The thesis provides a theoretical generalization and a new solution to an important scientific problem of the individual’s hardiness. The concept of the research on formation of personal hardiness, methodical support of examination and optimization of personal resources of hardiness is presented. It is substantiated that the formation of the hardiness of the personality is due to personal resources, which determine the desire to develop their potential. A comprehensive study of the hardiness of the personality has shown that the criteria of hardiness are the level of development of significant components such as involvement, control, challenge, goals, values, meanings, self-esteem, autonomy and self-realization to overcome stressful situations.
Based on the integration of the concepts of Muddy’s and Kobeis’ hardiness, Desi’s and Ryan’s self-determination of the personality, Stolin’s and Pantileev’s self-assessment, Bandura’s self-efficacy, Riff’s psychological well-being, we developed a theoretical model of the individual hardiness, considering the structure of hardiness in a broader context than suggested by S. Muddy. We substantiated that the components of the individual hardiness are: control, commitment, challenge, goals, values, meanings, self-attitude, autonomy, the need for self-realization. We have developed a structure of hardiness, which is a system of stable positive personality traits which we understand as a personal construct that contributes to its successful adaptation to changes in the world in its quest for psychological well-being and self-realization.
We identified factors that weaken the impact of stressors on a person: personal autonomy and independence, meaningful life; readiness for action; features of activity planning; self-efficacy; meaningful life orientations.
Five factors were identified in the structure of personality hardiness (the contribution of which to the total data variance is 72.96%). Thus, the psychological basis of the individual hardiness is the meaningfulness of life goals; awareness of the goals of future, taking into account the experience of the past and present; readiness for new experience and results of activity, independence and confidence in the actions; experiencing a sense of realization of the own potential, high appreciation of the capabilities, forming trusting relationships with others and understanding that human relationships are formed by joint actions.
We analyzed the relationship between hardiness and coping strategies and it has been established that the leading strategy is ‘Problem Solving, which is related to all components of hardiness: commitment, control and challenge. This indicates the application of this strategy in order to develop a plan of action that addresses the problem, reduces anxiety and helps to eliminate internal emotional discomfort.
We determined the interrelationships of the components of hardiness with human personal resources. These are the basic human abilities of contact, trust, hope and love. Also, the impact on a person’s hardiness is influenced by their personal qualities such as diligence, reliability and thrift, which provide them with the ability to control a person’s stressful situation.
All components of hardiness are interrelated with such basic personality abilities as time, contacts, trust, hope, sexuality and love, which indicates the important role of emotions for the development of hardiness.
We substantiated a comprehensive program of psychological assistance in the development of the personality hardiness. It is a developing psychological and therapeutic program. The main component of the program is personality-oriented training, the purpose of which is to find ways to actively solve problems through understanding and development of personal resources. Sustainability training is based on the assumption that hardiness is not an innate quality, but is formed during the life.
Application of programs has demonstrated its high efficiency. The criterion for testing the effectiveness of the programs were the indicators of the hardiness, which are reliable indicators of personal changes as a result of the reflection of macrosociality.
