Anne-Sofie Rosén

Measuring optimism–pessimism from beliefs about future events

Abstract In this study optimism–pessimism was defined in terms of an expectancy-value model based on subjective probabilities and subjective values for positive or negative future events in ones personal life and for positive or negative future general world events [Wenglert, L., & Svenson, O. (1982). Self-image and predictions about future events. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 23, 153–155]. The participants were 183 students. For each subject the correlation of probability and value ratings were computed separately for the sets of events. In a first analysis the sign of a coefficient categorised a subject as optimistic or pessimistic. 177 of 183 subjects were classified as optimistic about the personal future and six subjects as pessimistic. Considering the worlds future, 155 persons were optimistic and 28 pessimistic. A second analysis used the value of a significant correlation (p

OPTIMISM, SELF-ESTEEM, MOOD AND SUBJECTIVE HEALTH

Abstract In this study the hypothesis was tested that, in normally healthy subjects, optimism and self-esteem will relate negatively to reports of various symptoms, recently noted by a subject. The second hypothesis tested was that optimism, self-esteem and a positive mood state at the time of test taking will also be negatively related to physical anhedonia, or individual differences in the ability to experience pleasure from everyday activities or situations. Symptom reports and physical anhedonia were assumed to be independent, as earlier reported studies have linked symptom reporting with neuroticism and physical anhedonia with extraversion. The results were in accord with the predictions, although not all correlations were statistically significant. Measures of personal optimism, e.g., the Life Orientation Test (LOT), were found to correlate with symptom reporting but optimism as a general attitude to events did not. Personal optimism correlated more strongly with the Self-satisfaction scale than with symptom reporting.

Acceptability of a nonsurgical method to terminate very early pregnancy in comparison to vacuum aspiration

Seventy-seven patients applying for abortion during early pregnancy consented to be treated by prostaglandin vaginal suppositories or vacuum aspiration by Kahrman catheter in a random design. They also consented to participate in an acceptability study of the two procedures. Attitude and preference measures were obtained by interviewing and rating scales on three occasions: before assignment to abortion procedure, immediately after treatment, and two weeks later. The first 30 patients with complete abortion by either procedure participated in the acceptability study. Both treatments were positively evaluated but perceived to have very different characteristics. The preference for the method used for own treatment increased in both groups. Before treatment 1/3 of the patients in each group had a positive attitude to a self-administered method to induce abortion outside clinics. This proportion increased significantly after treatment but only in the group that received prostaglandin by the vaginal route.

State anxiety and abortion

This study evaluated the negative emotional reactions of 113 women before and after abortion. A Swedish form of the STAI State Anxiety scale was used. The patients had consented to be randomly assigned to treatment by vacuum aspiration or a medical alternative, prostaglandin in vaginal suppositories. The medical treatment was administered in a nursing ward or self-administered by the patient at home. Psychometric and validity findings for the State Anxiety scale were reported. Post abortion state anxiety had significantly decreased. The effects of treatment assignment, of preference before abortion, and of previous abortion on state anxiety were analyzed. Only preference had an effect. Women who preferred the medical-at-home treatment were lower in anxiety on both occasions than the other groups. The significantly higher level of state anxiety when assessed by anxiety-absent items (scoring reversed) in the context of abortion was discussed.

Conceptual System and Personality: A Multivariate Study of System Stage and Personality Correlates.

Abstract Conceptual system as a cognitive-developmental variable in personality has been assumed to relate to different cognitions of self and others and of interpersonal relations at each developmental stage. The assumed relationship between conceptual system and some personality variables was studied in a group of students (N = 85). The “This-I-Believe” test (TIB) [Harvey, O. J. System structure, adaptability and creativity. In O. J. Harvey (Ed.), Experience, structure, and adaptability. New York: Springer, 1966 .] for assessing the developmental stage of the conceptual system was administered together with personality scales for traits assumed important in socialization. A modified TIB scoring procedure was used. Highly significant differences in personality were obtained by a MANOVA, using conceptual system for classification. One dimension accounted for discrimination. Measures assumed to relate to sensitivity for and conformity to a social environment contributed most to the discrimination.

The circle as a model for the interpersonal domain of Swedish trait terms

Swedish interpersonal traits were assumed to have the structure demonstrated by Wiggins for the Interpersonal Adjective Scales in English. Positive and negative interpersonal trait terms were rated for accuracy when describing people. The ratings were used to construct 16 eight‐item scales which were ordered relative to two principal components and labelled A to P. The evaluative meaning of each scale item was rated by a second group. The ranks of the mean ratings for the scales followed expectations. The 16 scales were combined into eight scales PA, BC, DE, etc., to NO. From a new group of subjects (N = 159) self‐ratings were obtained. The correlations between the eight scales were used to obtain maximum‐likelihood estimates of population coefficients of a hypothetical circulant matrix. A circumplex model fitted the data well and the two equally large orthogonal components ordered the PA to NO variables within a circular semantic space. The model was interpreted as a structural representation of basic‐level categories for interpersonal attributes of personality in the natural language.

Mood congruence, anxiety, attitude and abortion

When a person becomes distressed, the mood-congruence hypothesis predicts that the overall pleasantness-unpleasantness of judgements will change accordingly. This study reports the findings of a mood-congruent judgemental effect on the pattern of correlations of state anxiety and attitudes in the preabortion situation, assumed to be stressful to women requesting an early first-trimester abortion. The 58 participating patients were followed up about three weeks later. The mood-congruent effect was no longer present. Trait anxiety did not relate to the mood-congruent effect but strongly afflicted the level with which state anxiety and evaluations were expressed pre- and postabortion.

Sex-Role Stereotypes and Personal Attributes within a Developmental Framework

Female work participation is high in Sweden today, but not without several problematic features. The problem associated with female work participation is no longer one of whether or not a Swedish woman should work. She does. Rather the issue can be formulated as follows: What kind of work is she doing? What kind of employment, part time or full time, does she seek? What position has she attained within Swedish society? How do young girls today prepare themselves for their future occupations and what are their aspirations and goals? What has been achieved in the years of formal equality between the sexes?