Relationship of hardiness and religiousness to depression and anger.

Both hardiness and religiousness share spirituality, in the sense of searching for meaning in one’s life, and have been shown to have a buffering effect on stresses that maintains and enhances performance, morale, and health. This study investigates how hardiness and religiousness compare in their relationship to depression, anger, and the coping and social support mechanisms whereby they may have these relationships. Participants were military and governmental personnel who completed accepted measures of hardiness, religiousness, and other variables on a volunteer basis. Correlational and multiple regression analyses showed that, by comparison with religiousness, hardiness has the larger and more comprehensive negative relationship with depression and anger, and positive relationship with coping and social support. The conceptual and empirical implications of these findings are discussed.