Prospective data from the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative study of older US adults, was analyzed to examine the relationship between optimism and heart failure, adjusting for sociodemographic, biological, behavioral, and psychological covariates. Higher optimism was associated with a lower risk of incident heart failure during the follow-up period, and these effects persisted when accounting for covariates.
Martin Seligman's multidimensional theory of psychological well-being, PERMA (positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment), was empirically tested on a sample of Australian male students (age 13-18). Researchers selected a subset of theoretically relevant items from an extensive well-being assessment. Four of the fiver PERMA elements emerged from a factor analysis, along with two ill-being factors.
An analysis of baseline examination data from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Artherosclerosis was conducted in order to investigate predictors of cardiovascular health (CVH) - a global measure of one's burden of cardiovascular risk factors. Neighborhood environment - such as favorable food stores, physical activity resources, and walking/physical activity environment - and neighborhood socioeconomic status were found to be associated with ideal CVH.