Research on dispositional optimism as assessed by the Life Orientation Test (Scheier & Carver, 1985) has been challenged on the grounds that effects attributed to optimism are indistinguishable from those of unmeasured third variables, most notably, neuroticism. Data from 4,309 subjects show that associations between optimism and both depression and aspects of coping remain significant even when the effects of neuroticism, as well as the effects of trait anxiety, self-mastery, and self-esteem, are statistically controlled. Thus, the Life Orientation Test does appear to possess adequate predictive and discriminant validity. Examination of the scale on somewhat different grounds, however, does suggest that future applications can benefit from its revision. Thus, we also describe a minor modification to the Life Orientation Test, along with data bearing on the revised scale's psychometric properties.

Distinguishing optimism from neuroticism (and trait anxiety, self-mastery, and self-esteem): a reevaluation of the Life Orientation Test

https://depts.washington.edu/uwcssc/sites/default/files//hw00/d40/uwcssc/sites/default/files/The%20Schutte%20Self%20Report%20Emotional%20Intelligence%20Test%20(SSEIT)_0.pdf

Development and validation of a measure of emotional intelligence.

Subjective well-being (SWB) comprises people's longer-term levels of pleasant affect, lack of unpleasant affect, and life satisfaction. It displays moderately high levels of cross-situational consistency and temporal stability. Self-report measures of SWB show adequate validity, reliability, factor invariance, and sensitivity to change. Despite the success of the measures to date, more sophisticated approaches to defining and measuring SWB are now possible. Affect includes facial, physiological, motivational, behavioral, and cognitive components. Self-reports assess primarily the cognitive component of affect, and thus are unlikely to yield a complete picture of respondents' emotional lives. For example, denial may influence self-reports of SWB more than other components. Additionally, emotions are responses which vary on a number of dimensions such as intensity, suggesting that mean levels of affect as captured by existing measures do not give a complete account of SWB. Advances in cognitive psychology indicate that differences in memory retrieval, mood as information, and scaling processes can influence self-reports of SWB. Finally, theories of communication alert us to the types of information that are likely to be given in self-reports of SWB. These advances from psychology suggest that a multimethod approach to assessing SWB will create a more comprehensive depiction of the phenomenon. Not only will a multifaceted test battery yield more credible data, but inconsistencies between various measurement methods and between the various components of well-being will both help us better understand SWB indictors and group differences in well-being. Knowledge of cognition, personality, and emotion will also aid in the development of sophisticated theoretical definitions of subjective well-being. For example, life satisfaction is theorized to be a judgment that respondents construct based on currently salient information. Finally, it is concluded that measuring negative reactions such as depression or anxiety give an incomplete picture of people's well-being, and that it is imperative to measure life satisfaction and positive emotions as well.

Assessing Subjective Well-Being: Progress and Opportunities

Personality psychology addresses views of human nature and individual differences. Biological and goal-based views of human nature provide an especially useful basis for construing coping; the five-factor model of traits adds a useful set of individual differences. Coping—responses to adversity and to the distress that results—is categorized in many ways. Meta-analyses link optimism, extraversion, conscientiousness, and openness to more engagement coping; neuroticism to more disengagement coping; and optimism, conscientiousness, and agreeableness to less disengagement coping. Relations of traits to specific coping responses reveal a more nuanced picture. Several moderators of these associations also emerge: age, stressor severity, and temporal proximity between the coping activity and the coping report. Personality and coping play both independent and interactive roles in influencing physical and mental health. Recommendations are presented for ways future research can expand on the growing understanding of how personality and coping shape adjustment to stress.

https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev.psych.093008.100352

Personality and Coping

At diagnosis, 59 breast cancer patients reported on their overall optimism about life; 1 day presurgery, 10 days postsurgery, and at 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-ups, they reported their recent coping responses and distress levels. Optimism related inversely to distress at each point, even controlling for prior distress. Acceptance, positive reframing, and use of religion were the most common coping reactions; denial and behavioral disengagement were the least common reactions. Acceptance and the use of humor prospectively predicted lower distress; denial and disengagement predicted more distress. Path analyses suggested that several coping reactions played mediating roles in the effect of optimism on distress. Discussion centers on the role of various coping reactions in the process of adjustment, the mechanisms by which dispositional optimism versus pessimism appears to operate, third variable issues, and applied implications.

