Psychometric description of the Life Orientation Test-Revised in a South African sample: A pilot study

Abstract

Dispositional optimism is usually understood as a personality characteristic and conceptualised as a general tendency to expect positive outcomes (Carver & Scheier, 2014; Carver, Scheier, & Segerstrom, 2010). The relevance of the construct of optimism in health psychology has been convincingly demonstrated in numerous studies. Optimism has been associated with differences in mental and physical health, quality of life, adaptive coping styles, life satisfaction, recovery after severe illness and mortality (cf. Hinz et al., 2017, p. 162, for a summary), and has been linked to a range of biological markers and pain responses (cf. Schou-Bredala et al., 2017, p. 217, for a summary). Pertinent to the context of this article, its association with markers of mental health and psychological well-being (e.g. depression, anxiety, fatigue, self-efficacy, perceived stress) has been established in various cross-continental contexts (Yew, Lim, Haw, & Gan, 2015; Zenger et al., 2013; also cf. Schou-Bredala et al., 2017, p. 217, for a summary).