ArticleJournal of pediatric psychology2024
Optimism, pessimism, and physical health among youth: a scoping review.
Article in Journal of pediatric psychology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Tracing psychological resources and mental health: the role of sense of coherence, resilience and self-efficacy in young adulthood.Frontiers in child and adolescent psychiatry · 2026Article
- Article
- Psychopathological Risk During Adolescent Study-Abroad: A Larger-Cohort Update of a Previous Longitudinal Study.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2025Article
- What Keeps Night Owls Well During the Week? Sleep Onset Consistency as a Moderator Between Morningness-Eveningness and Adolescent Development.Behavioral sleep medicineArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveHigh levels of optimism (and low levels of pessimism) are associated with improved physical health in adults. However, relatively less is known about these relations in youth. The present study aimed to review the literature investigating optimism, pessimism, and physical health in children and adolescents from populations with and without health conditions.
methodsWe conducted a scoping review up until February 2024. Studies were included if they sampled youth (average age ≤18 years) and treated optimism or pessimism as predictors of health behaviors or outcomes. Data on study and sample characteristics, health outcome, optimism construct, and findings were extracted from eligible papers and results were synthesized.
resultsSixty studies were retained. Most studies were conducted in North America, with adolescents, and used cross-sectional designs and self-reported measures of health. Measures of optimism and pessimism differed across studies. Roughly one-third of studies sampled medical populations. Health categories included substance use, diet and physical activity, sexual health practices, medical adherence, other health behaviors, cardiometabolic health, subjective health/health-related quality of life, pain, sleep, and oral health. Generally, we observed adaptive associations between optimism and health. Higher optimism and lower pessimism were most consistently associated with lower rates of substance use and lower cardiometabolic risk.
conclusionsThe presence of optimism or the absence of pessimism appears to be associated with various adaptive health outcomes among youth with and without health conditions. Developmental, methodological, and clinical considerations for future research are discussed, such as conducting longitudinal studies with objective measures of health and psychometrically validated instruments.
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