Hardiness and health behavior: the role of health concern as a moderator variable

The present paper reports an investigation of the relationship between psychological hardiness and health behavior. It was posited that one mechanism by which hardiness may buffer the stress-illness relationship is through its effect on health behavior. Those high in hardiness may engage in more health-protective behaviors than those low in hardiness, so that when under stress they are less likely to become ill. Given the disparity of findings in the research literature, however, it is possible that this relationship may be moderated by other variables. One such variable is health concern. Ninety-six university undergraduates completed a set of questionnaires that included a measure of current health behavior, psychological hardiness, and health as a personal life concern. A multiple regression analysis revealed that health behavior overall was unrelated to hardiness. However, the Hardiness X Health Concern interaction was significant. This was interpreted to mean that for those individuals with a high concern for health, as opposed to those low in health concern, hardiness was significantly related to health behavior. The findings, in general, illustrate the need to consider moderator variables when investigating the determinants of complex behaviors such as health behavior and, in particular, point to the necessity of including such variables in the analysis of the hardiness-health-behavior relationship.