Summary: New research finds that women with higher levels of optimism tend to live longer and are more likely to reach age 90, across a racially and ethnically diverse cohort.
Source: Wiley
A large study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society examined more than 159,000 women from a racially and ethnically diverse cohort and found that greater optimism was associated with longer lifespan and higher odds of surviving to age 90. Researchers also explored whether healthier lifestyle behaviors could account for some of this relationship and found that lifestyle factors explained a meaningful portion—but not all—of the association between optimism and longevity.
After adjusting for demographic and health-related variables, women in the highest quartile of optimism lived an estimated 5.4% longer than those in the lowest quartile. This advantage was visible across most racial and ethnic subgroups in the study, though the magnitude varied.
Lead author Hayami K. Koga of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health emphasized that although optimism can be shaped by social and structural forces, its benefits for longevity appear consistent across racial and ethnic groups. The authors suggest optimism could be a promising target for interventions aimed at improving long-term health and lifespan.
About this longevity research news
Author: Dawn Peters
Source: Wiley
Contact: Dawn Peters – Wiley
Image: The image is in the public domain
Original Research: Open access. “Optimism, Lifestyle, and Longevity in a Racially Diverse Cohort of Women” by Hayami K. Koga et al., Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
Abstract
Optimism, Lifestyle, and Longevity in a Racially Diverse Cohort of Women
Background
Previous studies have linked optimism with healthier aging and exceptional longevity, but most research has focused on largely non-Hispanic White populations. This study set out to evaluate whether the optimism-longevity relationship holds across diverse racial and ethnic groups and to assess whether healthy lifestyle behaviors—such as physical activity, diet, body mass index, smoking, and alcohol use—might help explain that relationship.
Methods
The analysis used data from the Women’s Health Initiative (N = 159,255). At baseline, participants completed a validated measure of optimism and provided demographic and health information. Researchers used accelerated failure time models to estimate differences in lifespan associated with optimism levels, and Poisson regression models to assess the likelihood of achieving exceptional longevity, defined here as survival to age 90 or older. Causal mediation analysis examined the extent to which lifestyle-related factors mediated the optimism-lifespan associations.
Results
After adjusting for key covariates, women in the highest optimism quartile lived an estimated 5.4% longer overall (95% confidence interval [CI] = 4.5% to 6.4%) compared with those in the lowest quartile. Within racial and ethnic subgroups, the estimated increases in lifespan for the highest versus lowest optimism quartile were: 5.1% (95% CI = 4.0% to 6.1%) in non-Hispanic White women; 7.6% (95% CI = 3.6% to 11.7%) in Black women; 5.4% (95% CI = −0.1% to 11.2%) in Hispanic/Latina women; and 1.5% (95% CI = −5.0% to 8.5%) in Asian women.
More than half of the participants (53%) reached exceptional longevity. Women in the highest optimism quartile had a modestly higher likelihood of surviving to age 90 (overall risk ratio ≈ 1.1). In mediation analyses, lifestyle factors explained approximately 24% of the optimism-longevity association in the full sample. The proportion mediated varied by group: 25% in non-Hispanic White women, 10% in Black women, 24% in Hispanic/Latina women, and 43% in Asian women.
Conclusions
Higher optimism was consistently associated with longer lifespan and a greater chance of reaching age 90 across a racially and ethnically diverse cohort of women. Lifestyle factors accounted for a meaningful but partial share of this association, indicating that optimism may benefit longevity through multiple pathways. The findings suggest that promoting optimism—alongside healthy behaviors—could be an effective component of strategies to support healthy aging. The authors recommend further research to test these associations in populations with different baseline longevity patterns and to explore the mechanisms linking optimism to long-term health.