6533b82efe1ef96bd12926cd
RESEARCH PRODUCT
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subject
050103 clinical psychologymedicine.medical_specialtyeducation.field_of_studymedia_common.quotation_subject05 social sciencesPopulationPessimismConfirmatory factor analysisDevelopmental psychologyTest (assessment)03 medical and health sciencesClinical Psychology0302 clinical medicineOptimismEpidemiologymedicineNormative0501 psychology and cognitive sciencesMeasurement invariance030212 general & internal medicinePsychologyeducationmedia_commondescription
Background/Objective: The Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R) is often used to assess dispositional optimism. The aims of this study were to test psychometric properties of the LOT-R, to provide normative scores, and to test the association between optimism and several psychological, sociodemographic, and behavioral factors. Method: A randomly selected German general population community sample with an age range of 18-80 years (N = 9,711) was surveyed. Results: The Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) proved two (correlated) factors: Optimism and Pessimism. Invariance tests across gender and age groups confirmed metric invariance. There were only small gender differences in the LOT-R total score (M = 16.4 for females and M = 16.1 for males). The correlation between the subscales Optimism and Pessimism was strong for young and well educated people. Low optimism mean scores were observed for unemployed people, people with low income, smokers, and obese people. Normative scores of the LOT-R are provided. Conclusions: The study confirmed the bidimensional structure of the LOT-R and invariance across age and gender. We can recommend using this instrument for measuring dispositional optimism and pessimism in epidemiological research and clinical practice.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-05-01 | International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology |