Configural instability of data from the Life Orientation Test—Revised

Scores obtained with the Revised Life Orientation Test (LOT-R) are commonly interpreted according to the optimism–pessimism factorial model. Positive items would measure individual differences in positive outcome expectancy, and negative items would measure differences in negative outcome expectancy. Configural stability was assessed using four datasets from French adults, N1 = 429, N2 = 278, N3 = 468, and N4 = 909. Two times out of four the third positive item-variable could also be regressed on the pessimism factor, with a significant improvement of the goodness of fit. Moreover, the semantic content of the best items reveals that the positive vs. negative outcome expectancy interpretation of the factors was not self-consistent. Practical consequences for the use of the usual optimism composite score are discussed.