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Resilience through Leadership 71

Table 4.1 Typical Stressors in Routine, Nondeployed Military Environments
Stressors Examples
Incompatibility Stressors
Within role conflicts Individual achievement versus group success

Between role conflicts Family obligations versus soldier obligations

Person role conflicts Personal values versus military values
Incapacity Stressors
Role overloads Excessive demands, time pressures, work pace, long hours
Role ambiguity Unfamiliar or new assignment
Responsibility for others Squad leader, company commander
Physically taxing demands Forced marches in full gear

Difficulties with supervisor Unable to achieve performance expectations
Distraction Stressors
Physical conditions Hard environment, harsh climate, fatigue, sleep deprivation
Psychological conditions Boredom, confusion, feelings of isolation, loneliness
Diffi culties with peers Conflicts, unaccepted, untrustworthy

Difficulties with family Excessive separations, absence during times of crises

Fear of injuries Ordnance accidents, aviation accidents
Anxiety about future Changes in responsibilities, work hours, location

Table 4.1 presents various job-related stressors within the classifi cation
scheme described earlier. One limitation of this system is that classifi cation
categories are not mutually exclusive. Thus, judgment must be exercised

in the assignment of some stressors to one or another category. In some cases,
appropriate assignment may depend largely upon job context or the expected
severity of the potential consequences of a given stressor in a particular
context. Nonetheless, by underscoring broad qualitative diff erences among

types of stressors, the classification system applied here and in Table 4.1 is

helpful as a means to appreciate the fact that different stressors may produce

different types or levels of strain (e.g., Jex & Crossley, 2005). For instance,
certain stressors might cause primarily psychological strain (e.g., anxiety

or depression), while the effects of others are largely physical (e.g., fatigue,
pain) or behavioral (e.g., excessive risk-taking, substance abuse). An interest
in leadership, resilience, or both introduces the need to accommodate such
differences and to distinguish between psychological and physical resilience

(e.g., Tugade, Fredrickson & Barrett, 2004).

Although the key characteristics that define resilience might be consistent
in each case, we would expect their relative significance to vary depending

upon the type of stressor(s) encountered and whether the resulting strain
is primarily psychological or primarily physical. For example, the ability to
impose meaning on hardship may be very important for coping with fear, but

not particularly helpful in overcoming the effects of sleep deprivation. Th e
ability to improvise and adapt to a harsh environment may be essential to

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