RELATIVE CONSTANCY OF PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS AND EFFICACY OF A 12-MONTH TRAINING PROGRAM IN FACILITATING COPING STRATEGIES

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 on a battery of different questionnaires including: background variables, Change and Stability, Life Orientation test, Coping Resources Inventory and the Gordon personal profile and inventory. There was no change in Dispositional optimism or ten other related personality traits. Only four 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 also, and their receptivity to new ideas/innovations was reinforced. These 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.