Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Breathing easy: A prospective study of optimism and pulmonary function in the normative aging study

  • Published:
Annals of Behavioral Medicine

Abstract

Although there is good evidence that emotions are associated with chronic airways obstruction, evidence for the influence of psychological factors on the level and decline of pulmonary function is sparse. Optimism has been linked to enhanced well-being, whereas pessimism has been identified as a risk factor for poor physical health. This investigation examines prospectively the effects of optimism versus pessimism on pulmonary function. Data are from the Veterans Administration Normative Aging Study, an ongoing cohort of older men. In 1986, 670 men completed the revised Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory from which we derived the bipolar Revised Optimism-Pessimism Scale. During an average of 8 years of follow-up, an average of 3 pulmonary function exams were obtained. Men with a more optimistic explanatory style had significantly higher levels of forced expiratory volume in 1 sec (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (both p > .01). Interactions between time and optimism suggested that rate of decline in FEV1 over time was slower in men with a more optimistic explanatory style relative to men who were more pessimistic. These data are the first to link optimism with higher levels of pulmonary function and slower rate of pulmonary function decline in older men, a protective effect that is independent of smoking.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Alexander F:Psychosomatic Medicine: Its Principles and Applications. New York: Norton, 1950.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Wright RJ, Rodriguez M, Cohen S: Review of psychosocial stress and asthma: An integrated biopsychosocial approach.Thorax. 1998,53:1066–1074.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Camilli AE, Burrows B, Knudson RJ, Lyle SK, Lebowitz MD: Longitudinal changes in forced expiratory volume in one second in adults: Effects of smoking and smoking cessation.American Review of Respiratory Diseases. 1987,135:794–799.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Burrows B, Lebowitz MD, Camilli A, Knudson RJ: Longitudinal changes in forced expiratory volume in one second in adults. Methodologic considerations and findings in healthy nonsmokers.American Review of Respiratory Diseases. 1986,133:974–980.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Bone RC, Higgins MW, Hurd SS, Reynolds HY: NHLBI workshop summary: Research needs and opportunities related to respiratory health of women.American Review of Respiratory Diseases. 1992,146:528–535.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Murphy SL: Deaths: Final data for 1998.National Vital Statistics Reports. 2000,48:26.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Peterson C, Bossio LM:Health and Optimism. New York: Free Press, 1991.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Peterson C, Seligman MEP, Vaillant GE: Pessimistic explanatory style is a risk factor for physical illness: A thirtyfive year longitudinal study.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1988,55:23–27.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Peterson C, Seligman MEP, Yurko KH, Martin LR, Friedman HS: Catastrophizing and untimely death.Psychological Science. 1998,9:127–130.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Seligman MEP:Learned Optimism. New York: Knopf, 1991.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Kamen LP, Seligman MEP: Explanatory style and health.Current Psychology: Research and Reviews. 1987,6:207–218.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Maruta T, Colligan RC, Malinchoc M, Offord KP: Optimists vs. pessimists: Survival rate among medical patients over a 30-year period.Mayo Clinic Proceedings. 2000,75:140–143.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Peterson C: Explanatory style as a risk factor for illness.Cognitive Therapy and Research. 1988,12:117–130.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Rich EA: The role of immune abnormalities and inflammation in causing and perpetuating COPD. In Cherniack NS (ed),Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1991, 235–248.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Snider GL: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease—A continuing challenge.American Review of Respiratory Diseases. 1986,133:942–944.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. O’Shaughnessy TC, Ansari TW, Barnes NC, Jeffrey PK: Inflammation in bronchial biopsies of subjects’ chronic bronchitis: Inverse relationship of CD8+ Tlymphocytes with FEV1.American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 1997,155:852–857.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Keatings VM, Jatakanon A, Wordsell YM, Barnes PJ: Effects of inhaled and oral glucocorticoids on inflammatory indices in asthma and COPD.American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 1997,155:542–548.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Keatings VM, Collins PD, Scott DM, Barnes PJ: Differences in interleukin-8 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha in induced sputum from patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or asthma.American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 1996,153:530–534.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. McEwen BS, Stellar E: Stress and the individual: Mechanisms leading to disease.Archives of Internal Medicine. 1993,153:2093–2101.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Kamen-Siegel L, Rodin J, Seligman MEP, Dwyer J: Explanatory style and cell-mediated immunity in elderly men and women.Health Psychology. 1991,10:229–235.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. de Jong JW, van der Belt-Gritter B, Koeter GH, Postma DS: Peripheral blood lymphocyte cell subsets in subjects with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: Association with smoking, IgE, and lung function.Respiratory Medicine. 1997,91:67–76.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Kaptein AA, Brand PL, Dekker FW, et al.: Quality-of-life in a long-term multicentre trial in chronic nonspecific lung disease: Assessment at baseline.European Respiratory Journal. 1993,6:1479–1484.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Bell B, Rose CI, Damon A: The Normative Aging Study: An interdisciplinary and longitudinal study of health and aging.International Journal of Aging and Human Development. 1972,3:5–17.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Malinchoc M, Offord KP, Colligan RC: PSM-R: Revised optimism-pessimism scale for the MMPI-2 and MMPI.Journal of Clinical Psychology. 1995,51:205–214.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Seligman MEP:Helplessness: On Depression, Development, and Death. San Francisco: Freeman, 1975.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Schulman P, Castellon C, Seligman MEP: Assessing explanatory style: The content analysis of verbatim explanations and the Attributional Style Questionnaire.Behavior Research and Therapy. 1989,27:505–512.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Peterson C, Luborsky L, Seligman MEP: Attributions and depressive mood shifts: A case study using the symptom-context method.Journal of Abnormal Psychology. 1983,92:96–103.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Peterson C, Bettes BA, Seligman MEP: Depressive symptoms and unprompted causal attributions: Content analysis.Behavior Research and Therapy. 1985,23:379–382.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Colligan RC, Offord KP, Malinchoc M, Schulman P, Seligman MEP: CAVEing the MMPI for an optimism-pessimism scale: Seligman’s attributional model and the assessment of explanatory style.Journal of Clinical Psychology. 1994,50:71–95.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Butcher JN, Dahlstrom WG, Graham JR, Tellegen A, Kaemmer A:MMPI-2: Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2. Manual for administration and scoring. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1989.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Ferris BGJ: Epidemiology standardization project.American Review of Respiratory Diseases. 1978,118: 1–88.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Weinfurt KP: Repeated measures analyses: ANOVA, MANOVA, and HLM. In Grimm LG, Yarnold PR (eds),Reading and Understanding More Multivariate Statistics. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2000, 317–363.

