This article examines whether optimism and health-related hardiness contribute to health and well-being among older women. Positive psychological characteristics, including optimism and health-related hardiness, are correlated with good self-rated health, but these variables are all affected by socioeconomic status, social support, physical illness and access to services. Using data from 9501 Australian women aged 73 to 78, we show that optimism and health-related hardiness explain a significant proportion of variance in all subscales of the SF-36, and in stress, even after these confounders are taken into account. The data, although cross-sectional, suggest that positive personal characteristics may contribute to well-being.
Achat, H. , Kawachi, I. , Spiro, A. , DeMolles, D. , & Sparrow, D. (2000). Optimism and depression as predictors of physical and mental health functioning: The normative aging study . Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 22, 127–130 .
2.
Beckham, J. , Burker, E. , Rice, J. , & Talton, S. (1995). Patient predictors of caregiver burden, optimism, and pessimism in rheumatoid arthritis . Behavioral Medicine, 20, 171–178 .
3.
Ben-Zur, H. (2000). Coping, affect and aging: The roles of mastery and self-esteem . Personality and Individual Differences, 32, 357–372 .
4.
Brown, W. , Bryson, L. , Byles, J. E. , Dobson, A. J. , Lee, C. , Mishra, G. , & Schofield, M. (1998). Women’s Health Australia: Recruitment for a national longitudinal cohort study . Women and Health, 28, 23–40 .
5.
Byles, J. (1999). Over the hill and picking up speed: Older women of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health . Australasian Journal of Ageing, 18(3), 55–62 .
6.
Chamberlain, K. , Petrie, K. , & Azariah, R. (1992). The role of optimism and sense of coherence in predicting recovery following surgery . Psychology and Health, 7, 301–310 .
7.
Clarke, P. J. , Marshall, V. W. , Ryff, C. D. , & Wheaton, B. (2001). Measuring psychological well-being in the Canadian Study of Health and Aging . International Psychogeriatrics, 13(Supp. 1), 79–90 .
8.
Coburn, D. F. (2000). Income inequality, social cohesion and the health status of populations: The role of neo-liberalism . Social Science and Medicine, 51, 135–146 .
9.
Department of Primary Industries and Energy , Department of Human Services and Health . (1994). Rural, remote and metropolitan areas classification: 1991 census edition. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service .
10.
Funk, S. , & Houston, B. (1987). A critical analysis of the Hardiness Scale’s validity and utility . Journal of the Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 572–578 .
11.
Gatz, M. , Harris, J. , & Turk-Charles, S. (1995). The meaning of health for older women. In A. Stanton & S. J. Gallant (Eds.), The psychology of women’s health (pp. 491–532). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association .
12.
Hollingsworth, E. , & Hollingsworth, J. (1994). Care of the chronically and severely ill. New York: Aldine de Gruyter .
13.
Kobasa, S. , Maddi, S. , & Kahn, S. (1982). Hardiness and health: A prospective study . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42, 168–177 .
14.
Lee, C. (1998). Women’s health: Psychological and social perspectives. London: Sage Publications .
15.
Levy, B. R. , Slade, M. D. , Kunkel, S. R. , & Kasl, S. V. (2002). Longevity increased by positive self-perceptions of aging . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 261–270 .
16.
Lightsey, O. (1996). What leads to wellness? The role of psychological resources in well-being . The Counseling Psychologist, 24, 589–735 .
17.
McCallum, J. (1995). The SF-36 in an Australian sample: Validating a new generic health status measure . Australian Journal of Public Health, 19, 160–166 .
18.
McNeil, K. , Kozma, A. , Stones, M. , & Hannah, E. (1986). Measurement of psychological hardiness in older adults . Canadian Journal of Aging, 5(1), 43–48 .
19.
Nicholas, P. (1993). Hardiness, self-care practices and perceived health status in older adults . Journal of Advanced Nursing, 18, 1085–1094 .
20.
Peterson, C. , & de Avila, M. E. (1995). Optimistic explanatory style and the perception of health problems . Journal of Clinical Psychology, 51, 128–132 .
21.
Pollock, S. , & Duffy, M. (1990). The Health-Related Hardiness Scale: Development and psychometric analysis . Nursing Research, 39, 218–222 .
22.
Ranzijn, R. (2002). Towards a positive psychology of ageing: Potentials and barriers . Australian Psychologist, 37, 79–85 .
23.
Scheier, M. , & Carver, C. (1985). Optimism, coping and health: Assessment and implications of generalized outcome expectancies . Health Psychology, 4, 219–247 .
24.
Scheier, M. , & Carver, C. (1987). Dispositional optimism and physical well-being: The influence of generalized outcome expectancies on health . Journal of Personality, 55, 169–210 .
25.
Scheier, M. , & Carver, C. (1992). Effects of optimism on psychological and physical well-being: Theoretical overview and empirical update . Cognitive Therapy and Research, 16, 201–228 .
26.
Scheier, M. , Carver, C. , & Bridges, M. (1994). Distinguishing optimism from neuroticism (and trait anxiety, self-mastery, and self-esteem): A reevaluation of the life orientation test . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 1063–1078 .
27.
Sharpley, C. F. , & Yardley, P. (1999). The relationship between cognitive hardiness, explanatory style, and depression–happiness in postretirement men and women . Australian Psychologist, 34, 198–203 .
28.
Sinclair, R. , & Tetrick, L. (2000). Implications of item wording for hardiness structure, relation with neuroticism, and stress buffering . Journal of Research in Personality, 34, 1–25 .
29.
Smith, G. C. , Kohn, S. J. , Savage-Stevens, S. E. , Finch, J. J. , Ingate, R. , & Lim, Y. O. (2000). The effects of interpersonal and personal agency on perceived control and psychological well-being in adulthood . Gerontologist, 40, 458–468 .
30.
Snyder, C. R. , & Lopez, S. J. (Eds.). (2002). Handbook of positive psychology. Oxford: Oxford University Press .
31.
Steptoe, A. (1989). The significance of personal control in health and disease. In A. Steptoe & A. Appels (Eds.), Stress, personal control and health (pp. 309–318). New York: Wiley .
32.
Strawbridge, W. J. , Camacho, T. C. , Cohen, R. D. , & Kaplan, G. A. (1993). Gender differences in factors associated with change in physical functioning in old age: A 6-year longitudinal study . Gerontologist, 33, 603–609 .
33.
Suurmeijer, T. P. B. M. , Doeglas, D. M. , Briancon, S. , Krijnen, W. P. , Krol, B. et al. (1995). The measurement of social support in the ‘European research on incapacitating diseases and social support’: The development of social support questionnaire for transactions . Social Science and Medicine, 40, 1221–1229 .
34.
Walter, S. D. , Feinstein, A. R. , & Wells, C. K. (1987). Coding ordinal independent variables in multiple regression analyses . American Journal of Epidemiology, 125, 319–323 .
35.
Ware, J. E. , Kosinski, M. , & Keller, S. D. (1994). SF-36 Physical and Mental Health Summary Scales: A user’s manual. Boston, MA: The Health Institute, New England Medical Center .
36.
Women’s Health Australia . (2001). Report 16 on Australian longitudinal study on women’s health, June 2001. Newcastle: Research Centre for Gender and Health, University of Newcastle .
37.
Young, A. F. , Russell, A. , & Powers, J. R. (in press). The sense of belonging to a neighbourhood: Can it be measured and is it related to health and wellbeing in older women?Social Science and Medicine.
