As hardiness is defined as the personality characteristic that allows an individual to remain optimistic and healthy after a stressful life experience, it is important to determine how it can be linked to the age of an individual. As evidence of the relationship between age and hardiness emerges, it is easier to understand how some cope with stressful life events while others have more difficulty coping. Schmied and Lawler (1986) published a study to examine the relationship between age and hardiness. Impact of hardiness, type A personality, and stress on women in secretarial work. Demographics such as age, education and marital status, number of children, race and religion were also considered, but this section will only focus on age-related results and hardiness. The sample for this study was a group of female secretaries, aged between twenty-one and fifty-nine years old. One hundred and ten questionnaires were sent, with a response rate of 74.5%, giving a final sample of eighty-two women. Each woman was required to have at least two years of college. Hardiness was measured using five standard questionnaires, divided into three hardiness subcomponents. The work alienation scale and the self alienation scale were used to measure engagement, the security scale was used to measure challenge, and finally the external locus of control scale and the helplessness scale were used to measure the control aspect of toughness. The score for each scale was converted to a z score and then summed to give a single hardiness score. The higher the score, the less hardiness one has on all scales. It is important to note that the challenge scale was doubled because there was only one scale...... middle of paper ...... and the relationship between hardiness. For future research, in addition to only looking for a relationship between age and hardiness, it would be viable to include a sample of men since the studies presented above only represent women. Works Cited Rich, VL and Rich, AR (1987). Personality resistance and burnout among nurses. Consulting Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 19(2), 63-66. doi:10.1111/j.1547-5069.1987.tb00592.xRhodewalt, F. and Zone, JB (1989). Assessment of life change, depression, and illness in robust and nonrobust women. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56(1), 81-88. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.56.1.81Schmied, LA and Lawler, KA (1986). Hardiness, type of behavior and stress-illness relationship among working women. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(6), 1218-1223. do I: 10.1037/0022-3514.51.6.1218