Edward C. Chang

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.

Dispositional optimism and primary and secondary appraisal of a stressor : Controlling for confounding influences and relations to coping and psychological and physical adjustment

Previous research has shown that dispositional optimism (M. F. Scheier & C. S. Carver, 1985) is linked to both coping and adjustment but has failed to consider the potential influence of appraisals in the stress and coping process (R. S. Lazarus & S. Folkman, 1984). The present study examined the influence of optimism and appraisals on coping and psychological and physical adjustment in 726 college students. Results from correlational analyses indicated that stress-related appraisals were associated with optimism, coping, and adjustment. Comparative analyses further indicated that optimists (n = 109) and pessimists (n = 110) differed significantly in secondary (but not primary) appraisal, coping, and adjustment. In addition, optimism was found to add significant incremental validity in predicting adjustment, beyond what was accounted for by appraisals and coping. The implications of these findings for understanding the influence of dispositional optimism are discussed.

Hope, problem-solving ability, and coping in a college student population: Some implications for theory and practice

The influence of high versus low hope on problem-solving ability and on coping with stressful academic and interpersonal situations was examined in 211 college students. Consistent with Snyders (1995) model, high-hope students were found to have greater problem-solving abilities than low-hope students. High-hope students were also found to employ less disengagement strategies than low-hope students for coping with stressful academic situations. No difference was found in the strategies used by high- and low-hope students for coping with stressful interpersonal situations. Separate hierarchical regression analyses indicated that hope was an important predictor of both academic and interpersonal life satisfaction independent of coping activities. Implications of the present findings for both theory and practice are discussed.

Social problem-solving deficits and hopelessness, depression, and suicidal risk in college students and psychiatric inpatients

The Social Problem-Solving Inventory-Revised was used to examine the relations between problem-solving abilities and hopelessness, depression, and suicidal risk in three different samples: undergraduate college students, general psychiatric inpatients, and suicidal psychiatric inpatients. A similar pattern of results was found in both college students and psychiatric patients: a negative problem orientation was most highly correlated with all three criterion variables, followed by either a positive problem orientation or an avoidance problem-solving style. Rational problem-solving skills emerged as an important predictor variable in the suicidal psychiatric sample. Support was found for a prediction model of suicidal risk that includes problem-solving deficits and hopelessness, with partial support being found for including depression in the model as well.

Assessing the dimensionality of optimism and pessimism using a multimeasure approach

Weighted least-squares confirmatory factor analysis and exploratory factor-analytic procedures were used to assess the dimensionality of three self-report instruments designed to measure optimism and pessimism: the Life Orientation Test (LOT), the Hopelessness Scale (HS), and the Optimism and Pessimism Scale (OPS). The LOT was found to be bidimensional, the HS unidimensional, and the OPS multidimensional. The HS was interpreted as measuring a unipolar pessimism dimension. Factor analyses performed on an item subset from the OPS that fit the definition of optimism and pessimism as generalized outcome expectancies also supported the two-dimensional model of optimism and pessimism. Differential correlations between separate optimism and pessimism indices and a measure of psychological stress provided partial further support for a two-dimensional model of optimism and pessimism.

Social problem solving: Theory, research, and training.

Throughout history, philosophers have argued that the capacity to solve problems successfully in the real world is a crucial component for ones well-being. Psychologists have since been looking to understand the nuances of problem solving specifically as it applies to the self-directed cognitive-behavioral process by which an individual, couple, or group attempts to identify or discover effective solutions for problems encountered in everyday living. From this researchers are developing training methods in which people can learn to solve problems effectively and positively thereby leading to generalized and durable behavior changes. In Social Problem Solving: Theory, Research, and Training, readers will find a nice balance of theory and research in social problem solving and well as practical methods and training approaches. Because of the widespread relevance of social problem solving, this book is not only for researchers and mental health practitioners, but also for students and other readers who would like to maximize their effectiveness and success in dealing with real and complex problems in everyday living.

How Adaptive and Maladaptive Perfectionism Relate to Positive and Negative Psychological Functioning: Testing a Stress-Mediation Model in Black and White Female College Students

This study assessed racial variations in how adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism relate to psychological functioning in a sample of 150 Black and 150 White female college students. Comparative results indicated that Black women, as compared with White women, reported less adaptive perfectionism, less life satisfaction, greater stress, and greater negative affect. Correlational results indicated that for both groups, maladaptive perfectionism, but not adaptive perfectionism, was associated with stress. Accordingly, a model in which stress mediates the link between maladaptive perfectionism and psychological functioning was tested. Overall, path-analytic results indicated that stress completely or partially mediated the link between maladaptive perfectionism and psychological functioning for both Black and White women. Potential implications of the present findings for counseling Black and White women are discussed.

Cultural Differences, Perfectionism, and Suicidal Risk in a College Population: Does Social Problem Solving Still Matter?

The relations between cultural influences,perfectionism, social problem solving, and subsequentsuicidal risk (viz., hopelessness and suicide potential)were examined among 148 college students. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to determinewhether social problem solving predicted suicidal risk(1 month later) beyond what was accounted for by ethnicstatus (Asian American or Caucasian American) and perfectionism. Results of these analysesindicated that ethnic status (Step 1) was a significantpredictor of both hopelessness and suicide potential.Furthermore, perfectionism (Step 2) was found to add significant incremental validity forpredicting variance in both outcome criteria. Incontrast, social problem solving (Step 3) addedsignificant incremental validity for predicting variancein suicide potential, but not for predicting hopelessness.Results indicate that social problem solving is a moreuseful predictor of suicide potential than ofhopelessness. Implications for future research arediscussed.

Does dispositional optimism moderate the relation between perceived stress and psychological well-being?: a preliminary investigation

Abstract The present study examined dispositional optimism as a moderator of the influence of perceived stress on psychological outcome. Results of hierarchical regression analyses indicated that dispositional optimism significantly moderated the relation between stress and psychological well-being. Some implications of the present findings for theory and research are discussed.

Optimism, pessimism, and positive and negative affectivity in middle-aged adults: a test of a cognitive-affective model of psychological adjustment.

This study attempted to address limitations in the understanding of optimism and pessimism among middle-aged adults. Specifically, a model of affectivity as a mediator of the link between outcome expectancies and psychological adjustment (life satisfaction and depressive symptoms) was presented and examined in a sample of 237 middle-aged adults. Consistent with a mediation model, results of path analyses indicated that optimism and pessimism (particularly the former) had significant direct and indirect links (by means of positive and negative affectivity) with depressive symptoms and life satisfaction. These results add to the small but growing literature identifying optimism and pessimism as important concomitants of psychological adjustment in more mature adults.