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Does Health Perception, Dietary Habits and Lifestyle Effect Optimism? A Quantitative and Qualitative Study

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GeNeDis 2016

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 988))

Abstract

The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between optimism, general health perception, nutritional habits and lifestyle. A quantitative study was conducted on 500 Greek adults. A standardized questionnaire was used which consisted of the General Health Self-Assessment Questionnaire (GHSAQ), the Life Orientation Test-Revised (GrLOT-R), the dietary habits and lifestyle questionnaire. A qualitative study was conducted through interviews and focus groups. Participants’ average score of GrLot-R was 20.47 (±4.017) units. The highest GrLot-R score was statistically correlated to more frequent consumption of fruits, salads, dairy products, olive oil, high-fibre cereals and water and to the lower consumption of canned products. Multivariate analysis showed that optimism is significantly positively predicted by the factors “Vitamin K & A”, “Vitamin C”, and negatively by “Preservatives.” There was also a positive correlation between GrLot-R and GHSAQ. The qualitative study analysis showed that physical exercise, duration/quality of sleeping, family and stress affected participants’ optimism. It seems that intrinsic factors as vitamins, preservatives, a healthy lifestyle and extrinsic factors as the family background and the environment that someone is raised, affect the level of optimism.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Human Movement and Quality of Life Sciences, Department of Nursing, Efstathiou & Stamatikis Valioti and Plateon, University of Peloponnese, Sparti, 23100, Greece

    Aikaterini Kargakou & Andrea Paola Rojas Gil

  2. Faculty of Finance and Statistics, Department of Statistics and Insurance Science, University of Piraeus, 80, M. Karaoli & A. Dimitriou Street, Piraeus, 18534, Greece

    Athanasios Sachlas

  3. General Hospital of Nikaia “Agios Panteleimon”, 3 D. Mandouvalou St, Nikaia, 18454, Piraeus, Greece

    Georgios Lyrakos

  4. Department of Nursing, Faculty of Human Movement and Quality of Life Sciences, University of Peloponnese, Sparta, Greece

    Sofia Zyga & Maria Tsironi

Authors
  1. Aikaterini Kargakou
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  2. Athanasios Sachlas
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  3. Georgios Lyrakos
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  4. Sofia Zyga
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  5. Maria Tsironi
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  6. Andrea Paola Rojas Gil
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Aikaterini Kargakou or Andrea Paola Rojas Gil .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Informatics, Bioinformatics and Human Electrophysiology Laboratory, Ionian University, Corfu, Greece

    Panayiotis Vlamos

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Kargakou, A., Sachlas, A., Lyrakos, G., Zyga, S., Tsironi, M., Rojas Gil, A.P. (2017). Does Health Perception, Dietary Habits and Lifestyle Effect Optimism? A Quantitative and Qualitative Study. In: Vlamos, P. (eds) GeNeDis 2016. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 988. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56246-9_4

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