Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/177095 
Year of Publication: 
2018
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 11291
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This research note explores the consequences of dispositional optimism and hopefulness when the environment changes. Much literature has documented the importance of a positive outlook in pursuing investments in health and education that pay off in the future. A question that has received less attention is whether a positive outlook creates resilience in the face of setbacks or whether a positive outlook may be a disadvantage in extreme circumstances, especially when there is a large mismatch between expectations and reality. This paper uses the coincidental interview schedule of the Add Health data (N=15,024) around the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001 to examine interactions with this environmental shock and previously elicited measures of hopefulness. The results suggest that increases in depressive symptoms following the attack are concentrated among those young adults who initially expressed the most hopefulness in the future as teenagers.
Subjects: 
evolutionary psychology
hopefulness
mismatch
depressive symptoms
trauma
JEL: 
D91
I12
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
272.19 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.