Different Conceptualizations of Optimism/Pessimism and Their Relationship with Physical and Mental Health and Health-Related Behaviors
Background: There are practically no studies on the relationship between defensive pessimism and health. The objectives are (i) To examine the relationship between dispositional optimism and physical and mental health, and also between health behaviors, and (ii) To determine possible differences in...
| Autores: | , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2018 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia |
| Repositorio: | e-spacio. Repositorio Institucional de la UNED |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:e-spacio.uned.es:20.500.14468/23960 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14468/23960 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | 61 Psicología Defensive pessimism Dispositional pessimism Dispositional optimism Mental health Physical health Health protective behaviors Age differences |
| Sumario: | Background: There are practically no studies on the relationship between defensive pessimism and health. The objectives are (i) To examine the relationship between dispositional optimism and physical and mental health, and also between health behaviors, and (ii) To determine possible differences in physical and mental health, and health behaviors, exploring three different conceptualizations of optimism/pessimism. Methods: The association between dispositional optimism (LOT-R), and physical and mental health (SF-36), and Health-Related Behaviors (HBC), were examined. We applied the OPQ to extract three groups from the total of participants, classified as dispositional-realistic pessimism, defensive pessimism, and dispositional-realistic optimism. Results: Dispositional optimism was a predictor of all the components of mental and physical health, it predicted mental health more strongly, is also a predictor of preventive health behavior. In the comparison of the study groups, dispositional-realistic optimism had the highest score in the SF-36 and in the Preventive Health Behavior. In Substance Risk Taking, defensive pessimism and dispositional-realistic optimism have a protective connotation. Conclusions: Dispositional optimism is a significant predictor of good mental and physical health outcomes. Dispositional-realistic optimists enjoy better health status and/or better quality of life in the different areas of mental and physical health, and perform more healthy behaviors. Of the study groups, on average, dispositional-realistic optimists were older. |
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