The Relationship Between Stress and Performance: The Moderating Effect of Hardiness

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of hardiness to stress and to performance, and to explore its moderating effect on the rela- tionship between stress and performance. Three hundred twenty-six officer cadets in the Israel Defense Forces completed self-report stress questionnaires during four critical course events and hardiness questionnaires at the beginning and end of the course. As hypothesized, hardiness was consistently negatively related to experienced stress. It was also consistently positively related to objectively assessed performance throughout the course and in the subsequent course, and to the first on-the-job performance appraisal a year later. In addition to its main effects, hardiness buffered the cadets from the detri- mental effects of stress on performance. The processes by which hardiness affects performance are discussed.