Dispositional Optimism and Perceived Stress Among Students

Abstract

Dispositional optimism is the tendency for individuals to always expect positive outcomes. Perceived stress is the degree of stress individuals feel based on their situation and experiences. The aim of the current study was to understand the relationship between Dispositional Optimism and Perceived Stress and their differences between male and female students pursuing high school, under graduate, and post graduate education. The sample consisted of 180 students (90 males and 90 females; 60 each from the three educational groups). Data collection was conducted by snowball sampling technique. Life Orientation Test Revised (LOT-R) and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) were used to measure dispositional optimism and perceived stress, respectively. IBM SPSS version 22 was used for statistical analysis of the data, which included Spearman rank correlation, Mann-Whitney U test, and Kruskal-Wallis test. The results showed a strong negative correlation between dispositional optimism and perceived stress. Females showed higher degrees of perceived stress than males, whereas no significant gender difference was found in dispositional optimism. High school students were found to have more dispositional optimism than post graduate students than under graduate students, while difference among the three groups in perceived stress was insignificant.