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PCDiss Steinke June2014.pdf (1.7 MB)

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Challenge Accepted: Self-Enhancement Through the Pursuit of Difficulty

Steinke, Julie Anne
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=wright1409314937

Abstract Details

2014, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Wright State University, Human Factors and Industrial/Organizational Psychology PhD.
Individual resilience is popular topic whereby researchers attempt to identify characteristics of individuals who react positively to stress. However, such research uses a reactionary approach, attempting to characterize successful individuals after they experience adversity and does not explain why some individuals proactively seek out challenging circumstances. Pursuing challenge is a new construct that explains why individuals proactively increase stress as a strategic mechanism for developmental purposes. I developed and validated a measurement tool for pursuing challenge in multiple studies. Additionally, I explored relationships between pursuing challenge and similar constructs (e.g., grit, proactive personality, and self-efficacy), as well as the extent to which pursing challenge accounted for unique variance in performance outcomes using correlational and regression analyses. Pursuing challenge demonstrated consistent relationships with resilience, need for achievement, proactive personality, self-efficacy, and grit, and accounted for unique variance in performance outcomes. Results indicated three implications for research on resilience and performance include: 1) the need for a proactive perspective to examine individual resilience and performance in stressful situations, 2) pursuing challenge captures unique characteristics of resilience and performance, and 3) individuals who pursue challenge demonstrated consistent personality traits that crossed boundary conditions of the Big Five personality domains.
Debra Steele-Johnson, Ph.D. (Advisor)
David LaHuis, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Nathan Bowling, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Melissa Gruys, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
220 p.
Psychology
Performance; performance under stress; resilience; stress; anxiety; pursuing challenge; personality; motivation; grit; optimism; pessimism; need for achievement; self-efficacy; proactive

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Steinke, J. A. (2014). Challenge Accepted: Self-Enhancement Through the Pursuit of Difficulty [Doctoral dissertation, Wright State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=wright1409314937

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Steinke, Julie. Challenge Accepted: Self-Enhancement Through the Pursuit of Difficulty. 2014. Wright State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=wright1409314937.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Steinke, Julie. "Challenge Accepted: Self-Enhancement Through the Pursuit of Difficulty." Doctoral dissertation, Wright State University, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=wright1409314937

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

wright1409314937
871
© 2014, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Wright State University and OhioLINK.