IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jhappi/v15y2014i2p455-474.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

When Less is More: A Short Version of the Personal Optimism Scale and the Self-Efficacy Optimism Scale

Author

Listed:
  • Vesna Gavrilov-Jerković
  • Veljko Jovanović
  • Dragan Žuljević
  • Dragana Brdarić

Abstract

The past few years have seen increased theoretical and applied research on the relations between constructs related to positive expectations. However, instruments capable of distinguishing positive expectancy constructs are still lacking. This study evaluated the psychometric properties of the 18-item Personal Optimism Scale and Self-Efficacy Optimism Scale. Two student samples from the University of Novi Sad in Serbia were recruited for the present research, with a total of 728 participants. The results of the exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses did not support the theoretically expected structure. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis and content validity support shortening the scale to 9 items. The short versions of the scales demonstrated adequate reliability in internal consistency and adequate concurrent and convergent validity by significant correlations with dispositional optimism, general self-efficacy, hope, resilience and subjective well-being. The analyses lead us to conclude that a shorter 4-item Personal Optimism Scale and a 5-item Self-Efficacy Optimism Scale provide a clear, precise measures of two types of positive expectations. The authors argue that the limitations of the original scales emanate from their vague theoretical-substantive validity, and call for future research to replicate these findings. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Vesna Gavrilov-Jerković & Veljko Jovanović & Dragan Žuljević & Dragana Brdarić, 2014. "When Less is More: A Short Version of the Personal Optimism Scale and the Self-Efficacy Optimism Scale," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 455-474, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:15:y:2014:i:2:p:455-474
    DOI: 10.1007/s10902-013-9432-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10902-013-9432-0
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10902-013-9432-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Veljko Jovanović & Milica Lazić, 2020. "Is Longer Always Better? A Comparison of the Validity of Single-item Versus Multiple-item Measures of Life Satisfaction," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 15(3), pages 675-692, July.
    2. Veljko Jovanović & Vesna Gavrilov-Jerković, 2016. "The Structure of Adolescent Affective Well-Being: The Case of the PANAS Among Serbian Adolescents," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 17(5), pages 2097-2117, October.
    3. Veljko Jovanović & Dylan Molenaar & Vesna Gavrilov-Jerković & Milica Lazić, 2021. "Positive Expectancies and Subjective Well-Being: A Prospective Study Among Undergraduates in Serbia," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 1239-1258, March.
    4. Michal Biron & Hilla Peretz & Keren Turgeman-Lupo, 2020. "Trait Optimism and Work from Home Adjustment in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Considering the Mediating Role of Situational Optimism and the Moderating Role of Cultural Optimism," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-21, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:15:y:2014:i:2:p:455-474. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.