Demographic Differences in Coping with Uncertainty about the Future

Abstract

Age, gender, and regional differences in the responses of a Dutch population to the Prediction of Future Events Scale (Tobacyk, Nagot, & Mitchell, 1989) were explored. The factor structure of the scale was found to be identical to that in the U.S. study of Tobacyk et al., although the latter study accounted for 40.6% of the variance, whereas the present study accounted for 63.1% of the variance. Only 3 of the 7 factors could be considered reliable. Age appeared to be an important factor; the younger groups had more confidence than the older groups did in all methods of predicting the future. The scores for the western part of the Netherlands were systematically and significantly lower than those of the other regions, for all scales, and the women's scores for methods of prediction involving psi were higher than those of the men.