A measure for assessment of beneficial and harmful fortitude: development and initial validation of the Sisu Scale
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A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
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Date
2022-11
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Language
en
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Heliyon, Volume 8, issue 11
Abstract
Sisu is a Finnish cultural concept that denotes determination and resoluteness in the face of adversity. We propose that sisu will supplement the English-language based research on mental fortitude traits. Sisu has not been the focus of systematic research until very recently. We created a new questionnaire measuring sisu (the Sisu Scale), sought to validate the sisu construct and its sub-factor structure as postulated in a recent qualitative study. We investigated associations of sisu with other measures of mental fortitude and well-being. More generally we aimed to enrichen the cross-cultural understanding of human experience of overcoming adversity across life's challenges. We describe and validate a questionnaire that effectively measures both beneficial and harmful sisu, each comprising three sub-factors. Beneficial sisu was associated with other measures of fortitude, but less with personality dimensions. We also confirmed the existence of an independent harmful sisu factor. Beneficial sisu was associated with higher well-being and lower depressive symptoms, and harmful sisu with lower well-being and higher levels of general stress, work stress and depressive symptoms. Together the two factors were superior compared to pre-existing measures when predicting well-being-related variables. Results suggest that the new Sisu Scale we developed may provide a valuable addition to research on mental fortitude, resilience and their consequences for well-being.Description
Funding Information: This work was supported by Academy of Finland [project 313399 ; project 311578 ], European Social Funds Plus [ project S22390]. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s)
Keywords
Finland, Mental fortitude, Perseverance, Persistence, Personality, Sisu, Well-being
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Citation
Henttonen, P, Määttänen, I, Makkonen, E, Honka, A, Seppälä, V, Närväinen, J, García-Velázquez, R, Airaksinen, J, Jokela, M & Lahti, E E 2022, ' A measure for assessment of beneficial and harmful fortitude : development and initial validation of the Sisu Scale ', Heliyon, vol. 8, no. 11, e11483 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e11483