Spiritual Practices and Dispositional Optimism in an Underprivileged Population

We use a survey conducted in February of 2015, in the town of Lascano (department of Rocha, Uruguay). Our sample is composed of 284 individuals over 18 years of age, each uniquely associated to his/her household (284 households represents approximately 10 percent of all households in the town).

The survey collects data on socio-demographic characteristics of the individuals, and it also includes two sections that are of particular interest for us. One consists of four religion-related items and the other is a unidimensional dispositional optimism section.