An Inventory of Positive Psychological Attitudes with Potential Relevance to Health Outcomes: Validation and Preliminary Testing

Abstract

This article describes the validation of an Inventory of Positive Psychological Attitudes that has potential relevance to health outcomes and its preliminary testing with chronic pain patients. The inventory taps two attitudinal domains: (1) life purpose and satisfaction and (2) self-confidence during potentially stressful situations. It also provides a total score. The inventory scales, developed using factor analysis, were found to have a strong degree of internal reliability and concurrent validity. Preliminary testing suggested that positive change on these scales correlates with positive changes in the health status of chronic pain patients. Multiple regression analyses suggested that the interactions of these positive psychological attitudes with health status are not fully accounted for by the interactions of negative psychological attitudes with health status.

Index Terms:

• health
• health-promoting attitudes
• positive attitudes
• psychological health
• self-confidence
• stress
• life purpose and satisfaction