Positive Emotions, Resilience and Psychosomatic Heath: Focus on Hellenic Army NCO Cadets

Abstract

Cadets (n = 395) of the Hellenic Army NCO Academy completed measures of Positive and Negative Affect, General Health and Resilience. Analysis revealed that positive emotions significantly correlate with higher level of resilience and better psychosomatic health, while negative emotions correlate with lower level of resilience and poor psychosomatic health. Furthermore, resilience strongly correlates with better psychosomatic health. Results also suggest that women cadets and freshmen are using positive emotions and develop resilience, as an adaptive strategy for coping with the high physical and mental demands of the Military Academy. These results contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between positive affections and resilience as well as the effect of these variables on psychosomatic health, in an eminently stressful environment such as Military Academies.