Pessimism is associated with greater all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, but optimism is not protective

Abstract

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.

Estimated probabilities of positive, vs. negative, events show separable correlations with COVID-19 preventive behaviours

“…While pessimism has shown stronger relationships with health outcomes than optimism has ( Felt et al, 2020 ; Scheier et al, 2021 ; Whitfield et al, 2020 ), we found pessimism was unrelated to health behaviours . Studies on pessimism and health outcomes generally assessed pessimism with the items “If something can go wrong for me, it will”; “I hardly ever expect things to go my way”; and “I rarely count on good things happening to me” from the LOT.…”

“…However, optimism and pessimism are somewhat separable ( Chang et al, 1997 ; Robinson-Whelan et al, 1997 ) – although this issue is debated ( Rauch et al, 2007 ; Segerstrom et al, 2011 ) – and can show separable relationships with health outcomes ( Craig et al, 2021 ). Scheier et al (2021) reanalysed 61 samples from this literature and found that pessimism correlated more with health outcomes than optimism did, and somewhat more than a combined optimism/pessimism measure (see Felt et al, 2020 ; Whitfield et al, 2020 ). Importantly, optimism and pessimism can also show independent relationships with health behaviours : Taylor et al (2004) found pessimism, more than optimism, correlated with the activity levels of Black girls (see also Serlachius et al, 2015 ; Thompson & Gaudreau, 2008 ).…”

Differential Effects of Optimism and Pessimism on Adolescents’ Subjective Well-Being: Mediating Roles of Reappraisal and Acceptance

“…A review addressing the neural basis of optimism and pessimism has also indicated that optimism and pessimism are differentially associated with the two cerebral hemispheres [ 26 ]. Moreover, contrary to the unidimensional point of view, the developmental tendencies of optimism and pessimism among older people are not in opposite directions [ 22 ], which is further supported by the evidence from adolescent studies [ 23 ].…”

“…Most of the studies cited used the Life Orientation Test (LOT) [ 11 ] or its revision (LOT-R) developed by Scheier and his colleagues [ 12 ] to measure dispositional optimism, treating dispositional optimism as a unidimensional construct. Although there were some studies supporting the unidimensional view [ 13 , 14 ], more recently, mounting studies have suggested that optimism and pessimism seem to represent two independent constructs [ 4 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ]. Evidence from behavior genetic studies has demonstrated that optimism and pessimism are distinct systems [ 15 ].…”

“…However, most of the existing research on the benefits of dispositional optimism in various life outcomes struggles to answer this question, as they treat optimism and pessimism as bipolar in nature [ 8 ]. Occasionally, a handful of studies have separately explored the different roles of optimism and pessimism, mainly in the field of physical health [ 4 , 16 , 17 , 21 , 22 ]. Recently, a meta-analysis from Scheier et al [ 4 ], based on data from 61 separate samples of previously published studies, separated optimism and pessimism and examined their relative strength in contributing to associations with health.…”