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Optimism as a Candidate Health Asset: Exploring Its Links With Adolescent Quality of Life in Sweden
Author(s) -
Häggström Westberg Katrin,
Wilhsson Marie,
Svedberg Petra,
Nygren Jens M.,
Morgan Antony,
Nyholm Maria
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/cdev.12958
Subject(s) - optimism , pessimism , psychology , context (archaeology) , asset (computer security) , quality of life (healthcare) , intervention (counseling) , developmental psychology , future orientation , health promotion , clinical psychology , gerontology , social psychology , psychiatry , public health , medicine , psychotherapist , nursing , paleontology , philosophy , computer security , epistemology , computer science , biology
This study aims to understand the role that optimism could play in the context of a health asset approach to promote adolescent health‐related quality of life ( HRQOL ). Adolescents ( n = 948), between 11 and 16 years old from a medium‐sized rural town in Sweden, answered questionnaires measuring optimism, pessimism, and HRQOL . The findings indicate a significant decrease in optimism and a significant increase in pessimism between early and midadolescence. The study has allowed us to present associational evidence of the links between optimism and HRQOL . This infers the potential of an optimistic orientation about the future to function as a health asset during adolescence and by implication may provide additional intervention tool in the planning of health promotion strategies.