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230 Biobehavioral Resilience to Stress

have found that stress-related malfunctions such as insomnia and obesity
are mediated, at least in part, through imbalanced levels of stress hormones
such as cortisol (Brown, Varghese & McEwen, 2004; Epel, Lapidus, McEwen
& Brownell, 2000; Epel et al., 2000; McEwen & Wingfi eld, 2003).
In a recent paper on the psychobiology of PTSD, Olff, Langeland, and

Gersons (2005b) proposed that appraising potentially stressful events as an
opportunity for gain (challenge) mediates the strength of the neuroendo-
crine stress response. Several studies have also shown that the perceived

controllability of an event may not only buffer against negative biological
stress responses, but may also contribute to physical thriving via neuroen-
docrine processes (Brosschot et al., 1998; Epel, McEwen & Ickovics, 1998;

Ursin & Olff, 1993). There is evidence, for example, that challenge appraisals
are associated with an adaptive neuroendocrine response pattern involving
a short-term increase in catecholamine, strong anabolic counter- regulatory
responses, and cortisol adaptation or habituation to subsequent stressors
(Epel et al., 1998). Challenge appraisals may also contribute to increased car-
diac activity and rapid cortisol responses with faster recovery (Epel et al., 1998;
Frankenhaeuser, 1983; Vaernes, Ursin, Darragh & Lambe, 1982). Ursin and

Olff (1993) have argued that because challenge appraisals are “nonalarming,”
they put less demand on one’s perceived coping needs. Moreover, challenge

appraisals of highly stressful events appear to facilitate a shift from negative
emotions to positive arousal, which in turn might support resistance to
the development of PTSD symptoms (Olff, Langeland & Gersons, 2005a,

2005b).
Reduced arousal and positive aff ect. Several experimental studies suggest
that when faced with stressful or challenging tasks, hardy individuals expe-

rience less negative physiological arousal and more positive affect than their
nonhardy counterparts. For example, Contrada (1989) found that high-hardy
individuals evidenced lower diastolic blood pressure and reported feeling the
least amount of anger during a challenging cognitive (mirror-tracing) task.
Similar results were reported by Wiebe (1991) who compared responses of
high-hardy and low-hardy students to a stress evaluation task. Specifi cally,
Wiebe found that high-hardy individuals appraised the experimental stres-
sor as less threatening. Moreover, hardy male (but not female) subjects dem-
onstrated lower levels of physiological arousal (slower heart rate response).
Finally, supporting the proposed relation between hardiness and positive
affect, individuals who scored high on hardiness responded with more posi-

tive and less negative aff ect and also evidenced higher levels of tolerance to
frustration (Wiebe, 1991).
Subsequent studies have produced similar results, showing that individ-
uals who appraise stressful events as challenging (versus threatening) tend
to evidence better cardiovascular functioning, including reduced duration

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