Pessimistic Outlook on Life Linked to Life Expectancy

Summary: Pessimistic people are more likely to die earlier from cardiovascular disease and other causes, but not from cancer than those who have a more optimistic outlook on life. However, optimists did not have a greater than average life expectancy.

Source: QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute

A new QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute study has found people who are strongly pessimistic about the future are at greater risk of dying earlier than those who are not pessimists.

The researchers also found, however, that being an optimist did not extend life expectancy.

The lead researcher, Dr. John Whitfield from QIMR Berghofer’s Genetic Epidemiology group, said study participants who scored higher on pessimism in a questionnaire were likely to die on average two years earlier than those with low scores.

“We found people who were strongly pessimistic about the future were more likely to die earlier from cardiovascular diseases and other causes of death, but not from cancer,” Dr. Whitfield said.

“Optimism scores on the other hand did not show a significant relationship with death, either positive or negative.

“Less than nine percent of respondents identified as being strongly pessimistic. There were no significant differences in optimism or pessimism between men and women. On average, an individual’s level of either optimism or pessimism increased with age.

“We also found depression did not appear to account for the association between pessimism and mortality.”

The researchers used data collected from almost 3,000 participants who completed the Life Orientation Test as part of a broader questionnaire that looked at the health of Australians aged over 50 between 1993 and 1995.

The participants were invited to agree or disagree with a number of statements including positive statements such as, ‘I’m always optimistic about my future’ or negative statements such as, ‘If something can go wrong for me, it will’.

The participants’ details were then cross checked with the Australian National Death Index in October 2017 to find out how many people had died and their cause of death. (More than 1,000 participants had died.)

This shows two fingers, one has a smiley face drawn on it, the other has a frowning face
Dr. Whitfield said the research findings raised questions about the practical health benefits of training people out of pessimism. Image is credited to QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute.

Previous studies have shown a correlation between optimism and pessimism and specific diseases such as cardiovascular disease or stroke, but most previous studies also put optimism and pessimism on one scale.

This resulted in people who received low scores on the pessimism questions being classed as optimists, but Dr. Whitfield said that was not always an accurate reflection of people’s outlooks.

“Optimism and pessimism are not direct opposites,” Dr. Whitfield said.

“The key feature of our results is that we used two separate scales to measure pessimism and optimism and their association with all causes of death.

“That is how we discovered that while strong pessimism was linked with earlier death, those who scored highly on the optimism scale did not have a greater than average life expectancy.”

“We think it’s unlikely that the disease caused the pessimism because we did not find that people who died from cancer had registered a strong pessimism score in their tests. If illness was leading to higher pessimism scores, it should have applied to cancers as well as to cardiovascular disease.”

Dr. Whitfield said the research findings raised questions about the practical health benefits of training people out of pessimism.

“Understanding that our long term health can be influenced by whether we’re a cup-half-full or cup-half-empty kind of person might be the prompt we need to try to change the way we face the world, and try to reduce negativity, even in really difficult circumstances.”

About this longevity research article

Source:
QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute
Media Contacts:
Press Office – QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute
Image Source:
The image is credited to QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute.

Original Research: Open access
“Pessimism is associated with greater all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, but optimism is not protective”. by John B. Whitfield, Gu Zhu, J. George Landers & Nicholas G. Martin. Scientific Reports.


Abstract

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

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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