Interpersonal relationships, job satisfaction, and subjective feelings of competence: their influence upon adaptation to Antarctic isolation

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the influence of interpersonal relationships, job satisfaction, and subjective feelings of competence upon adaptation to Antarctic isolation. Work performance has been the primary criterion of adaptation used because each individual goes to the Antarctic to perform a particular job. Work also has special significance for the men at isolated Antarctic stations for many of their normal social roles—husband, father, and church member—are eliminated or restricted. Therefore, a man's job may assume importance, and his self-esteem may come to depend upon doing a good job and knowing that he is doing a good job. This situation creates a need within the individual for performance evaluation because of the job's dual value as a source of satisfaction and as a source of social status. Social adaptation assumes a role of primary importance in determining both individual levels of adaptation and the overall effectiveness of the winter-over party. These value differences and special in-group loyalties may be superseded by a homogenizing process of adjustment resulting in a new microculture adapted to this extreme environment.