Correlates of well-being in adulthood and old age: A tale of two optimisms

Are older adults more optimistic than younger adults, and does optimism relate to well-being differently across the adult lifespan? This study attempted to address these issues by testing the link between two optimism constructs, explanatory style and dispositional optimism, and well-being in a sample of 280 young, middle-aged, and older adults. Consistent with socioemotional selectivity theory, older adults had more optimistic explanatory styles than their younger counterparts in the positive affiliation domain, and this effect remained significant after controlling for a number of demographic and affective covariates. In contrast, older individuals reported less optimistic explanatory styles for negative health/cognitive events. No age differences in dispositional optimism or pessimism remained after controlling for covariates. Main effects of negative affiliation explanatory style and dispositional optimism and pessimism were found in the prediction of well-being measures across age groups. However, no significant Age × Optimism interactions emerged in the prediction of depression or life satisfaction, providing no support for the assertion that optimism may relate to well-being differently at different times in the adult life span.