Changes in optimism and pessimism in response to life events: Evidence from three large panel studies.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Chopik WJ
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7405987 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Maintaining good cognitive function is important for successful aging, and it has been suggested recently that having and optimistic outlook may also be valuable. However few have studied the relationship between cognitive ability and dispositional optimism and pessimism in older age. It is unclear whether associations found previously between cognitive ability and pessimism in older age, are evident across the life course, and are consistent at different points in older age. In the present study we examined associations between dispositional optimism and pessimism measured in the eighth and ninth decade of life and childhood and older age cognitive ability, and lifetime change in cognitive ability. Participants were two independent narrow-age samples of older individuals with mean ages about 73 (n = 847) and 87 (n = 220) years from the Lothian Birth Cohorts of 1936 (LBC1936) and 1921 (LBC1921), respectively. Higher cognitive ability in childhood and older-age, and healthier cognitive change across the lifetime were associated with lower pessimism in older age: age-11 IQ (LBC1936: ? = - 0.17, p < 0.001; LBC1921: ? = - 0.29, p = 0.001), older-age IQ (LBC1936: ? = - 0.18, p < 0.001; LBC1921: ? = - 0.27, p < 0.001), cognitive change (LBC1936: ? = - 0.06, p < 0.04; LBC1921: ? = - 0.15, p = 0.05). Cognitive ability was not significantly associated with optimism in bivariate analyses, and after adjustment for covariates had only small associations with optimism and only in the LBC1936. The results are consistent with differential associations between cognitive functions and optimism and pessimism, and indicate that their associations with cognitive ability are similar in the eighth and ninth decades of life.
| S-EPMC5466381 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectiveStudies have demonstrated the importance of optimism in predicting perceived general health. However, the handful of studies focusing on cardiovascular biomarkers show inconsistent effects. Additionally, no study examined whether spousal levels of optimism and pessimism affect an individual's biological markers of cardiovascular health. Thus, our objectives were to examine whether partners' optimism and pessimism affect individual biological markers, differentiating between between-dyad associations and within-dyad predictive processes.MethodsThree waves of the Health and Retirement Study collected in 2006, 2010, and 2014 were used to test actor and partner effects of optimism and pessimism on C-reactive protein (CRP) and high-density lipoprotein. Multilevel longitudinal actor-partner models were used to examine the contribution of a partner's optimism and pessimism to each biomarker, adjusting for respondent's age, sex, depression, body mass index, daily activity levels, and a summary score of respondent's doctor-diagnosed chronic conditions.ResultsPartners' pessimism and optimism levels were moderately associated. Results for within-person effects were all non-significant, both within and across waves. Associations at the between-person level were also non-significant, with the exception of a positive association between husbands' pessimism and their own CRP, and husbands' optimism and their wives' CRP.ConclusionsResults suggest that optimism and pessimism may not play a pertinent role in within variability of biomarkers of cardiovascular diseases and have a minor role in predicting to between-person variability of biomarkers of cardiovascular diseases.
| S-EPMC7606535 | biostudies-literature
Project description:This paper proposes a new deep learning approach to better understand how optimistic and pessimistic feelings are conveyed in Twitter conversations about COVID-19. A pre-trained transformer embedding is used to extract the semantic features and several network architectures are compared. Model performance is evaluated on two new, publicly available Twitter corpora of crisis-related posts. The best performing pessimism and optimism detection models are based on bidirectional long- and short-term memory networks. Experimental results on four periods of the COVID-19 pandemic show how the proposed approach can model optimism and pessimism in the context of a health crisis. There is a total of 150,503 tweets and 51,319 unique users. Conversations are characterised in terms of emotional signals and shifts to unravel empathy and support mechanisms. Conversations with stronger pessimistic signals denoted little emotional shift (i.e. 62.21% of these conversations experienced almost no change in emotion). In turn, only 10.42% of the conversations laying more on the optimistic side maintained the mood. User emotional volatility is further linked with social influence.
| S-EPMC9758015 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Scores on an optimistic-pessimistic personality scale have been associated with mortality, but optimism and pessimism scores are separable traits and it is unclear which has effects on health or longevity. The Life Orientation Test (LOT), containing items for optimism and pessimism, was included in a twin study on health of Australians aged over 50 in 1993-1995. After a mean of 20 years, participants were matched against death information from the Australian National Death Index. 1,068 out of 2,978 participants with useable LOT scores had died. Survival analysis tested for associations between separate optimism and pessimism scores and mortality from any cause, and from cancers, cardiovascular diseases or other known causes. Age-adjusted scores on the pessimism scale were associated with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality (Hazard Ratios per 1 standard deviation unit, 95% confidence intervals and p-values 1.134, 1.065-1.207, 8.85 × 10-5 and 1.196, 1.045-1.368, 0.0093, respectively) but not with cancer deaths. Optimism scores, which were only weakly correlated with pessimism scores (age-adjusted rank correlation = - 0.176), did not show significant associations with overall or cause-specific mortality. Reverse causation (disease causing pessimism) is unlikely because in that case both cardiovascular diseases and cancers would be expected to lead to pessimism.
