Pinquart Martin, Fröhlich Cornelia, Silbereisen Rainer K
Department of Developmental Psychology and Center for Applied Developmental Science, Friedrich Schiller University, Germany.
Psychol Health Med. 2007 Aug;12(4):421-32. doi: 10.1080/13548500601084271.
Whereas most previous studies have assessed optimism/pessimism as a unidimensional construct, there is increasing awareness that optimism and pessimism may represent two partially independent dimensions. In this study, the role of optimism and pessimism for the maintenance of psychological well-being was assessed in 161 newly diagnosed cancer patients. Before the start of chemotherapy, more positive affect balance was associated with higher optimism and lower pessimism. Over the course of 9 months following diagnosis, pessimism predicted negative change in affect balance, whereas no effect of optimism appeared. Higher levels of perceived side-effects of chemotherapy were associated with negative change in affect balance. However, an interaction effect of perceived side-effects with pessimism indicated that this was only the case in patients with above-median levels of pessimism. The conclusion is drawn that it may be more important to be less pessimistic than to be optimistic when diagnosed with cancer.
鉴于以往大多数研究将乐观/悲观视为一个单维结构，现在人们越来越意识到乐观和悲观可能代表两个部分独立的维度。在本研究中，对161名新诊断的癌症患者评估了乐观和悲观对维持心理健康的作用。在化疗开始前，更积极的情感平衡与更高的乐观和更低的悲观相关。在诊断后的9个月期间，悲观预测了情感平衡的负面变化，而乐观则未显示出影响。化疗的更高水平的感知副作用与情感平衡的负面变化相关。然而，感知副作用与悲观的交互作用表明，只有在悲观水平高于中位数的患者中才是这种情况。得出的结论是，被诊断患有癌症时，少一些悲观可能比多一些乐观更重要。
