Hardiness and social support as moderators of stress.

This study investigated the moderating effect of social support, hardiness, and the components of the hardiness scale of commitment, challenge, and control on the relationship between stress and depression. Hardiness, its components, and support were significantly correlated with scores on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Hardiness and two components (commitment and control) were significantly correlated with stress. Stress was found to be a significant predictor of depression. Hardiness was shown to moderate the relationship between stress and depression such that high-stress, low-hardiness individuals had higher scores on the BDI than did low-stress, low-hardiness individuals. High-hardiness individuals had similar scores on the BDI regardless of their scores on stress. Support was shown to moderate the relationship between stress and depression such that high-stress, low-support individuals had higher scores on the BDI than did low-stress, low-support individuals. High-support individuals had similar scores on the BDI regardless of their scores on stress. Commitment was shown to moderate the relationship between stress and depression such that high-stress, low-commitment individuals had higher scores on the BDI than did low-stress, low-commitment individuals. High-commitment individuals had similar scores on the BDI regardless of their scores on stress.

Self-esteem and causal attributions.

The relationship between self-esteem and causal attributions of success and failure in achievement-related behavior was examined among undergraduate students. An integration of a self-consistency model of causal attribution and self-enhancement theory was attempted. Self-esteem and performance outcome conditions of success and failure served as independent variables. Success and failure conditions were created via feedback regarding the participants' performance on an anagram task. The participants' attributions of six causal elements (ability, effort, immediate effort, task difficulty, luck, and mood) were categorized and combined with three causal dimensions (internal-external locus, stability, and controllability), which served as dependent variables. Participants' expectations regarding performance also served as a dependent variable. The relationship between self-esteem, expectancies of success and failure, performance, and stable causality were reported. In terms of causal dimensions, internal, stable, and controllable dimensions were explained by self-enhancement.