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
Comparative Study
. 2002 Jun;25(3):219-31.
doi: 10.1023/a:1015376510466.

Do optimism and pessimism predict physical functioning?

Gretchen A Brenes  1 , Stephen R Rapp, W Jack Rejeski, Michael E Miller
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Do optimism and pessimism predict physical functioning?

Gretchen A Brenes et al. J Behav Med. 2002 Jun.

Abstract

Dispositional optimism has been shown to be related to self-report measures of health and well-being, yet little research has examined the relationship between optimism and more objective measures of functioning. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between optimism and pessimism and objective physical functioning. Four hundred eighty community-dwelling older adults with knee pain completed a measure of optimism and pessimism and were observed performing four daily activities (walking, lifting an object, climbing stairs, and getting into and out of a car). Results indicated that pessimism was significantly related to performance on all four tasks (p < .001), while optimism was related to performance only on the walking task (p < .05), after controlling for demographic and health variables.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Arch Intern Med. 1999 Apr 26;159(8):829-35 - PubMed
    1. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1997 Dec;73(6):1345-53 - PubMed
    1. J Rheumatol. 1995 Jun;22(6):1124-9 - PubMed
    1. Arthritis Rheum. 1988 Jun;31(6):721-8 - PubMed
    1. Health Psychol. 1985;4(3):219-47 - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources