OPTIMISM, PESSIMISM AND WORRY IN RUSSIAN AND AMERICAN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS

Levels of general and geopolitical optimism-pessimism, and of global a nd personal worry in Russian and American school children and adolesce nts were assessed by questionnaires filled out in class. The Russian s ubjects consisted of 427 children and adolescents between the ages of 10 and 18. The 534 American subjects were between the ages of II and I g. All items for the scales were based on previous research, and were back-translated to assure accuracy across samples. As expected, both g roups had generally optimistic views about the future. However, the Am erican students were more optimistic about their future than were the Russian students. In terms of geopolitical questions(e.g., ''good rela tions in the future between the US and Russia''), Russian students wer e generally more optimistic than American students. Russian students, however, professed less faith that their leaders would be working to s olve their problems than did the American students. Russian students a lso showed more global and personal worry than did the American studen ts. In the total sample and in the Russian sample, age was negatively related to level of worry. The results are discussed using the constru ct of environment change, defined as the integration of cultural, poli tical, and socioeconomic influences on the individual.