The relationship between dispositional optimism, dispositional pessimism, repressive coping and trail anxiety

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between dispo sitional optimism, dispositional pessimism, repressive coping and trait anx iety. The Marlowe-Crowne scale (MC) and the Bendig version of the Taylor Ma nifest Anxiety Scale (MAS) were used to select repressor and control groups (N = 143, aged between 18 and 47 years), who subsequently completed a meas ure of dispositional optimism, the Life Orientation Test (LOT), which consi sts of two sets of items: optimism and pessimism. Repressors (high MC, low MAS) reported significantly lower pessimism than all other participants. Wh en the pessimism scale was divided into high and low categories, there were significantly more repressors in the low pessimism group than the other lo w trait anxiety group, low anxious(low MC, low MAS). However, for the optim ism scale the opposite pattern of results was found, with significantly mor e low anxious in the high optimism group than repressors. These results sup port the assertion that the pessimism and optimism scales of the LOT are no t the same construct and should be measured separately. (C) 1999 Elsevier S cience Ltd. All rights reserved.