Salutogenic outcomes and their personality predictors in participants of year-long Antarctic expeditions

Abstract

Prolonged stays in extreme living and working conditions at Antarctic stations can result in both negative psychological manifestations and possible positive, salutogenic effects. The aim of this study was to check an assumption about existing salutogenic outcomes and their personality predictors in expeditioners who participated in year-long expeditions. We examined 62 expeditioners who participated in expeditions to the Ukrainian Antarctic Akademik Vernadsky station between 1996 and 2021, including 59 men and three women aged 27 to 68 years. We used the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory—Expanded, the General Self-Efficacy Scale, the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire and the Professional Hardiness Questionnaire. The majority of expeditioners (55–71%, on various grounds) recorded personal growth following Antarctic deployment, at a level from moderate to high. Based on personality characteristics diagnosed in the abovementioned questionnaires, we created an informative prognostic model explaining 30–45% of the variation in several indicators of expeditioners’ post-expedition growth. The most important predictors of expeditioners’ post-expedition growth were indicators of professional hardiness. Our findings provide additional opportunities to improve psychological evaluation and training for Antarctic expedition personnel.