Psychology and its Contexts (Nov 2018)
Adolescent’s Emotionality and Optimism in the Context of His/Her Self‑concept
Abstract
The aim of the study is to examine Slovak adolescent’s multidimensional self-concept in relation to his/her emotionality, specifically emotional habitual well-being. Except of the prevalent adolescent emotionality we are interested in optimism as a personal trait in the relationship to self-concept of the present population. All of these variables are essential components of psychological well-being, life satisfaction and quality of life. Gender differences are also examined. The empirical study of the variables and their mutual relationship presents contribution to positive psychology research. Simple correlational and comparative analysis is used. The questionnaire set comprises the following research tools: 1. Czech adaptation of Children’s and adolescent’s self-concept scale PHCSCS-2 (Obereignerů et al., 2015). It’s self-report scale that includes the subscale of the overall self-concept: Total Score (TOT) and six subscales evaluating specific areas of self-concept: Behavioural Adjustment (BEH, ?=.73), Intellectual and School Statue (INT, ?=.70), Physical Appearance and Attributes (PHY, ?=.77), Freedom from Anxiety (FRE, ?=.79), Popularity (POP, ?=.70), Happiness and Satisfaction (HAP, ?=.68). 2. Scale of Emotional Habitual Subjective Well-being – SEHP (Džuka & Dalbert, 2002) assesses the frequency of positive emotions (?=.69) and negative emotions (?=.70). 3. Slovak adaptation of the Levy Optimism – Pessimism Scale (Sarmány Schuller, 1992) consists of 16 items in a form of statements and a six grade scale of approval. Final score indicates the level of dispositional optimism (?=.79). The research group included 120 adolescents (50 % male and 50 % female), students of Slovak secondary schools, at the age from 16 to 19 years (AM = 17.52; SD =.95). The research sample was collected intentionally (age and gender). By the means of correlation analysis we found out the positive moderate statistically significant correlation between the overall self-concept and positive emotions (.39, p?.001) and positive relatively strong statistically significant correlation between the overall self-concept and dispositional optimism (.56, p?.001). Significant gender differences were confirmed in FRE subscale of self-concept (in favour of boys), positive and negative emotions (both in favour of girls) and optimism (in favour of girls). Our results about mutual relationships between adolescent self-concept, emotions and dispositional optimism correspond with previous research quoted in the discussion although older studies examined predominantly the self-esteem. Our contribution to this research area is the application of multidimensional self-assessment conception. Limitations: The research sample size, its choice and the use of the self-report tools may limit the generalizability of the findings. Adolescents with positive self-concept and higher dispositional optimism tend to experience positive emotions (important aspect of psychological well-being). By fostering positive self-concept all the competent persons (parents, teachers, educators, tutors, etc.) can moderate adolescent’s well-being.
