Stress Test: Your Hardiness levels
(or how well do you cope with stress)

How well you can cope with stress might depend on your ‘hardiness’ level – your ability to deal with difficulties in life.

If your personality is strong (or ‘hard’), then you are less likely to be affected by stress, or you might be affected by stress but to a lesser degree than those who has a ‘weaker’ personality (or have a low level of 'hardiness').

by Elia Strange

As with all tests, don’t take it too seriously.

There might be days when you feel that you are stressed and are not able to cope with stress. There might be days when you feel strong and resilient towards all the knocks of life.

Depending on the current situation in your life, your answers may be different each time. So just have fun when you answer these questions and learn something new about yourself.

You will need a pen and paper for this task.
Or print this page out and circle the answers which apply to you.

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'Stress Test' Statements:

• I enjoy my work (in general) and find it interesting and satisfying
  
  3 strongly agree 2 agree 1 disagree 0 strongly disagree
  
  
  
• I take an active interest in people around me
  
  3 strongly agree 2 agree 1 disagree 0 strongly disagree
  
  
  
• I use my leisure time creatively
  
  3 strongly agree 2 agree 1 disagree 0 strongly disagree
  
  
  
• I enjoy involvement with my family
  
  3 strongly agree 2 agree 1 disagree 0 strongly disagree
  
  
  
• I welcome change and see it as an opportunity
  
  3 strongly agree 2 agree 1 disagree 0 strongly disagree
  
  
  
• I take decisive action to deal with challenges
  
  3 strongly agree 2 agree 1 disagree 0 strongly disagree
  
  
  
• I take care of my health
  
  3 strongly agree 2 agree 1 disagree 0 strongly disagree
  
  
  
• I believe I have control over my life
  
  3 strongly agree 2 agree 1 disagree 0 strongly disagree
  
  
  
• I see solutions to personal problems
  
  3 strongly agree 2 agree 1 disagree 0 strongly disagree
  
  
  
• My life has meaning and a purpose
  
  3 strongly agree 2 agree 1 disagree 0 strongly disagree
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

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Now add up the scores for each response you selected

to give you an overall Hardiness score.

My score is _____________

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'Stress Test' Score Analysis

0 – 9 LOW hardiness.

You can be quite badly affected by stress and couldbenefit from reappraising how well you can manage your stress. Have a look at your coping strategies: do you tend to panic and get anxious when something is going wrong?

Do you try to ignore the situation instead? Think what you could improve, for example, try to talk to others when something is bothering you. I’d suggest to book appointment to see a counsellor or a psychotherapist when you feel you cannot make sense out of your life anymore. Or can you delegate a stressful situation to someone else to deal with it if you can.

Most people are happy to help others when they see them stressed, as nearly everyone knows what it's like being stressed or feeling helpless.




10 - 20 MODERATE hardiness.

You deal with stress fairly well, but there are areaswhere you could improve in terms of your own coping strategies. Try to remember which situations are the most stressful and where you cannot cope well. Can you avoid these situations, or can you change your coping strategy?

May be instead of ignoring the situation, you can sit down with a pen and paper, and write the following down:
a) describe the situation, b) list all the negative points of the situation, c) list all the good points, d) write several ideas on what you can do about the negative points.

By writing this down, you might become clearer about the situation itself. You might see that there are many good points there too and you can focus on them instead. Or you might come up with ideas on how to tackle the negative ones.

You can also use a 'brain storming' activity. Just write down all the possible ways of coping with the (stressful) situation in 5 minutes. The trick is not to think too much or too long, but to write down any ideas including the silly or the unimportant ones.

After you are done with the exercise, think carefully about the every solution you jotted down and you might find that some of the solutions are not that silly or unimportant after all!




21 - 30 HIGH hardiness.

You are very good at dealing with stress and have a verylow risk to get some stress related illness. Congratulations! You probably a very laid-back person and I envy you (kindly) if you scored that high. You know how to deal with most stressors in your life, whether you put them aside, deal with them strategically, or plain ignore them!

Some of the people who are very good at dealing with stress are those which psychologists call ‘type B’. You might have a very relaxed approach to life, but it might be very difficult to motivate yourself to do what you need to do!

Type B people could benefit from planning their days and tasks/goals, and more importantly, sticking to their plans. Have a look about Type A and B personality here: What personality type are you? (Test yourself).

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Other articles you might be interested in:

How angry can you get? (Test)

Stress Test: How stress affecting your health?

How optimistic are you? (Test)

How to reduce your stress instantly (Article)

7 Main reasons for our unhappiness

I am depressed... What to do? (Article)


... or go to:

Articles Archives

Archives (Page 2)

Home Page (Coping with Stress)

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