The mediational effect of hardiness on social support and optimal outcomesin later life

This study examines 2 resilience resources as they relate to health and wel l-being hi an elderly sample. It is suggested that these resources serve as reserves that an individual can use to compensate for age-related loss. Of particular interest in this study are the internal personality reserve, ha rdiness, and the external reserve, social support. Hardiness was examined a s both a mediator and moderator of the relation between social support (i.e ., quantity of family support and friend support) and outcome (depression, fife satisfaction, and self-reported health). Across type of support and ou tcome, evidence was found for the mediational model, suggesting that the re lation between social support and outcome decreases once hardiness is taken into account Model-fitting analyses provided additional support for the me diator model once error had been attenuated. Overall, these results suggest that consideration of either construct alone may be less complete than. co nsideration of them in combination.