Personal Resources of Winter and Summer Hikers Visiting the Tatra National Park, Poland

Abstract

To assess personal resources: Core Self Evaluations and Psychological Capital (HERO) of 95 winter Hikers (M age = 27.10 yrs.; SD = 7.30) and 98 summer Hikers (M age = 25.30 yrs.; SD = 5.40) visiting the Tatra National Park (Poland). The hikers filled in seven scales. These were: the Delta Questionnaire for measure Locus of Control, the Neuroticism scale (from the NEO-FFI), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (SES), the Hope Scale, The Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES), the Ego Resiliency Scale, and The Life Orientation Test Revised (LOT-R). The results indicated significant differences between winter and summer hikers in the Tatras. The winter hikers scored higher on self-esteem, hope, self-efficacy, resilience, and optimism, and lower on external locus of control and neuroticism than summer hikers. This study also examined the factor structure of the personal resources in the hikers’ samples. The results suggested that the scales extracted two factors: Cognitive Resources and Affective Reactivity. These factors discriminate between winter and summer hikers. The Cognitive Resources factor is more important in effective adaptation to the wild world of nature than Affective Reactivity.