The Role of Optimism in Social Network Development, Coping, and Psychological Adjustment During a Life Transition

The authors investigated the extent to which social support and coping account for the association between greater optimism and better adjustment to stressful life events. College students of both genders completed measures of perceived stress, depression, friendship network size, and perceived soci...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of personality and social psychology 2002-01, Vol.82 (1), p.102-111
Main Authors: Brissette, Ian, Scheier, Michael F, Carver, Charles S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Psychological
Attitude
Attitudes
Biological and medical sciences
Coping Behavior
Depression (Emotion)
Effects
Emotional Adjustment
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Friendship
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Human
Humans
Life Change Events
Life Experiences
Male
Optimism
Personality
Personality traits
Personality. Affectivity
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Self Concept
Social adaptation
Social Adjustment
Social Behavior
Social change
Social networks
Social psychology
Social Support
Stress
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Summary:The authors investigated the extent to which social support and coping account for the association between greater optimism and better adjustment to stressful life events. College students of both genders completed measures of perceived stress, depression, friendship network size, and perceived social support at the beginning and end of their 1st semester of college. Coping was assessed at the end of the 1st semester. Greater optimism, assessed at the beginning of the 1st semester of college, was prospectively associated with smaller increases in stress and depression and greater increases in perceived social support (but not in friendship network size) over the course of the 1st semester of college. Mediational analyses were consistent with a model in which increases in social support and greater use of positive reinterpretation and growth contributed to the superior adjustment that optimists experienced.
ISSN:0022-3514
1939-1315
DOI:10.1037/0022-3514.82.1.102