Pessimism Scores Research Articles

Explanatory style and immunoglobulin A (IgA)

The construct of explanatory style has been related to numerous aspects of human psychology, including health. Our research has focused on the effects of various psychological variables on the immune system, in particular Immunoglobulin A (IgA). We had participants fill out the Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ), the predominant measure of explanatory style, and assayed saliva samples for secretory IgA. No relationship was observed between overall ASQ score and IgA, or composite optimism score and IgA. However, we observed significant negative correlations between both the composite pessimism score and IgA, as well as the hopelessness score and IgA. Pessimistic explanatory style may therefore be related to immune system deficits and poor health.

A professional support program for families of handicapped preschoolers: Decrease in maternal stress

This study investigated the effects of long-term social agency support for families with disabled preschoolers. The hypothesis that stress would be greater for mothers of children with a severe rather than mild disability was supported. Mothers caring for an infant under two years with a disability reported more stress than mothers of preschool age children, but sex of child was not related to maternal stress. Married mothers reported higher stress than single parents. Agencies may need to tailor program supports more specifically for fathers. Maternal stress was modified by program support regardless of high or low SES or Welfare recipient status or extent of personal support network. Maternal responses on the Questionnaire on Resources and Stress (QRS-F) revealed that the total sample of mothers of disabled preschoolers reported low stress as tallied by the “Perception of the child as the cause of family problems” and “Perception of the child as burden” subscores. Mothers of more severely disabled preschoolers accurately appraised the greater severity of handicap compared with mothers of mildly disabled children. The greater the proportion of the child's life that support was provided, the lower the QRS-F pessimism scores. Low SES mothers who were single seemed to profit especially from sustained professional supports from the time of the baby's birth.

Evidence for the cultural specificity of pessimism in Asians vs Caucasians: a test of a general negativity hypothesis

Cultural differences in positivity and negativity were examined between 76 Asian American and 76 Caucasian American students matched on age and sex. Based on separate optimism and pessimism scores, Asian Americans were found to be more pessimistic, but not less optimistic, than Caucasian Americans, consistent with previous findings. No differences between ethnic groups were found on measures of positive and negative affectivity, nor positive and negative problem orientation. These findings are consistent with the view that elevated pessimistic thinking is a distinct, culture specific component of Asian, but not Caucasian, sensibility. The present findings are discussed in regard to cross-cultural theory and research involving Asians.

Cultural differences in optimism, pessimism, and coping: Predictors of subsequent adjustment in Asian American and Caucasian American college students.

Cultural differences were examined between 111 Asian American and 111 Caucasian American students matched on age and sex in a prospective design study. Using separate optimism and pessimism scores, Asian Americans were found to be more pessimistic than Caucasian Americans. Asian Americans were also found to use more problem avoidance and social withdrawal coping strategies than Caucasian Americans. When health outcomes were assessed 6 weeks later, Asian Americans were found to report more depressive and psychological symptoms, but not more physical symptoms, than Caucasian Americans. Results of separate regression analyses for each ethnic group indicated that along with different coping strategies, lack of optimism predicted all 3 health outcomes for Asian Americans, whereas pessimism predicted 2 of the 3 health outcomes for Caucasian Americans. Implications for future research and development of culturally appropriate interventions in working with Asian and Caucasian Americans are discussed.

Optimism and pessimism: Associations to coping and anger-reactivity

The purpose of the present study was to examine episodic coping and situational anger-reactivity in relation to optimism and pessimism while correcting for some of the limitations of previous research. In the present investigation, optimism and pessimism were operationalized as separate constructs. In addition, an attempt was made to ‘standardize’ the nature of the Stressor that subjects reported on, and to assess short-term emotional reactivity. Semipartial correlational analyses that corrected for multicollinearity among the coping subscales indicated that, independent of variability in the contextual features of the Stressors, scores on the optimism subscale of the Life Orientation Test (LOT) were positively correlated with confrontive coping and accept-responsibility coping, and inversely related to escape-avoidance coping. Pessimism scores were positively related to escape-avoidance coping and inversely related to confrontive coping and planful problem solving coping. Neither optimism nor pessimism were related to levels of ‘stress-induced’ anger reactivity. These data suggest that optimism and pessimism are distinct constructs, that each construct is associated with different coping strategies, and that coping differences between optimists and pessimists are not necessarily associated with differences in emotional reactivity. These findings have implications for future research examining dispositional optimism and pessimism as stress-moderating personality factors.

