Psychological Hardiness Predicts Success in U.S. Army Special Forces Candidates

Military "Special Forces" represent a high-reliability occupation, where stress levels are often intense and failure can be costly. Selection for such jobs should pay careful attention to psychological factors associated with reiliency under stress. In the present study, US army Special Forces candidates (n =1138) were assessed for psycholocial hardiness using a short form of the Dispositional Resilience Scale, and these scores were then applied to predict successful completion of the course. Independent sample t-tests and logistic regression analyses confirmed that Special forces course graduates are significantly higher in psychological hardiness, as compared to non-graduates. Psychological hardiness appears to be an important individual charactertistic associated with stress tolerance and sucessful performance in highly demanding occupations.