Attributional Style and the Components of Hardiness
Recent research has suggested that individual differences in the personality variable of hardiness are related to health and illness. Although these studies suggest a connection between hardiness and health, they do not provide evidence of specific mediators of this effect. This study tested the hypothesis that attributional style is a potential mediator of hardiness effects. Specifically, it was predicted that compared to nonhardy individuals, hardy individuals would be more likely to make internal, stable, global attributions for positive events and external, unstable, specific attributions for negative events. In addition, it was predicted that this pattern would be most characteristic of the hardiness subcomponents of commitment and control. The pattern of attributions for the subcomponent of commitment provided strong support for the predictions. Similar, but weaker, effects were found for the subcomponent of control. Challenge yielded only one effect and that was in the opposite direction of the other scales. Composite hardiness yielded no significant effects. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for potential mediators of hardiness effects and the viability of composite hardiness as a unitary construct.