humor and flexibility, which in turn influences behavior that prevents illness. The key to psychological hardiness is not luck and is not genetic, but is a learned approach to stress. The learning involves understanding or observing stressful events in an adaptive way.
Rebecca, that was a great contribution to this discussion. The distinction between resilience and hardiness was clear.
Also, concerning the response of Awatef, It is true that often resilience is encouraged through the help of others and hardiness is a more internal state of being. However, hardiness is often encouraged by experiences with others, and there are many factors involved in becoming resilient.
Psychological resilience is defined as an individual’s ability to properly adapt to stress and adversity. Stress and adversity can come in the shape of family or relationship problems, health problems, or workplace and financial stressors, among others.[1] Individuals demonstrate resilience when they can face difficult experiences and rise above them with ease. Resilience is not a rare ability; in reality, it is found in the average individual and it can be learned and developed by virtually anyone. It should also be noted that resilience should be considered a process, rather than a trait to be had.[2] There is a common misconception that people who are resilient experience no negative emotions or thoughts and display optimism in all situations. Contrary to this misconception, the reality remains that resiliency is demonstrated within individuals who can effectively and relatively easily navigate their way around crises and utilize effective methods of coping.[3][4][5][6] In other words, people who demonstrate resilience are people with positive emotionality; they are keen to effectively balance negative emotions with positive ones.[1]
Resilience is composed of particular factors attributed to an individual. There are numerous factors, which cumulatively contribute to a person’s resilience. The primary factor in resilience is having positive relationships inside or outside one’s family. It is the single most critical means of handling both ordinary and extraordinary levels of stress. These positive relationships include traits such as mutual, reciprocal support and caring. Such relationships aid in bolstering a person’s resilience. Studies show that there are several other factors which develop and sustain a person`s resilience:[7]
The ability to make realistic plans and being capable of taking the steps necessary to follow through with them
A positive self-concept and confidence in one’s strengths and abilities
Communication and problem-solving skills
The ability to manage strong impulses and feelings
These factors are not necessarily inherent; they can be developed in any individual and they promote resiliency.
Recently there has also been evidence that resilience can indicate a capacity to resist a sharp decline in other harm even though a person temporarily appears to get worse.[8][9]
There is also controversy about the indicators of good psychological and social development when resilience is studied across different cultures and contexts.[10][11][12] The American Psychological Association’s Task Force on Resilience and Strength in Black Children and Adolescents,[13] for example, notes that there may be special skills that these young people and families have that help them cope, including the ability to resist racial prejudice. Researchers of indigenous health have shown the impact of culture, history, community values, and geographical settings on resilience in indigenous communities.[14] People who cope may also show "hidden resilience"[15] when they don’t conform with society’s expectations for how someone is supposed to behave (in some contexts, aggression may be required to cope, or less emotional engagement may be protective in situations of abuse).[16]
In all these instances, resilience is best understood as a process. It is often mistakenly assumed to be a trait of the individual, an idea more typically referred to as "resiliency."[17] Most research now shows that resilience is the result of individuals being able to interact with their environments and the processes that either promote well-being or protect them against the overwhelming influence of risk factors.[18] These processes can be individual coping strategies, or may be helped along by good families, schools, communities, and social policies that make resilience more likely to occur.[19] In this sense "resilience" occurs when there are cumulative "protective factors". These factors are likely to play a more and more important role the greater the individual’s exposure to cumulative "risk factors". The phrase "risk and resilience"' in this area of study is quite common.
