Development of the Japanese optimism and pessimism scale for children and examination of its reliability and validity

Abstract

The present study reports the development of the Japanese Optimism and Pessimism Scale for Children, and an investigation of the Scale's reliability and validity. Participants were children in the 4th to 6th grades of elementary school. In Study 1, there were 381 children in Sample 1, and 302 in Sample 2. Useable data in Study 2 were obtained from 200 children. Factor analysis of the data from Study 1 revealed that the 10 items in the Japanese Optimism and Pessimism Scale for Children comprised 2 factors, optimism and pessimism. Moreover, the Scale had high internal consistency and test-retest reliability, as well as high concurrent validity. The results from Study 2 suggested that dispositional optimists tended to take an approach type of coping strategy to deal with stressful events and, as a result, experienced beneficial positive school adjustment benefits, whereas dispositional pessimists tended to use an avoidance type of coping strategy to deal with stressful events and, as a result, experienced psychological distress. These findings suggest that optimism and pessimism may have independent roles.