How coping mediates the effect of optimism on distress : a study of women with early stage breast cancer

Contrary to unidimensional conceptions of optimism and pessimism, factor analysis of 2 widely used instruments revealed that optimism and pessimism are empirically differentiable, but related, constructs. Moreover, consistent with expectations, optimism and pessimism were differentially linked with fundamental dimensions of mood and personality. Pessimism was principally associated with neuroticism and negative affect. Optimism was primarily associated with extraversion and positive affect. Findings are discussed with reference to current conceptual and measurement models of optimism and pessimism and their relations to broad dimensions of mood and personality

Distinguishing optimism from pessimism : relations to fundamental dimensions of mood and personality

The NEO Five Factor Personality Inventory (NEO-FFI; Costa & McCrae, 1989) and representative personality scales drawn from health psychology were administered to 2 samples of male military recruits (Ns = 296 and 502). Factor analysis of health-related personality scales revealed 3 conceptually meaningful domains. Examination of these domains and their constituent scales, with reference to the 5-factor model of personality, permits 3 general conclusions. First, most health-relevant dimensions and scales appear to be complex mixtures of broad personality domains. Second, variation in many health-related personality instruments is explained to a significant degree by the 5-factor model. Third, 2 of the 5 personality domains (i.e., conscientiousness and openness) appear to be substantially neglected in health psychology research.

The Five-Factor Model of Personality as a Framework for Personality-Health Research

: The current study was undertaken to identify overarching themes characteristic of health-related personality research and to determine the extent to which these constructs converge with broad domains of personality Factor analysis of representative instruments administered to two samples of Navy recruits revealed three general domains Multiple regression indicated that these domains corresponded to three of five general dimensions of personality: neuroticism, extraversion, and agreeableness By contrast, two remaining dimensions (ie, openness and conscientiousness) appeared to be substantially neglected in personality-health research These findings provide evidence of the utility of the five-factor model of personality as a framework for studying personality-health relations

Using the Five-Factor Model of Personality as a Framework for Guiding Personality-Health Research

Field applications of cognitive assessment batteries: Initial tests of alternative measurement models.: (476462004-001)

: Portable computerized cognitive assessment batteries provide a method of assessing cognitive performance during real life exposure to demanding situations. The present study evaluated the effect of relaxing guidelines regarding pre-testing to achieve valid assessments in repeated measures studies. Data reported by Kennedy et al. (1985) were reanalyzed using structural equation modeling procedures. The findings demonstrated that 7 of 9 commonly used cognitive tests could be interpreted as valid measures the first trial onward. This conclusion also may apply to Sternberg's (1966) memory test if an arguably chance finding of a change in true score variance on a single trial fails to replicate. Baddeley's (1968) Grammatical Reasoning test required a two-dimensional model to represent the data. The results for two tests (Code Substitution and Manikin) were replicated with data from other published sources. If these initial results replicate on further study, the cognitive measures examined can be used in research designs such as simple pre-post and experimental-control group research designs even when no practice sessions are feasible.

Jeffrey W. Kusulas

Papers

Distinguishing optimism from pessimism : relations to fundamental dimensions of mood and personality

The Five-Factor Model of Personality as a Framework for Personality-Health Research

Using the Five-Factor Model of Personality as a Framework for Guiding Personality-Health Research

Field applications of cognitive assessment batteries: Initial tests of alternative measurement models.: (476462004-001)

Field Applications of Cognitive Assessment Batteries: Initial Tests of Alternative Measurement Models.