title: A prospective study of hope, optimism, and health.
abstract: The present investigation sought to distinguish hope from optimism in the context of a 10-wk. prospective study involving reports of health outcomes. Gottschalk's (1985) Hope Scale and Scheier and Carver's (1987) Life Orientation Test which assesses optimism were given to subjects, along with a health questionnaire. Ten weeks later subjects were given a second health questionnaire. To rule out potential confounds we included measures of neuroticism, depression, extroversion, and social desirability. After controlling for the effects of correlated confounds, we found that lower hope scores (but not optimism) were correlated with several dimensions of reported health, including frequency and severity of illness.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Keene State College, NH 03431, USA. tscioli@keene.edu
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Scioli
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Chamberlin
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Samor
authors.forename: A B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Lapointe
authors.forename: T L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: MacLeod
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: McLenon
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D010555:Personality Inventory; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology