Exploring Gender Equivalence and Bias in a Measure of Psychological Hardiness

Abstract

One of the most pervasive criticisms found in the hardiness literature concern the question whether the construct is equally important for men and women. Using a multi-group confirmatory factor analytic approach, this question was explored from a more fundamental perspective by examining measurement equivalence across gender in a measure of hardiness, the 15-item Dispositional Resilience Scale Bartone, P. T. (1995). A short hardiness scale. Paper presented at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Society, New York.]. Although results suggested some non-equivalence related to the control subscale, follow-up analyses examining gender bias in the two non-equivalent items showed that the effect of gender was minimal. The gender effects found indicated that women had a greater tendency to endorse these items compared to men. Given the stringent criteria used to test for equivalence and minimal evidence of bias found, it is concluded that the results largely point to equivalence across gender in the DRS-15.

Gender and hardiness as predictors of career adaptability: an exploratory study among Black call centre agents

“…Black women reveal higher levels of hardy challenge than their white counterparts (Ferreira, 2012). Research also suggests that even though men tend to score higher on overall hardiness, women tend to score higher on hardy control (Hystad, 2012).…”

“…Black women reveal higher levels of hardy challenge than their white counterparts (Ferreira, 2012). Research also suggests that even though men tend to score higher on overall hardiness, women tend to score higher on hardy control (Hystad, 2012). The construct of career adaptability has its origins in career construction theory which is closely associated with the vocational psychology model of vocational development (Hartung, 2011;Maree, 2013;Savickas, 1997Savickas, , 2005Savickas, , 2013.…”

Avoidance coping mediates the effect of hardiness on mental distress symptoms for both male and female subjects

“…That psychological hardiness is equally important for the two sexes is further supported by studies that have included both sexes and found that men and women generally do not differ in their mean hardiness scores (e.g., Klag & Bradley, 2004;Manning, Williams & Wolfe, 1998;Roth, Wiebe, Fillingim & Shay, 1989;Skirka, 2000;Soderstrom et al, 2000;Taft, Stern, King & King, 1999). Furthermore, in a more fundamental study of the hardiness concept, Hystad (2012) explored whether the DRS-15 (Bartone, 1995) used to measure hardiness actually measured the same construct in male and female subjects. The results showed nonequality in only two of the items belonging to the control subscale, and these differences could be characterized as small at best.…”

Identifying Predictors of Stress and Job Satisfaction in a Sample of Merchant Seafarers Using Structural Equation Modeling

“…The DRS-15 uses both positively and negatively keyed items, and includes three factors of resilience: commitment, control and challenge (Bartone, 2006), each measured by five items scored on a four-point scale ranging from “not at all true” to “completely true.” Example items comprise: “Most of my life gets spent doing things that are meaningful” (commitment), “By working hard, you can nearly always achieve your goals” (control), and “Changes in routine are interesting to me” (challenge) (Bartone et al, 2012; Kelly et al, 2014). When the six negatively keyed items are reversed, a total score for resilience can be calculated by adding scores for all items (Hystad, 2012). For the present study, as numerous respondents were missing scores for particular items of the DRS-15, a total score for each respondent was calculated by averaging rather than adding scores.…”