Optimism, coping, and health: Assessment and implications of generalized outcome expectancies.
Abstract
This article describes a scale measuring dispositional optimism, defined in terms of generalized outcome expectancies. Two preliminary studies assessed the scale's psychometric properties and its relationships with several other instruments. The scale was then used in a longitudinal study of symptom reporting among a group of undergraduates. Specifically, respondents were asked to complete three questionnaires 4 weeks before the end of a semester. Included in the questionnaire battery was the measure of optimism, a measure of private self-consciousness, and a 39-item physical symptom checklist. Subjects completed the same set of questionnaires again on the last day of class. Consistent with predictions, subjects who initially reported being highly optimistic were subsequently less likely to report being bothered by symptoms (even after correcting for initial symptom-report levels) than were subjects who initially reported being less optimistic. This effect tended to be stronger among persons high in private self-consciousness than among those lower in private self-consciousness. Discussion centers on other health related applications of the optimism scale, and the relationships between our theoretical orientation and several related theories.
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Hopelessness and anxiety are associated with an increased risk of depression.
“Concurrently, they are associated with an increased risk of depression,2829 and sadness is a core symptom of depression.12”
From Prevalence and Correlates of Suicidal Ideation among Psycho-Oncology Outpatients (2024) · cites this paper as [28]
Regular daily practice of learned methods improves psychological well-being, increases vitality, and has beneficial effect on quality of life.
“A tanult módszerek napi, rendszeres gyakorlása javítja a pszichológiai közérzetet, növeli az életerőt, és jótékony hatással van az életminőségre [30, 32].”
From Éber, tudatos figyelemre épülő, a rákbetegséggel való megküzdést segítő program (MBCR) hatásvizsgálata magyar rákbetegek körében (2017) · cites this paper as [30]
Optimism scale (12 items) internal reliability was acceptable (Cronbach alpha 0.72).
“A 12 tételes mérőeszköz belső megbízhatósága elfogadható volt (Cronbach-alfa: 0,72).”
From Éber, tudatos figyelemre épülő, a rákbetegséggel való megküzdést segítő program (MBCR) hatásvizsgálata magyar rákbetegek körében (2017) · cites this paper as [30]
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“Optimism was assessed using the eight-item Life Orientation Test ( Scheier & Carver, 1985; .85).”
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Self-citationPeterson, C. (2000) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.55.1.44 · Cited by 922 · see citing works
“On the face of it, the dispositional optimism measure of Scheier and Carver (1985) and the hope measure of Snyder et al. (1996) tap big optimism because they ask people to respond to generalizations about the future.”
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Experimental analysis of a web-based training intervention to develop positive psychological capital
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“Similar to hope, optimism is commonly discussed, but in positive psychology, Seligman (1998) utilizes an attribution or explanatory style to understand it.”
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“Scheier & Carver, 1985 ) by agreeing or disagreeing on a scale of 1–4 items such as ‘‘I usually expect the best”.”
BackgroundMethodConceptualizing, Measuring, and Nurturing Hope
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“'In contrast to dispositional optimism (Scheier & Carver, 1985, 1992), the theoretical advantage of generalised self-efficacy lies in the explicit assumptions about the causal underpinnings of one's positive outlook on life.”
BackgroundMethodDeveloping the Psychological Capital of Resiliency
Luthans, F., Vogelgesang, G. R., & Lester, P. B. (2006) · Human Resource Development Review · doi:10.1177/1534484305285335 · Cited by 883 · see citing works
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Rhythms of Life: Antecedents and Outcomes of Work-Family Balance in Employed Parents.
Aryee, S., Srinivas, E. S., & Tan, H. H. (2005) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-9010.90.1.132 · Cited by 847 · see citing works
“We used the eight-item Life Orientation Test (LOT; Scheier & Carver, 1985) to measure optimism.”
MethodSocio‐economic disparities in pregnancy outcome: why do the poor fare so poorly?
