Effects of Hardiness on Subjective Stress after Acute Stress

Abstract

This study tested the effects of hardiness on subjective stress after acute stress. Forty-eight students answered a hardiness scale and were administered the 20 min Uchida–Kraepelin psychodiagnostic test. Subjective stress was measured with the Phasic Stress Scale (PSS) before and after the task. Then, participants filled out questionnaires appraising the stressor. The low-hardiness group (n=24) showed more subjective stress than the high-hardiness group (n=24). However there were no significant differences between the two groups in the appraisal of the stressor. The results suggest that hardiness decreases the subjective stress, even though the participants did the same amount of a stressful task and had the same appraisal of it.