The influence of hope and optimism on trajectories of COVID-19 stress, health anxiety, and wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic posed a threat to public health and psychological functioning, with early studies documenting higher rates of psychopathology within the United States and globally. Hope and optimism promote adjustment and are associated with positive physical and mental health outcomes. Thus, individual differences in hope and optimism may also foster resilience during a global health crisis.

Aims: The current study examined how hope and optimism influenced longitudinal health-focused distress and wellbeing during the pandemic.

Methods: Data were collected from 788 American adults across three periods during Spring-Summer 2020 using MTurk. Latent growth curve modeling examined whether hope and optimism predicted COVID stress, health anxiety, and wellbeing trajectories.

Results: COVID stress and health anxiety decreased after the onset of the pandemic, whereas wellbeing was stable. Individually, hope and optimism predicted lower initial COVID stress and health anxiety, along with greater initial wellbeing. When examining the combined influence of hope and optimism, optimism was more strongly related to health-focused distress, though both were strong predictors of wellbeing.

Conclusions: These findings indicate that Americans were resilient and positive expectancies, particularly optimism, predicted better initial adjustment to the early phases of the pandemic. Thus, positive expectancies appear to be protective during a global health crisis.

Keywords: COVID‐19; hope; optimism; pandemic; resilience; wellbeing.