International optimism: correlates and consequences of dispositional optimism across 61 countries.

Erica Baranski, Kate Sweeny, Gwendolyn Gardiner, Members of the International Situations Project & David C. Funder

SECTOR

Behavioral Research and Academic Engagements

PROJECT TYPE

Dispositional optimism

DOI

Location

Global

BEHAVIORAL THEME

Psychological well-being | Democratic norms

OVERVIEW

The current exploratory study sought to examine dispositional optimism, or the general expectation for positive outcomes, around the world.
Dispositional optimism and possible correlates were assessed across 61 countries (N = 15,185; mean age = 21.92; 77% female). Mean-level differences in optimism were computed along with their relationships with individual and country-level variables.
Worldwide, mean optimism levels were above the midpoint of the scale. Perhaps surprisingly, country-level optimism was negatively related to gross domestic product per capita, population density, and democratic norms and positively related to income inequality and perceived corruption.

THEMATIC AREAS

However, country-level optimism was positively related to projected economic improvement. Individual-level optimism was positively related to individual well-being within every country, although this relationship was less strong in countries with challenging economic and social circumstances.
While individuals around the world are generally optimistic, societal characteristics appear to affect the degree to which their optimism is associated with psychological well-being, sometimes in seemingly anomalous ways.