Japanese college students' pessimism, coping strategies and anxiety: Validation of the Japanese Defensive Pessimism Inventory (JDPI)

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop the Japanese Defensive Pessimism Inventory (JDPI), which measures defensive pessimism in an academic achievement situation for Japanese undergraduate students and differentiates between those who are realistically pessimistic and those who are defensively pessimistic. In Study 1,695 undergraduates completed the JDPI. A factor analysis revealed that the 24 items of the JDPI comprised four factors: Pessimism, Past experience, Positive reflectivity, and Effort. In Study 2, 618 undergraduates completed the JDPI, the Test Coping Strategy Scale, and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. The JDPI had high internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Defensive pessimists and strategic optimists had higher scores on the active coping strategy and lower scores on the avoidant-thinking coping strategy than did realistic pessimists. Furthermore, defensive pessimists and realistic pessimists had higher scores on the state anxiety and lower scores on the optimistic-thinking coping strategy than did strategic optimists. The results indicate that the JDPI had high concurrent validity.