Hardiness Training and Perceived Stress among College Students

This exploratory study investigated development of a model hardiness training program to determine whether perceived stress could be reduced and hardiness could be increased among college students. Twenty seven college student volunteers placed in experiment group, and twenty nine placed in witness group. The participants completed pretests for hardiness and perceived stress measures. Then experiment group received a six-week hardiness training program. Posttests were completed after the 6 weeks. Changes in hardiness scores were significant (p < .01). there were also a significant change between pretest and posttest scores of perceived stress (p<0.01), indicating that hardiness training program had increased hardiness levels and decreased perceived stress levels at the same time. Findings suggest that the use of a hardiness training program can be effective in increasing hardiness and decreasing perceived stress levels in students and may have a positive impact on them. 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd