Coping Behaviors as Predictors of Hedonic Well-Being in Asian Indians: Does Being Optimistic Still Make a Difference?

The present study examined optimism, as measured by the Life Orientation Test-Revised, and coping behaviors, as measured by the COPE scale, as predictors of hedonic well-being (viz., life satisfaction, positive affect, and subjective happiness) in a sample of 462 Asian Indians (237 women and 225 men). We hypothesized that optimism would remain an important predictor of well-being even after accounting for coping behaviors. Results of conducting hierarchical regression analyses indicated that coping behaviors, as a set, accounted for a significant amount of unique variance in each of the three measures of hedonic well-being (f(2) range = .16 to .39), after controlling for key demographic and socioeconomic factors (e.g., age, sex, parent education level, and family income). Noteworthy, the use of humor was found to be the only consistent coping predictor across the three indices of hedonic well-being. Importantly, when optimism was included in the prediction model, it was consistently found to account for additional variance in hedonic well-being (f(2) range = .11 to .15), beyond coping behaviors. These findings are the first to affirm the centrality of optimism in predicting hedonic well-being in Asian Indians. Accordingly, efforts to foster hedonic well-being in Asian Indians might benefit from not only changing coping behaviors, but also from building greater optimism.