title: Perceived likelihood as a measure of optimism and pessimism: support for the Future Events Scale.
abstract: The Future Events Scale (FES; S. M. Andersen, 1990) is an expectancy-based measure of optimism and pessimism, grounded in cognitive theories of depression, with implications for clinical practice. Although ample research has documented the utility of the FES in predicting important cognitive and behavioral outcomes, psychometric data on the scale are lacking. The current article presents multisample analyses to show that the FES has clear factor structure, good reliability, and a theoretically meaningful nomological network. The FES is shown to be distinct from the best known measure of optimism and pessimism, the Life Orientation Test (M. F. Scheier & C. S. Carver, 1985). Applications are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Ohio State University, Columbus, 43210, USA. wichman.3@osu.edu
authors.forename: Aaron L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Wichman
authors.forename: Darcy A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Reich
authors.forename: Gifford
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Weary
mesh_terms: D000339:Affect; D001290:Attitude; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires