Optimism and Pessimism in Children with Cancer and Healthy Children: Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Youth Life Orientation Test and Relations with Health-Related Quality of Life

Authors

Natalie A. Williams, University of Nebraska–LincolnFollow
Genevieve Davis, University of Memphis
Miriam Hancock, University of Memphis
Sean Phipps, University of Memphis

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

7-2010

Citation

J Pediatr Psychol. 35(6): pp. 672-682, DOI: 10.1093/jpepsy/jsp084.

Comments

Copyright © 2009 The Author. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Abstract

Objective To test the measurement equivalence of the Youth Life Orientation Test (YLOT) in children with cancer (N = 199) and healthy controls (N = 108), and to examine optimism and pessimism as predictors of children's health-related quality of life (HRQL).

Methods Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to establish the two factor structure of the YLOT and to test for metric invariance.

Results A two-factor structure for the YLOT was confirmed and found to be stable across our study groups. There were no differences in mean levels of optimism and pessimism between cancer patients and controls after controlling for race/ethnicity. Higher optimism was associated with lower self-reports of pain and better emotional/behavioral functioning, whereas pessimism was related to poorer mental health and general behavior, and greater impact on the family.

Conclusions Optimism and pessimism appear to be differentially related to certain aspects of children's HRQL, and should be investigated separately in relation to these outcomes.