Hardiness Scale and its relations to Mental Health

College age group and older age group

Abstract

Objective: Hardiness has been hypothesized as a stress-resistance resource in maintaining mental health, and has been studied extensively in overseas. Because of a limited number of hardiness researches in Japan, its scales are not investigated enough. The present study will examine the validity and reliability of the 15-item hardiness scale constructed by Tada & Hamano which is most internally consistent among the existing hardiness scales in Japan, yet has been utilized on college students only. Participants: An older age sample (N=750) included the magazine subscribers, their friends, and family members, and a college student sample (N=164) included the students from a university in Tokyo metropolitan area. Methods: 15-item hardiness scale, constructed by Tada & Hamano was used to measure hardiness, and GHQ 12 to measure the level of mental health. Results: The factor analysis on both age groups and both sex groups indicated that three factors were appropriate. The results on multiple regression analysis indicated control and commitment had negative effects on GHQ score, and challenge had positive effects on GHQ score. Conclusions: 15-item Hardiness scale was confirmed its validity and reliability. Control and commitment contribute to mental health, and challenge deteriorates mental health.