The Role of Optimism in Social Network Development, Coping, and Psychological Adjustment during a Life Transition

The authors investigated the extent to which social support & coping account for the association between greater optimism & better adjustment to stressful life events. College students of both genders completed measures of perceived stress, depression, friendship network size, & perceived social support at the beginning & end of their 1st semester of college. Coping was assessed at the end of the first semester. Greater optimism, assessed at the beginning of the first semester of college, was prospectively associated with smaller increases in stress & depression & greater increases in perceived social support (but not in friendship network size) over the course of the first semester of college. Mediational analyses were consistent with a model in which increases in social support & greater use of positive reinterpretation & growth contributed to the superior adjustment that optimists experienced. 3 Tables, 1 Figure, 57 References. [Copyright 2002 The American Psychological Association.]