Optimism/Pessimism and Future Orientation in Predicting Depressive Symptoms and Suicide Behavior in Primary Care Adults

Abstract

In the present study, we examine the role of optimism-pessimism as a unique predictor of suicide risk, measured by depressive symptoms and suicidal behavior. To gain a better contextual understanding of the relationship of optimism-pessimism and maladjustment, we also included future orientation in our analyses to examine its role as an additive predictor of suicide risk. An interactive model was also utilized to examine the possibility of pessimism being less maladaptive than optimism. Results of hierarchical regression analyses indicated that optimism-pessimism is a significant unique predictor of suicide risk. Furthermore, the inclusion of future orientation in the analyses showed that future orientation plays an additive role in predicting suicide risk above and beyond optimism-pessimism. Finally, the interaction of optimism-pessimism and future orientation accounted for additional variance in both depressive symptoms and suicidal behavior above and beyond the two factors alone. In other words, future orientation was found to moderate the relationship of optimism-pessimism and maladjustment. Implications of the present findings in understanding the relationship between optimism-pessimism and suicide risk in primary care patients are discussed.