The Resilience of Naval Specialists: Their Sense of Coherence and its Relationship with Measures of Personality

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The occupational demands placed on naval specialists require them to be individuals with high levels of resilience. In this study, I firstly measured the sense of coherence (SoC) of naval specialists, which included 97 divers and 318 submariners, and the results confirmed the high scores hypothesised. Secondly, I explored the relationship between sense of coherence and certain personality traits known to be important for naval specialists, as measured by the 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF), the IPAT Anxiety Scale, and Rotter's Intemality-Externality Scale (RIES). The hypothesised correlations on the 16PF, however, were not demonstrated. Instead, the personality traits associated with high SoC scores — the so-called resilient profile — differed from the typical profile of naval specialists. The expected significant negative correlation with anxiety was shown, as was the significant correlation between high SoC scores and more internality on the RIES. The results clearly point to the value of resilience indicators when screening for vulnerable individuals in high-demand environments.