The way optimists cope with stress at work

Previous studies on dispositional optimism and pessimism have showed that high level of optimism predicted less perceived stress and less health problems. Some studies also show that optimists tend to use active coping strategies more than pessimists do. The aim of the current study was to investigate the role of optimism in relation to coping with stress at work. An Internet based questionnaire was sent to 1345 female and male employees at both managerial and non-managerial level working in a Swedish telecom company. The company develops internet based services and products, and provides individual solutions for communications needs for both small and large organizations. The departments where the participants work are comparable to call centres. Altogether 950 employees (71%) participated in the study. The coping strategies that were examined were active coping, seeking emotional support, seeking instrumental support, acceptance, positive reinterpretation and growth, venting of emotions and social joining. The results showed that high level of optimism was positively related to some of the coping strategies. These were active coping, seeking instrumental support and social joining. In addition the results show that optimism was negatively related to acceptance and venting of emotions. It can be concluded that optimism is related to several coping strategies in the study. Future research about stress at work should address personality factors such as optimism