Relative constancy of personality characteristics and efficacy of a 12-month training program in facilitating coping strategies

• Torsten Norlander

  Karlstad University

• Henrik Bergman

  Karlstad University

• Trevor Archer

  Göteborg University

The present study reports a sublongitudinal experiment involving 15 employees (4 male and 11 female) of an insurance company all of whom underwent a 12-month program of intensive mental training and physical coaching in order to ascertain whether or not certain characteristics of personality, attitudes, beliefs or performance would be altered. Each participant was assessed using a battery of questionnaires including: background variables, Change and Stability, Life Orientation test, Coping Resources Inventory, and the Gordon Personal Profile and Inventory. No change was found for Dispositional optimism or 10 other related personality traits. Only 4 of the personality variables were altered on completion of the training program: the participants’ self-evaluations were elevated, the stability of their norms and system of values was reinforced, their emotional stability was reinforced, and their receptivity to new ideas/innovations was reinforced. Results are discussed in the context of the relative constancy of personality characteristics and the suitability of the observed changes, after the 12-month program, in promoting strategies of coping behavior.

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