    Google Scholar 

  33. Bijleveld CCJH, van der Kamp LJT, Mooijaart A, et al.:Longitudinal Data Analysis: Designs, Models, and Methods. London: Sage, 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  34. Bryk AS, Raudenbush SW:Hierarchical Linear Models: Applications and Data Analysis Methods. Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  35. Ware JH, Weiss S: Statistical issues in longitudinal research on respiratory health.American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 1996,154:S212-S216.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Griffith KA, Sherrill DL, Siegel EM, et al.: Predictors of loss of lung function in the elderly: The Cardiovascular Health Study.American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 2001,163:61–68.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  37. Burns MO, Seligman MEP: Explanatory style across the life span: Evidence for stability over 52 years.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1989,56:471–477.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  38. Peterson C, de Avila ME: Optimistic explanatory style and the perception of health problems.Journal of Clinical Psychology. 1995,51:128–132.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  39. Romagnani S: TH1 and TH2 subsets: Regulation of differentiation and the role in protection and immunopathology.Internal Archives of Allergy and Immunology. 1992,98:279–285.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  40. Saetta M, Findelstein R, Cosio MG: Morphological and cellular basis for airflow limitations in smokers.Thorax. 1998,53:129–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Dykema J, Bergbower K, Peterson C: Pessimistic explanatory style, stress, and illness.Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology. 1995,14:357–371.

