Optimism is associated with mood, coping, and immune change in response to stress.

1998/01/01 by Suzanne C. Segerstrom, Shelley E. Taylor, Margaret E. Kemeny +1 · 521 citations
Psychology · Health Professions · #Optimism, Hope, and Well-being #Healthcare professionals’ stress and burnout #Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion #Psychology #Optimism #Coping (psychology) #Mood #Social psychology #Coping behavior #Clinical psychology #Developmental psychology

paper · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.74.6.1646

published in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 74(6), 1646-1655 (American Psychological Association)

openalex publication_date 1998/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11

Abstract

This study explored prospectively the effects of dispositional and situational optimism on mood (N = 90) and immune changes (N = 50) among law students in their first semester of study. Optimism was associated with better mood, higher numbers of helper T cells, and higher natural killer cell cytotoxicity. Avoidance coping partially accounted for the relationship between optimism and mood. Among the immune parameters, mood partially accounted for the optimism-helper T cell relationship, and perceived stress partially accounted for the optimism-cytotoxicity relationship. Individual differences in expectancies, appraisal, and mood may be important in understanding psychological and immune responses to stress.

Citations

• Dispositional Optimism and Physical Well‐Being: The Influence of Generalized Outcome Expectancies on Health
• Learned helplessness in humans: Critique and reformulation.
• Effects of optimism on psychological and physical well-being: Theoretical overview and empirical update
• Negative affectivity: The disposition to experience aversive emotional states.
• Unrealistic optimism about future life events.
• Emotional processing of fear: Exposure to corrective information.
• Illusion and well-being: A social psychological perspective on mental health.

Cited by

• Psychological resources, positive illusions, and health.
• Situated Optimism: Specific Outcome Expectancies and Self-Regulation
• Positive illusions [wikipedia]