The Relationship of Hope, Optimism, Self-Esteem, Subjective Well-Being, and Personality in Brazilians and Americans

Claudio S. Hutz, Aida Midgett, Juliana Cerentini Pacico, Micheline R. Bastianello, Cristian Zanon

Boise State University, Boise, USA.
Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
University of San Francisco, S?o Paulo, Brazil.

DOI: 10.4236/psych.2014.56061                

Abstract

The main objective of this paper was to conduct a cross-cultural study comparing a pool of positive variables in an American and Brazilian sample. The variables were hope, optimism, life satisfaction, affects, self-esteem, and personality. The participants were 179 Americans aged 18 to 61 years and 499 Brazilians aged 17 to 53 years. They answered the following instruments: Adult Dispositional Hope Scale, Life Orientation Test Revised, The Life Satisfaction with Life Scale, Positive and Negative Affect Scale, The Rosenberg’s Self-esteem Scale, NEO-PI-R and Bateria Fatorial de Personalidade. The results showed differences between the two samples regarding the correlations between personality and positive psychology variables. Differences in correlations among the positive psychology variables were also found between Brazilians and Americans. The results showed that Americans had higher scores in hope, positive affect and life satisfaction. Brazilians showed higher scores in optimism and negative affect. One possible explanations for these results are cultural differences and social conditions.

Keywords

Positive Psychology, Personality, Cultural Differences

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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