Feelings of Optimism and Pessimism in Japanese Students' Transition to Junior High School

Generalized future expectancies of personal life success (optimism) and failure (pessimism) were examined in a cross-sectional study, with a sample of Japanese fifth-through ninth-grade students (N = 584). Average optimism scores were lower and average pessimism scores were higher after (seventh grade) than before (sixth grade) the transition to junior high school (JHS). Profiles of the optimism and pessimism subscales at fifth through ninth grades differed from each other as follows. Higher optimism scores were observed at ninth grade than at eighth grade, and the lowest pessimism scores were found at sixth grade. Measures of optimism and pessimism correlated in positive and negative directions, respectively, with students' estimates of general interest in school, peer relationships, and academic studies at all five grade levels. At the time of JHS transition, measures of optimism and pessimism did not correlate with relations with teachers. Findings are discussed as they relate to qualitative differences between elementary school and JHS in Japan.

Can experimentally induced mood affect optimism and pessimism scores?

Subjects experienced one of three mood-induction procedures (music, video, or Velten; positive or negative valence) prior to responding to a recently developed instrument for measuring optimism and pessimism (O/P). Pre- and post-induction mood indices were also obtained via the MAACL-R and the Wessman-Ricks elation-depression measure. All three mood-induction procedures were effective in establishing the desired moods, with the video procedure the weakest. Music and Velten, but not video, affected optimism and pessimism scores, but for women only. The results suggest, contrary to a previous study, that the optimism/pessimism instrument is not impervious to momentary mood states, at least for women, thus somewhat reducing its temporal stability. By the same token, however, the results also lend support to the construct validity of the O/P instrument.

On the partial independence of optimism and pessimism

This study tested the hypothesis that the moderate correlation between optimism (O) and pessimism (P) scores (their non-bipolarity) found in earlier studies may be an artifact of the differential sensitivity of O and P items to two response sets: defensive pessimism and Pollyannaism. The data failed to support either component of the hypothesis. Thus, defensive pessimists, as measured in two quite different ways, had lower depression scores (BDI) than genuine pessimists, but contrary to prediction, had higher depression scores than optimists. Moreover, deleting P items with a strong defensive quality from the P scale failed to increase the correlation between O and P scores. Similarly, controlling Pollyannaism by a partial correlation procedure failed to increase the strength of the relation between O and P. The results in general support the notion that optimism and pessimism are not polar opposites.

Over-reporting of maladjustment by depressed subjects

The extent to which patients' reports of maladjustment is influenced by depressive symptoms was estimated in 25 acute depressed patients responding to pharmacotherapy. Their social adjustment over the same four-month period immediately prior to hospitalization was assessed on two separate occasions: firstly when they were acutely depressed, and again a mean of 20 days later when clinically recovered. Significant differences between the two reports were found in mean score of maladjustment in four out of five fields of social adjustment (work, social/leisure life, family of origin, marriage, and sex). The reduction in depressive symptoms scores (of pessimism considered separately), correlated significantly with changes in the total maladjustment score. The reduction in pessimism scores correlated with changes in the scores for both work and social/leisure fields, and also accounted for 40% of the total variance in maladjustment score. These results indicate that impaired social adjustment as assessed during the height of the depressive illness arises in part from a symptom--related overreporting bias leading patients to make a harsh appraisal of themselves.

A new instrument for measuring optimism and pessimism: Test-retest reliability and relations with happiness and religious commitment

The main purpose of the present study was to assess the test-retest reliability of a newly devised instrument for measuring optimism and pessimism. In addition, correlations were obtained between the optimism and pessimism scores and two measures of happiness as well as with subjects’ responses to single-item questions about the likelihood of a nuclear encounter and about their religious and political commitment and philosophy of life. The instruments were administered to 106 introductory psychology students on two occasions separated by a 2-week interval. The test-retest reliability for the optimism scale was.75; for pessimism,.84. Both optimism and pessimism were correlated, on both administrations, with both happiness measures in the high.50s to low.60s. Of the remaining items, the strongest relation was between optimism and religious commitment (r =.27), confirming prior results.