Kramer, M. S., Séguin, L., Lydon, J. E., & Goulet, L. (2000) · Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology · doi:10.1046/j.1365-3016.2000.00266.x · Cited by 825 · see citing works
Relationships between personality variables and burnout: A meta-analysis
Alarcon, G., Eschleman, K. J., & Bowling, N. A. (2009) · Work & Stress · doi:10.1080/02678370903282600 · Cited by 804 · see citing works
“…2003), the Five-Factor Model characteristics (Costa & McCrae, 1992), positive and negative affectivity (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988), optimism (Scheier & Carver, 1985), proactively personality (Bateman & Crant, 1993), hardiness (Kobasa, 1979), and Type A Personality (Friedman & Rosenman,…”
BackgroundSears, S. R., Stanton, A. L., & Danoff-Burg, S. (2003) · Health Psychology · doi:10.1037/0278-6133.22.5.487 · Cited by 803 · see citing works
The Health Benefits of Writing about Life Goals
King, L. A. (2001) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167201277003 · Cited by 795 · see citing works
“In addition, participants completed the Life Orientation Test (LOT) (Scheier & Carver, 1985), an eight-item instrument measuring dispositional optimism—the extent to which individuals expect favorable outcomes.”
MethodInfluentialOptimism and Physical Health: A Meta-analytic Review
Rasmussen, H. N., Scheier, M. F., & Greenhouse, J. B. (2009) · Annals of Behavioral Medicine · doi:10.1007/s12160-009-9111-x · Cited by 797 · see citing works
“This view is consistent with the fact that scales of generalized optimism are often shown to comprise two separate components [ 18 , 19, 23, 24]—one measuring the person’s expectancies for positive outcomes (i.e., his or her optimism) and one measuring the person’s expectancies for negative outcomes (i.e., his or her…”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialSelf-citationToward a theory-based analysis of behavioral maintenance
Rothman, A. J. (2000) · Health Psychology · doi:10.1037/0278-6133.19.suppl1.64 · Cited by 783 · see citing works
Emotionally expressive coping predicts psychological and physical adjustment to breast cancer
Stanton, A. L., Danoff-Burg, S., Cameron, C. L., Bishop, M., Collins, C. A., Kirk, S. B., Sworowski, L. A., & Twillman, R. (2000) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-006x.68.5.875 · Cited by 800 · see citing works
“(Scheier & Carver, 1985), a generalized expectancy for positive outcomes, Cameron and Nicholls (1998) demonstrated that participating in a written emotional disclosure task was effective in reducing health center visits for optimists but not for pessimists, for whom the task was successful only if…”
BackgroundThe Additive Value of Positive Psychological Capital in Predicting Work Attitudes and Behaviors
Avey, J. B., Luthans, F., & Youssef, C. M. (2009) · Journal of Management · doi:10.1177/0149206308329961 · Cited by 777 · see citing works
“This instrument has adapted 6 items each from published hope (Snyder et al., 1996), efficacy (Parker, 1998), resilience ( Wagnild & Young, 1993) and optimism ( Scheier & Carver, 1985) scales.”
MethodRothman, A. J., Bartels, R. D., Wlaschin, J., & Salovey, P. (2006) · Journal of Communication · doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2006.00290.x · Cited by 771 · see citing works
“…of a person's personality might also affect how they construe a behavior (e.g., regulatory focus [Higgins, 1998, 1999], dispositional optimism [Scheier & Carver, 1985], monitoring and blunting [Miller, 1995], and consideration of future consequences [Strathman, Gleicher, Boninger, & Edwards,…”
BackgroundConfession, Inhibition, and Disease
Pennebaker, J. W. (1989) · Advances in experimental social psychology · doi:10.1016/s0065-2601(08)60309-3 · Cited by 753 · see citing works
Global Judgments of Subjective Well-Being: Situational Variability and Long-Term Stability
Eid, M., & Diener, E. (2004) · Social Indicators Research · doi:10.1023/b:soci.0000003801.89195.bc · Cited by 714 · see citing works
Happiness in Everyday Life: The Uses of Experience Sampling
Csikszentmihalyi, M., & Hunter, J. (2003) · Journal of Happiness Studies · doi:10.1023/a:1024409732742 · Cited by 717 · see citing works
Savoring Beliefs Inventory (SBI): A scale for measuring beliefs about savouring
Bryant, F. (2003) · Journal of Mental Health · doi:10.1080/0963823031000103489 · Cited by 697 · see citing works
“…1985, p. 545); (b) extraversion, which has consistently been linked to higher levels of reported well-being in past research (Costa & McCrae, 1980; Diener, 1984; Wilson, 1967); and (c) dispositional optimism, the favorability of a person’s generalized outcome expectancies (Scheier & Carver, 1985).”
