Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Oct;70(10):2793-2804.
doi: 10.1111/jgs.17897. Epub 2022 Jun 8.

Optimism, lifestyle, and longevity in a racially diverse cohort of women

Hayami K Koga  1 , Claudia Trudel-Fitzgerald  1   2   3 , Lewina O Lee  4   5 , Peter James  6 , Candyce Kroenke  7 , Lorena Garcia  8 , Aladdin H Shadyab  9 , Elena Salmoirago-Blotcher  10 , JoAnn E Manson  11   12 , Francine Grodstein  13 , Laura D Kubzansky  1   2
Affiliations

Optimism, lifestyle, and longevity in a racially diverse cohort of women

Hayami K Koga et al. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2022 Oct.

Abstract

Background: Research has suggested optimism is associated with healthy aging and exceptional longevity, but most studies were conducted among non-Hispanic White populations. We examined associations of optimism to longevity across racial and ethnic groups and assessed healthy lifestyle as a possible mediating pathway.

Methods: Participants from the Women's Health Initiative (N = 159,255) completed a validated measure of optimism and provided other demographic and health data at baseline. We evaluated associations of optimism with increments in lifespan using accelerated failure time models, and with likelihood of exceptional longevity (survival to age ≥90) using Poisson regression models. Causal mediation analysis explored whether lifestyle-related factors mediated optimism-lifespan associations.

Results: After covariate adjustment, the highest versus lowest optimism quartile was associated with 5.4% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 4.5, 6.4%) longer lifespan. Within racial and ethnic subgroups, these estimates were 5.1% (95%CI = 4.0, 6.1%) in non-Hispanic White, 7.6% (95%CI = 3.6, 11.7%) in Black, 5.4% (95%CI = -0.1, 11.2%) in Hispanic/Latina, and 1.5% (95% CI = -5.0, 8.5) in Asian women. A high proportion (53%) of the women achieved exceptional longevity. Participants in the highest versus lowest optimism quartile had greater likelihood of achieving exceptional longevity (e.g., full sample risk ratio = 1.1, 95%CI = 1.1, 1.1). Lifestyle mediated 24% of the optimism-lifespan association in the full sample, 25% in non-Hispanic White, 10% in Black, 24% in Hispanic/Latina, and 43% in Asian women.

Conclusions: Higher optimism was associated with longer lifespan and a greater likelihood of achieving exceptional longevity overall and across racial and ethnic groups. The contribution of lifestyle to these associations was modest. Optimism may promote health and longevity in diverse racial and ethnic groups. Future research should investigate these associations in less long-lived populations.

Keywords: aging; longevity; optimism; psychological well-being; race/ethnicity.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest

No financial disclosures were reported by the authors of this paper.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Distribution of optimism (A) and lifestyle score (B) by racial and ethnic groups.
Notes: The range of optimism score (LOT-R) is 6 to 30, and the range of lifestyle score is 0 to 5.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.. Percent increase in lifespan by quartiles of optimism for the full analytic sample and by racial and ethnic categories.
Notes: Q=quartile; Q1=reference group (least optimistic) The range of optimism scores (LOT-R) for quartiles of optimism are: ≤Q1≤21, 21
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Rozanski A, Bavishi C, Kubzansky LD, Cohen R. Association of Optimism With Cardiovascular Events and All-Cause Mortality: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. JAMA Netw Open. 2019;2(9):e1912200–e1912200. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.12200 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Scheier ME, Carver CS. Dispositional Optimism and Physical Well-Being: The Influence of Generalized Outcome Expectancies on Health. J Pers. 1987;55(2):169–210. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.1987.tb00434.x - DOI - PubMed
    1. Lee LO, James P, Zevon ES, et al. Optimism is associated with exceptional longevity in 2 epidemiologic cohorts of men and women. Proc Natl Acad Sci. Published online August 21, 2019:201900712. doi:10.1073/pnas.1900712116 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Health, United States, 2019. National Center for Health Statistics. Published May 26, 2021. Accessed September 10, 2021. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/hus/contents2019.htm - PubMed
    1. Plomin R, Scheier MF, Bergeman CS, Pedersen NL, Nesselroade JR, McClearn GE. Optimism, pessimism and mental health: A twin/adoption analysis. Personal Individ Differ. 1992;13(8):921–930. doi:10.1016/0191-8869(92)90009-E - DOI

Publication types