Optimism, coping style and emotional well-being in cardiac patients

Abstract

Objective. Optimism is associated with superior emotional well-being in people with chronic and acute health problems, possibly because optimists are more likely to implement problem-focused coping. Another interpretation posits that optimism can be a defensive response designed to diminish affective reactions to health problems. The study objective is to investigate this possibility. Design. A cross-sectional examination of relationships between dispositional and relative optimism, threat avoidance and emotional well-being in 85 cardiac patients. Results. Blunting, a measure of threat avoidance, was found to be associated with both optimism and emotional well-being, and the common variance ..