    Google Scholar 

  42. Peterson C, Seligman MEP: Causal explanations as a risk factor for depression: Theory and evidence.Psychological Review. 1984,91:347–374.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  43. Segerstrom SC, Taylor SE, Kemeny ME, Reed GM, Visscher BR: Causal attributions predict rate of immune decline in HIV-seropositive gay men.Health Psychology. 1996,15:485–493.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  44. Peterson C, Bossio LM: Optimism and physical well-being. In Chang EC (ed),Optimism and Pessimism: Implications for Theory, Research, and Practice. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2000, 127–146.

    Google Scholar 

  45. Anderson CA, Arnoult LH: Attributional style and everyday problems in living: Depression, loneliness, and shyness.Social Cognition. 1985,3:16–35.

    Google Scholar 

  46. Fredrickson BL: What good are positive emotions?Review of General Psychology. 1998,2:300–319.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Scheier MF, Carver CS: Effects of optimism on psychological and physical well-being: Theoretical overview and empirical update.Cognitive Therapy and Research. 1992,16:201–228.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Fletcher C, Peto R, Tinker C, Speizer FE:The Natural History of Chronic Bronchitis and Emphysema. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1976.

    Google Scholar 

  49. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services:The Health Consequences of Smoking: Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease: A Report of the Surgeon General. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1984.

    Google Scholar 

  50. Hammond EC, Horn D: Smoking and death rates: Report on forty-four months of follow-up of 187,783 men. I. Total mortality.Journal of the American Medical Association. 1958,166:1159.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  51. Steinberg M, Becklake MR: Socioenvironmental factors and lung function.South African Medical Journal. 1986,70:270–274.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  52. Kubzansky LD, Kawachi I, Sparrow D: Hope for the heart: Optimism, socioeconomic status, and coronary heart disease. New York Academy of Sciences Conference, Bethesda, MD, 1999.

  53. Beck AT, Rush AJ, Shaw BF, Emery G:Cognitive Therapy of Depression. New York: Guilford, 1979.

    Google Scholar 

  54. Plomin R, Scheier MF, Bergeman CS, et al.: Optimism, pessimism, and mental health: A twin/adoption analysis.Personality and Individual Differences. 1992,13:921–930.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. Gillham JE, Shatte AJ, Reivich KJ, Seligman ME: Optimism, pessimism, and explanatory style. In Chang EC (ed),Optimism and Pessimism: Implications for Theory, Research, and Practice. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2000, 301–320.

    Google Scholar 

  56. Hollon SD, Shelton RC, Loosen PT: Cognitive therapy and pharmacotherapy for depression.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 1991,59:88–99.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health and Social Behavior, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, 02115, Boston, MA

    Laura D. Kubzansky Ph.D., Scott Weiss M.D., M.S., Bernard Rosner Ph.D. & David Sparrow D.Sc.

  2. Channing Laboratory, Harvard Medical School Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Boston University School of Medicine, UK

    Rosalind J. Wright M.D., M.P.H.

  3. Carnegie Mellon University, USA

    Sheldon Cohen Ph.D.

Authors
  1. Laura D. Kubzansky Ph.D.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Rosalind J. Wright M.D., M.P.H.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Sheldon Cohen Ph.D.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Scott Weiss M.D., M.S.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Bernard Rosner Ph.D.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. David Sparrow D.Sc.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Laura D. Kubzansky Ph.D..

Additional information

Dr. Wright and Dr. Kubzansky are supported by the MacArthur Foundation Network on Socioeconomic Status and Health. The Normative Aging Study is supported by the Cooperative Studies Program/ERIC, Department of Veterans Affairs, and is a component of the Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center. Dr. Cohen is supported by a Senior Scientist Award from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH00721). Dr. Sparrow is a Research Career Scientist of the Medical Research Service of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

About this article

Cite this article

Kubzansky, L.D., Wright, R.J., Cohen, S. et al. Breathing easy: A prospective study of optimism and pulmonary function in the normative aging study. ann. behav. med. 24, 345–353 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1207/S15324796ABM2404_11

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1207/S15324796ABM2404_11

Keywords

Search

Navigation