Dimensionality of hardiness and its role in the stress-distress relationship among Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong

The three components of hardiness, life events, coping strategies, and psychological distress, were assessed in a sample of 245 Chinese secondary school students in Hong Kong. While commitment, control, and challenge were not clearly differentiable as distinct constructs, three dimensions interpretable as resigned acceptance, cynical concession, and pragmatic orientation emerged. In the stress-distress relationship, hardiness did not interact with stress to moderate its influence on distress, however, both hardiness and stress had independent main effects on distress. Although high hardy students, compared with low hardy students, did not appraise positive events as halting greater impact, they perceived that negative events had significantly lesser impact. In addition, low hardy students reported using passive and avoidant coping strategies significantly more frequently than high hardy students.