BackgroundPersonality and prosocial behavior: A theoretical framework and meta-analysis.
Thielmann, I., Spadaro, G., & Balliet, D. P. (2019) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/bul0000217 · Cited by 689 · see citing works
Breitbart, W., Rosenfeld, B., Gibson, C., Pessin, H., Poppito, S., Nelson, C., Tomarken, A., Timm, A. K., Berg, A., Jacobson, C., et al. (2010) · Psycho-Oncology · doi:10.1002/pon.1556 · Cited by 704 · see citing works
“However, differences in treatment effects approached significance for optimism (the LOT), F(2, 33) = 3.23, p = 0.06.”
MethodInfluentialSubjective Well‐Being: The Convergence and Stability of Self‐Report and Non‐Self‐Report Measures
Sandvik, E., Diener, E., & Seidlitz, L. (1993) · Journal of Personality · doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.1993.tb00283.x · Cited by 685 · see citing works
“These included the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI; Derogatis, 1975), the Life Orientation Test (LOT; Scheier & Carver, 1985 ), and the extraversion and neuroticism scales of the NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI; Costa & McCrae, 1985).”
MethodA Meta-Analysis for Exploring the Diverse Causes and Effects of Stress in Teachers
Montgomery, C., & Rupp, A. A. (2005) · Canadian Journal of Education / Revue canadienne de l'éducation · doi:10.2307/4126479 · Cited by 688 · see citing works
Dunning, D., Meyerowitz, J. A., & Holzberg, A. D. (2002) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511808098.020 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Hope and academic success in college.
Snyder, C. R., Shorey, H. S., Cheavens, J., Pulvers, K. M., Adams, V. H., & Wiklund, C. (2002) · Journal of Educational Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-0663.94.4.820 · Cited by 790 · see citing works
“Scheier and Carver (1985) defined optimism as a general outcome expectancy that good things will happen and developed the Life Orientation Test to reflect this definition (LOT).”
BackgroundMethodHealth Psychology: Psychological Adjustment to Chronic Disease
Stanton, A. L., Revenson, T. A., & Tennen, H. A. (2006) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.58.110405.085615 · Cited by 688 · see citing works
“In recent years, dispositional optimism (Scheier & Carver 1985) has been the most frequently examined personality attribute in relation to disease-related adjustment.”
BackgroundImpact of comorbid affective and alcohol use disorders on suicidal ideation and attempts
Waller, S. J., Lyons, J. S., & Costantini-Ferrando, M. F. (1999) · Journal of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1002/(sici)1097-4679(199905)55:5 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
- Authors
- Scheier, M. F., & Carver, C. S.
- Affiliations
- Carnegie Mellon University (US)
- Venue
- Health Psychology
- Published
- 1985
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 219-247
- ISSN
- 0278-6133 (ISSN-L)
- 1930-7810
- OpenAlex
- W2170246810
- Cited by
- 6,690
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 155 · 2025: 235 · 2024: 198 · 2023: 218 · 2022: 288 · 2021: 287 · 2020: 320 · 2019: 263 · 2018: 241 · 2017: 222 · 2016: 295 · 2015: 277 · 2014: 274 · 2013: 261 · 2012: 272
- FWCI
- 24.81
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Health Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Carnegie Mellon University
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Optimism, Hope, and Well-being
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer survivorship and care
- Keywords
- dispositional optimism, optimism scale, psychometric properties, coping, somatic symptoms, symptom reporting, private self-consciousness, undergraduate students, health
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Psychological, Adolescent, Attitude, Female, Humans, Male, Personality, Psychological Tests, Psychometrics, Psychophysiologic Disorders, Self Concept, Set, Psychology, Social Perception
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