Personality, Health, and Coping A Cross-National Study

This study explored group and relational differences in personality, health, and coping across 189 Australian students and 243 Singaporean students. Life Orientation Test-Revised showed a one-factor structure for Australians but a two-factor structure for Singaporeans. Australians tended to be more agreeable, more conscientious, more optimistic, more satisfied with their lives, while Singaporeans tended to be more neurotic and more pessimistic. Singaporeans tended to utilize less frequent adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies. Neuroticism was a significant predictor for state-trait anxiety and stress, while unipolar optimism was a significant predictor for life satisfaction and unipolar pessimism was a significant predictor for trait anxiety for both samples. Bipolar optimism was a significant predictor for trait anxiety and life satisfaction for both samples whereas it was a significant predictor for state anxiety for the Singaporean sample. Optimists, pessimists, and neurotics in both samples tended to use different coping strategies. Limitations and implications are discussed.