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Project description:Depression is a significant global public health burden, and older adults may be particularly vulnerable to its effects. Among other risk factors, interpersonal conflicts, such as perceived criticism from family members, can increase risk for depressive symptoms in this population. We examined family criticism as a predictor of depressive symptoms and the potential moderating effect of optimism and pessimism.One hundred five older adult, primary care patients completed self-report measures of family criticism, optimism and pessimism, and symptoms of depression. We hypothesized that optimism and pessimism would moderate the relationship between family criticism and depressive symptoms.In support of our hypothesis, those with greater optimism and less pessimism reported fewer depressive symptoms associated with family criticism.Therapeutic enhancement of optimism and amelioration of pessimism may buffer against depression in patients experiencing familial criticism.
| S-EPMC3840145 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Although dispositional optimism and pessimism are associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD), their relative independence and unique contributions to CVD risk are unclear. This study addressed these issues by using multiple indicators of optimism and pessimism and linking them to objective risk factors for CVD. A diverse sample of adults (N = 300) completed baseline assessments (including global reports of optimism and pessimism), a 2-day/1-night EMA protocol with ambulatory blood pressure (BP) at 45-min intervals, and had inflammatory markers and carotid intima media imaging collected. EMA reports of momentary positive and negative expectations were averaged to form intraindividual (person) means of optimism and pessimism, respectively. Optimism and pessimism were only modestly correlated between- and within-assessment methods. Higher pessimism, regardless of assessment method, predicted both lower odds of whether BP dipping occurred and a smaller degree of dipping, but was unrelated to other biomarkers. Optimism was not uniquely predictive of CVD risk factors. Pessimism thus appears to exhibit stronger relative contribution to risk indicators of CVD than optimism.
| S-EPMC7363506 | biostudies-literature
Project description:A nationally representative panel study of British households was used to examine the extent to which Big Five personality traits interact with the experience of major life events (marriage, childbirth, unemployment, and widowhood) to predict increases and decreases in life satisfaction following the event. Results show that major life events are associated with changes in life satisfaction, and some of these changes are very long lasting. Personality traits did not have consistent moderating effects on the association between stressful life events and life satisfaction over time.
| S-EPMC3462459 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The outbreak of the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus has an enormous impact on health. People's views about the virus impact public health efforts to mitigate the pandemic. In this study, we measured misconceptions toward coronavirus in the Jordanian population; 2,544 participants from the Jordanian population completed an online survey. Questions in the survey addressed misconceptions divided into four categories: optimism bias, pessimism bias, magical beliefs, and conspiracy theory beliefs. Questions were evaluated on a Likert scale, and average/median scores for each category were evaluated ("one" high misconception to "five" low misconception). Overall, the most common misconceptions involved conspiracy theory beliefs (2.68 ± 0.83), whereas the least common involved magical beliefs (2.25 ± 0.75). Females had more misconceptions than males (2.52 versus 2.47, P = 0.04). Participants who had attended a lecture on coronavirus, had a higher level of education, worked in a medical field, lived in urban area, or resided in Amman or northern Jordan had fewer misconceptions about SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 (2.64, 2.34, 2.33, 2.50 and 2.50 versus 2.53, 2.73, 2.72, 2.64, and 2.66, respectively, P < 0.001). The use of social media appeared to be an important factor influencing the likelihood of false beliefs (2.61 versus 2.38, P < 0.001). Understanding of the factors influencing public perceptions surrounding the SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 pandemic will help public health authorities improve public understanding and compliance with public health recommendations directed at combatting the virus, including the use of surgical masks, thorough handwashing, and avoiding close contact. These messages will be better received by the public through correcting misconceptions surrounding COVID-19.
| S-EPMC8103486 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The main aim of this research was to examine the role of optimism-pessimism, general trust and belief in conspiracy theories, in COVID-19 related fears, preventive and hoarding behaviors. We also examined the role of different sources of information in these relations. The convenience sample was used (N?=?412) and it consisted of individuals from Serbia (N?=?292) and Latin-America (N?=?120). Following instruments were used: The Life Orientation Test (Scheier, Carver, & Bridges, 1994), Trust in people scale (Arbor, 1964), questions regarding fear, source of information, preventive behaviors and conspiracy constructed for the purposes of this research. The results suggest that fear of food shortage was the most pronounces one in both samples, followed by fear for oneself and finally by the fear for beloved others. Results suggest that optimists, those with high level of general trust and those who do not believe in conspiracy theories show lower level of fear and higher level of preventive behaviors. Pessimists on the other hand, show higher level of fear. Fear was related to all information sources suggesting that more information leads to higher intensity of fear – except information from the president which did not show any effect.
| S-EPMC7316035 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundOptimism is a disposition characterised by positive future expectancies, while pessimism is characterised by expecting the worst. High optimism and low pessimism promote the health of older adults and may potentiate full engagement in life. We identified socioeconomic, behavioural, and social factors associated with optimism and pessimism in older adults.MethodsParticipants included 10,146 community-dwelling, apparently healthy Australian adults aged 70 years and over from the ASPREE Longitudinal Study of Older Persons (ALSOP). Optimism and pessimism were measured using the revised Life Orientation Test. Cross-sectional ordinal logistic regression was used to determine the socioeconomic, behavioural, and social health factors associated with optimism and pessimism.ResultsHigher education, greater physical activity, lower loneliness, and volunteering were associated with higher optimism and lower pessimism. Low social support was associated with higher pessimism. Higher socioeconomic advantage, greater income, and living alone were associated with lower pessimism. Women were more optimistic and less pessimistic than men. The association of age, smoking status, and alcohol consumption with optimism and pessimism differed for men and women.ConclusionsFactors associated with higher optimism and lower pessimism were also those demonstrated to support healthy ageing. Health-promotion action at the individual level (e.g., smoking cessation or regular physical activity), health professional level (e.g., social prescribing or improving access and quality of care for all older adults), and community level (e.g., opportunities for volunteer work or low-cost social activities for older adults) may improve optimism and reduce pessimism, possibly also promoting healthy ageing.
| S-EPMC9961087 | biostudies-literature