Dataset Information

Positive affect during adolescence and health and well-being in adulthood: An outcome-wide longitudinal approach.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Several intergovernmental organizations, including the World Health Organization and United Nations, are urging countries to use well-being indicators for policymaking. This trend, coupled with increasing recognition that positive affect is beneficial for health/well-being, opens new avenues for intervening on positive affect to improve outcomes. However, it remains unclear if positive affect in adolescence shapes health/well-being in adulthood. We examined if increases in positive affect during adolescence were associated with better health/well-being in adulthood across 41 outcomes.

Methods and findings

We conducted a longitudinal cohort study using data from Add Health-a prospective and nationally representative cohort of community-dwelling U.S. adolescents. Using regression models, we evaluated if increases in positive affect over 1 year (between Wave I; 1994 to 1995 and Wave II; 1995 to 1996) were associated with better health/well-being 11.37 years later (in Wave IV; 2008; N = 11,040) or 20.64 years later (in Wave V; 2016 to 2018; N = 9,003). Participants were aged 15.28 years at study onset, and aged 28.17 or 37.20 years-during the final assessment. Participants with the highest (versus lowest) positive affect had better outcomes on 3 (of 13) physical health outcomes (e.g., higher cognition (β = 0·12, 95% CI = 0·05, 0·19, p = 0.002)), 3 (of 9) health behavior outcomes (e.g., lower physical inactivity (RR = 0·80, CI = 0·66, 0·98, p = 0.029)), 6 (of 7) mental health outcomes (e.g., lower anxiety (RR = 0·81, CI = 0·71, 0·93, p = 0.003)), 2 (of 3) psychological well-being (e.g., higher optimism (β = 0·20, 95% CI = 0·12, 0·28, p < 0.001)), 4 (of 7) social outcomes (e.g., lower loneliness (β = -0·09, 95% CI = -0·16, -0·02, p = 0.015)), and 1 (of 2) civic/prosocial outcomes (e.g., more voting (RR = 1·25, 95% CI = 1·16, 1·36, p < 0.001)). Study limitations include potential unmeasured confounding and reverse causality.

Conclusions

Enhanced positive affect during adolescence is linked with a range of improved health/well-being outcomes in adulthood. These findings suggest the promise of testing scalable positive affect interventions and policies to more definitively assess their impact on outcomes.

SUBMITTER: Kim ES

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10986977 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Positive affect during adolescence and health and well-being in adulthood: An outcome-wide longitudinal approach.

Kim Eric S ES Wilkinson Renae R Okuzono Sakurako S SS Chen Ying Y Shiba Koichiro K Cowden Richard G RG VanderWeele Tyler J TJ

PLoS medicine 20240402 4

<h4>Background</h4>Several intergovernmental organizations, including the World Health Organization and United Nations, are urging countries to use well-being indicators for policymaking. This trend, coupled with increasing recognition that positive affect is beneficial for health/well-being, opens new avenues for intervening on positive affect to improve outcomes. However, it remains unclear if positive affect in adolescence shapes health/well-being in adulthood. We examined if increases in pos ...[more]

PMID: 38564500

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Dataset Information

Positive affect during adolescence and health and well-being in adulthood: An outcome-wide longitudinal approach.

Background

Methods and findings

Conclusions

Publications

Positive affect during adolescence and health and well-being in adulthood: An outcome-wide longitudinal approach.

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