Growing evidence has linked positive psychological attributes like optimism to a lower risk of poor health outcomes, especially cardiovascular disease. It has been demonstrated in randomized trials that optimism can be learned. If associations between optimism and broader health outcomes are established, it may lead to novel interventions that improve public health and longevity. In the present...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Although higher optimism has been linked to an array of positive health outcomes, the association between optimism and incidence of stroke remains unclear, especially among older adults. We examined whether higher optimism was associated with a lower incidence of stroke. METHOD Prospective data from the Health and Retirement Study--a nationally representative panel stud...

OBJECTIVE Fear of pain and pain catastrophizing are prominent risk factors for pediatric chronic pain-related maladjustment. Although resilience has largely been ignored in the pediatric pain literature, prior research suggests that optimism might benefit youth and can be learned. We applied an adult chronic pain risk-resilience model to examine the interplay of risk factors and optimism on fun...

Using the interpersonal perspective, we examined social correlates of dispositional optimism. In Study 1, optimism and pessimism were associated with warm-dominant and hostile-submissive interpersonal styles, respectively, across four samples, and had expected associations with social support and interpersonal stressors. In 300 married couples, Study 2 replicated these findings regarding interp...

Socioeconomic status is associated with health disparities, but underlying psychosocial mechanisms have not been fully identified. Dispositional optimism may be a psychosocial process linking socioeconomic status with health. We hypothesized that lower optimism would be associated with greater social disadvantage and poorer social mobility. We also investigated whether life satisfaction and pos...

This study reports about the construction of a bidimensional measure of optimism and pessimism (defined as positive and negative outcome expectancies), called the Japanese Optimism and Pessimism Scale (J-OPS), and examines its reliability and validity. The participants were college students. The results revealed the following: (a) the J-OPS had sufficient reliability and validity, (b) optimism ...

BACKGROUND Understanding the relationships between social and psychological determinants of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is a critical step in developing effective screening tools and targeted interventions for psychosocial care. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between dispositional optimism and HRQOL in newly diagnosed adult cancer patients. ME...

This study investigated the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and perceived stress (PS) in dental undergraduates. All dental undergraduates attending a UK dental school were invited to complete a questionnaire on age, gender, year of study, EI, and PS. Two hundred and thirteen students (48 percent male) participated, a response rate of 70 percent. The mean score for EI was 117.54...