Psychological profiles of resilience in extreme environments: Correlating measures of personality and coping and resilience

Abstract

The presence of psychological resilience is believed to confer positive personal benefits, and may be particularly advantageous for individuals working in isolated, confined, and/or extreme environments. The study reported here aimed to identify contextually adaptive psychological profiles of resilience in such settings. This was done by correlating scores for measures of resilience with scores for measures of personality and coping, using South African Navy specialists who were identified as good adaptors. As resilience profiles may differ across contexts, two highly specific samples were used, namely navy divers and submariners.

This article presents psychometric profiles of contemporary personality and coping styles. Then, using bivariate correlations, resilience-associated, context-specific, diver and submariner personality and coping profiles were identified. Their resilience profiles appeared well suited to their respective environments.

Some differences were observed between the typical personality descriptions and the resilience profiles identified, with a number of possible reasons forwarded to understand this. Firstly, there were some concerns regarding the validity of the measures in the local cultural context; secondly, context-specific resilience may be expressed differently from resilience in general society; and thirdly, contemporary profiles of specialists may reflect current organisational processes in addition to psychological factors.

In terms of practical application, while the identification of resilience profiles may also have value for selection purposes, it could be particularly useful for mission preparation, through the training of context-relevant coping skills.