Commonly used terms, which are closely related within psychology, are "psychological resilience," "emotional resilience," "hardiness", "resourcefulness," and "mental toughness." The earlier focus on individual capacity which Anthony[20] described as the "invulnerable child" has evolved into a more multilevel ecological perspective that builds on theory developed by Uri Bronfenbrenner (1979), and more recently discussed in the work of Michael Ungar (2004, 2008), Ann Masten (2001), and Michael Rutter (1987, 2008). The focus in research has shifted from "protective factors" toward protective "processes"; trying to understand how different factors are involved in both promoting well-being and protecting against risk. A related concept to psychological resilience is family resilience
This is a great response.. would love to have the references referred herein as I am also doing research on the topic or resilience albeit with refugee population.. :-)
This is a worthy debate here and conceptual blurring is a temptation for us all-mental toughness is often erroneously described as resilience. Few researchers would argue that resilience is primarily an adaptive capacity whereas many critics of the term mental toughness refer to the potential for it to be maladaptive. It may simply be a goal-fixedness which is risky rather than desirable in many situations see Tibbert et al. 2009 and Andersen, Mark B (2011) Who's mental? Who's tough and who's both? Mutton constructs dressed up as lamb. In: Mental toughness in sport : developments in research and theory. Gucciardi, Daniel F and Gordan, Sandy, eds. Routledge Research in Sport and Exercise Science . Routledge, Abington, Oxon, U.K. ; New York, pp. 69-88.
Resilience is a descriptive term, while hardiness is an explanatory one. Resilience simply describes the tendency to bounce back quickly from adversity, to remain strong under stress. But what accounts for resilience? Hardiness is an individual, psychological quality that contributes to and helps to explain resilience. Many other factors can also contribute to resilience, including social support from family and friends, a positive work environment, good nutrition and sleep. But when it comes to factors that are inside the person that contribute to resilience, psychological hardiness is the key element. Hardiness includes three inter-related tendencies of commitment (versus alienation), control (versus powerlessness) and challenge (versus need for security). I have more to say on hardiness at www.hardiness-resilience.com .
Fariborz Hamidi Thank you for the answer. Can we please have references included in your answer above?
Resilience and Hardiness: Both terms are conceptualised by researchers in various contexts. However, both are related terms and are often interchanged.
Resilience is typically demonstrated via outcome measures, whereas hardiness is, whereas hardiness is a conceptual construct comprising Control, Commitment and Challenge. Clough added Confidence to produce the 4Cs of mental Toughness.
Hence
Resilience is the capability to adapt to threatening situations (rather vague)
Hardiness denotes personality traits that moderate perception of stressful factors.
This discussion reminded me of an overarching theme regarding constructs that share variance and are conceptually similar but with different names or constructs with similar names that measure different things:
Ponnock, A., Muenks, K., Morell, M., Yang, J. S., Gladstone, J. R., & Wigfield, A. (2020). Grit and conscientiousness: Another jangle fallacy. Journal of Research in Personality, 89, 104021.
Gonzalez, O., MacKinnon, D. P., & Muniz, F. B. (2020). Extrinsic Convergent Validity Evidence to Prevent Jingle and Jangle Fallacies. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 1-17.
No doubt, both concepts are related. For example, the correlation between scores on Connor-Davidson Resiliance Scale and Hardiness Scale is .74. (Nezhad & Besharat, 2010).
Yet, personal hardiness is theoretically more elaborated and clear construct, while resilience is often vaguely and even somewhat differently defined. In my opinion, personal hardiness may represent the basis of resilience, maybe in combination with some other well-defined construct in the sphere of coping. Anyway, it is better to build psychological science on clearly defined concepts and avoid often unnecessary introduction of new concepts increasing thus conceptual chaos in psychology.
To say someone is resilient is like saying someone is healthy. It may be true, but it’s only a description and not especially revealing. We still want to know what’s behind it, what is it that makes a person healthy (e.g., balanced diet, exercise, good genes?) In the same way, we want to know what makes a person resilient? A great deal of research shows that hardiness is one of the main factors behind resilient responding to stress.
Hardiness is best defined as a general mindset or way of looking at the world that says life is interesting, my decisions matter, and stress is something I can handle. There are three facets to hardiness: Commitment, a sense of purpose and meaning in life; Control, believing that you have influence and control over most of your life experience; and Challenge, looking at stress and difficulties in life as challenges that you have the skills and abilities to deal with.
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