TY - JOUR
T1 - Age differences in dispositional optimism
T2 - A cross-cultural study
AU - You, Jin
AU - Fung, Helene H.L.
AU - Isaacowitz, Derek M.
PY - 2009/12
Y1 - 2009/12
N2 - Testing the hypothesis that individuals develop their personal characteristics according to what their cultures emphasize, this cross-sectional study aimed at investigating how dispositional optimism varied with age among Americans and Hong Kong Chinese. The sample included 84 younger adults and 55 older adults that were equally distributed across the two cultures. Results revealed that older Americans displayed a higher level of dispositional optimism than did younger Americans; whereas older Chinese showed a lower level of dispositional optimism than did their younger counterparts. Findings shed light on the mixed findings on age-related dispositional optimism in the literature.
AB - Testing the hypothesis that individuals develop their personal characteristics according to what their cultures emphasize, this cross-sectional study aimed at investigating how dispositional optimism varied with age among Americans and Hong Kong Chinese. The sample included 84 younger adults and 55 older adults that were equally distributed across the two cultures. Results revealed that older Americans displayed a higher level of dispositional optimism than did younger Americans; whereas older Chinese showed a lower level of dispositional optimism than did their younger counterparts. Findings shed light on the mixed findings on age-related dispositional optimism in the literature.
KW - Ageing processes
KW - Cultural context
KW - Dispositional optimism
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/71249113512
U2 - 10.1007/s10433-009-0130-z
DO - 10.1007/s10433-009-0130-z
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:71249113512
SN - 1613-9372
VL - 6
SP - 247
EP - 252
JO - European Journal of Ageing
JF - European Journal of Ageing
IS - 4
ER -