Citation

Heckman CJ, Clay DL. J. Health Psychol. 2005; 10(6): 767-777.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond 23298-0268, USA. cjheckman@vcu.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2005, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1359105305057312

PMID

16176955

Abstract

This study examined hardiness and health in women with and without histories of physical and/or sexual abuse. Patients (N=201) from a major Midwestern hospital gynecology clinic completed measures of hardiness, physical health, psychological health and neuroticism. The following findings were obtained: (a) the proposed three-factor structure of hardiness was not confirmed, and a different model was suggested; (b) evidence for convergent (adjustment and neuroticism) validity was found; (c) hardiness was significantly associated with physical and psychological health; (d) hardiness was not found to moderate the effects of an abusive past; and (e) the constructs of neuroticism and hardiness appear to overlap to a certain extent. Implications of these findings for theory, research and practice are discussed.

Language: en