Hardiness differentiates military trainees on behavioural persistence and physical performance

Hardiness is a personality trait that drafts courage and motivation during adversity. Research showed that hardiness differentiates elite athletes from their lower rank competitors. In the domain of sport psychology, hardiness also strongly predicts physical performance. Because the military occupation requires resilience and excellence in physical performance, researchers investigated hardiness and behavioural persistence during training. However, in those studies, hardiness’ impact was weak. Besides, military researchers seldom addressed hardiness’ effect on physical performance. We investigated the influence of hardiness on behavioural persistence and physical performance during the military basic training. Participants were 233 trainees involved in a 22-week long basic training. They completed hardiness measures at the beginning of the training and then, two months later, we registered who stayed involved and who had dropped out. The remaining trainees participated in a self-defence exercise and their trainers evaluated their performance. Our analysis indicated that hardiness significantly predicted behavioural persistence: the trainees still involved in the training after two months scored significantly higher on the hardiness scale than those who dropped out (EXP(B) = 1.08; p <.05). Our results however confirm that hardiness has a weak direct effect on persistence of military trainees. During the self-defence exercise, hardiness positively predicted physical performance (x² _2df = 9.87; p <.05). We discuss the possible relation of hardiness with other major persistence predictors in the military, such as health, health practices, and social support. Our study is the first to indicate a strong relationship between hardiness and soldiers’ physical performance.