This is the presentation I gave at the National Conference of Undergraduate Research at the University of Montana in April.

1. The Association between Optimism and Health: Engaging in Proactive Health Behaviors Lauren Rouse Peace College Raleigh, NC

2. Introduction Global health concerns Nutrition (Ree, Riediger & Moghadasian, 2008) Obesity (Yetter, 2009) Breast cancer (Coughlin & Ekwueme, 2009) Injuries (Satcher, 2000)

3. Introduction Preferences, behaviors, and attitudes Risk preference (Anderson & Mellor, 2008) Delay discounting and time perspective (Daughtery & Brase, 2010) Work stressors and behaviors (Jones, O’Connor, Conner, McMillian & Ferguson, 2007) Affective and cognitive attitudes (Lawton, Conner & McEachan, 2009)

4. Introduction Optimism (Scheier & Carver, 1985) Better physical health Increased motivation and superior achievement (Schluman, 1999) Psychological benefits Gratitude (Alspach, 2009) Lower levels of stress and physical symptoms (O’Brien, VanEgeren & Mumby, 1995)

5. Introduction Optimism and proactive health behaviors Vitamins (Scheier & Carver, 1992) Unhealthy lunches (Scheier & Carver, 1992) Pregnancy and exercise (Lobel, DeVincent, Kaminer & Meyer , 2000) Writing tasks (Cameron and Nicholls, 1998)

6. Hypothesis It is hypothesized that the association between optimism and health is mediated by engaging in proactive health behaviors. Optimism Healthy Behaviors Better Health

7. Method 34 participants Peace College students Ages 17-23 29.7% first years, 29.7% sophomores, 21.6% juniors, 19% seniors 31 were single, 1 was engaged, 2 provided no response Extra credit or partial course credit

8. Method Medical Outcomes Questionnaire (Hays, Sherbourne and Mazel, 1995) 35 questions 8 subscales “Compared to one year ago, how would you rate your health in general now?” “How often does your physical health limit you from doing schoolwork?” “Did you feel peppy?”

9. Method Life Orientation Test (Scheier & Carver, 1985) 12 questions 5-point Likert-type scale Strongly disagree, disagree, agree, strongly agree “In uncertain times, I usually expect the best.”

10. Method Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (Walker, Sechrist and Pender, 1987) 52 questions 4-point Likert-type scale Never, sometimes, often, routinely 6 subscales “Discuss my problems and concerns with people close to me.”

11. Results Correlational analyses Optimism was correlated with: Spiritual growth (r = .33, p = .063) Optimism was marginally correlated with: Stress management (r = .47, p = .006) Physical symptoms (r = -.34, p = .04)

12. Results Mediational analyses Proactive health behaviors were regressed onto health: F (3, 29) = 4.87, p = .007 Optimism was regressed onto health: F (1, 30) = 4.66, p = .04 Proactive health behaviors and optimism were regressed onto health: F (4, 27) = 3.38, p = .023

13. Table 1 – Multiple Regression Analyses * significant

14. Discussion Implications Influencing individuals Limitations NC, social desirability bias, question wording, LOT-R Future research Genetic factors (Mosing, Zietsch, Shekar, Wright & Martin, 2009) Daily mood (Baker, 2007) Academic performance (Aydin & Tezer, 1991) Longitudinal research

15. Acknowledgements I want to express my appreciation to the Peace College Psychology Program with great appreciation to faculty advisor Dr. Betty Witcher and all participants of the study.

16. References Alspach, G. (2009). Extending the tradition of giving thanks: Recognizing the health benefits of gratitude. Critical Care Nurse, 29(6), 12-18. Anderson, L. R. & Mellor, J. M. (2008). Predicting health behaviors with an experimental measure of risk preference. Journal of Health Economics, 27(5), 1260-1274. Aydin, G. & Tezer, E. (1991). The relationship of optimism to health complaints and academic performance. Psikoloji Dergisi, 7(26), 2-9. Baker, S. R. (2007). Dispositional optimism and health status, symptoms and behaviours: Assessing idiothetic relationships using a prospective daily diary approach. Psychology and Health, 22(4), 431-455.

17. References Cameron, L. D. & Nicholls, G. (1998). Expression of stressful experiences though writing: Effects of a self regulation manipulation for pessimists and optimists. Health Psychology, 17(1), 84-92. Coughlin, S. S. & Ekwueme, D. U. (2009). Breast cancer as a global health concern. Cancer Epidemiology, 33(5), 315-318. Daugherty, J. R. & Brase, G. L. (2010). Taking time to be healthy: Predicting health behaviors with delay discounting and time perspective. Personality and IndividualDifferences, 48(2), 202-207. Hays, R., Sherbourne, C., & Mazel, R. (1995). User’s manual for the medical outcomes study (MOS) core measures of health-related quality of life. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation.

18. References Jones, F., O’Connor D. B., Conner, M., McMillian B., & Ferguson, E. (2007). Impact of daily mood, work hours, and iso-strain variables on self-reported health behaviors. Journal ofApplied Psychology, 92(6), 1731-1740. Lawton, R., Conner, M., & McEachan, R. (2009) Desire or reason: Predicting health behaviors from affective and cognitive attitudes. Health Psychology, 28(1), 56-65 Lobel, M., DeVincent, C. J., Kaminer, A., & Meyer, B. A. (2000). The impact of prenatal maternal stress and optimistic disposition on birth outcomes in medically high-risk women. Health Psychology, 19(6), 544-553. Mosing, M. A., Zietsch, B. P., Shekar, S. N., Wright, M. J., & Martin, N. G. Genetic and environmental influences on optimism and its relationship to mental and self-rated health: A study of aging twins. Behavior Genetics, 39(6), 597-604.

19. References O’Brien, W. H., VanEgeren L., & Mumby P. B. (1995). Predicting health behaviors using measures of optimism and perceived risk. Health Values: The Journal of Health Behavior, Education & Promotion. 19(1), 21-28. Ree, M., Riediger, N. & Moghadasian, M. H. (2008). Factors affecting food selection in Canadian population. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 62(11), 1255-1262. Satcher, D. (2000). Injury: An overlooked global health concern. Journal of the American Medical Association, 284(8), 950. Scheier, M. F. & Carver, C. S. (1985). Optimism, coping, and health: Assessment and implications of generalized outcome expectancies. Health Psychology, 4(3), 219-247.

20. References Scheier, M. F. & Carver, C. S. (1992). Effects of optimism on psychological and physical well-being: Theoretical overview and empirical update. Cognitive Therapy andResearch, 16(2), 201-228. Schulman (1999). Applying learned optimism to increased sales productivity. Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, 19(1). 31-37. Walker, S. N., Sechrist, K. R., & Pender, N. J. (1987). The health-promoting lifestyle profile: Development and psychometric characteristics. Nursing Research, 36(2), 76-81. Watson, D. & Pennebaker, J. W. (1989). Health complaints, stress, and distress: Exploring the central role of negative affectivity. Psychological Review, 96, 234-254. Yetter, G. (2009). Exercise-based school obesity prevention programs: An overview. Psychology in the Schools, 46(8), 739-747.