The distinctiveness of hardiness, positive emotionality, and negative emotionality in National Guard soldiers

Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to investigate the distinctiveness of hardiness (using the Short Hardiness Scale; Bartone, 1995) from the broader personality traits of negative emotionality and positive emotionality (NEM and PEM; assessed with items from the MMPI-2 PSY-5 scales); in a sample of 981 Army National Guard soldiers. Exploratory factor analyses demonstrated that hardiness items loaded on a separate factor from PEM and NEM items, and confirmatory factor analysis suggested that hardiness is not simply a sub-facet of either PEM or NEM. However, subsequent regression analyses found that hardiness did not predict symptoms of PTSD or depression beyond the effects of PEM and NEM among combat exposed soldiers.

► Hardiness is a possible predictor of positive mental health outcomes in response to stressors.
► There is some concern that hardiness is an expression of positive and negative emotionality (PEM and NEM).
► EFA and CFA suggested that hardiness is distinct from PEM and NEM in a group of 981 soldiers.
► Hardiness did not predict PTSD or depression over and above positive and negative emotionality in combat exposed soldiers.