• Online Features  This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on Web of Science (35)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Psychiatry  • Stress  • Public Health  • Cardiovascular System  • Public Health, Other  • Quality of Life  • Cardiovascular Disease/ Myocardial Infarction  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Benefits of Healthy Psychological Functioning

Laura D. Kubzansky, PhD; Rebecca C. Thurston, PhD

Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2007;64(12):1393-1401. doi:10.1001/archpsyc.64.12.1393

Context  The potentially toxic effects of psychopathology and poorly regulated emotion on physical health have long been considered, but less work has addressed whether healthy psychological functioning may also benefit physical health. Emotional vitality—characterized by a sense of energy, positive well-being, and effective emotion regulation—has been hypothesized to reduce risk of heart disease, but no studies have examined this relationship.

Objectives  To examine whether emotional vitality is associated with reduced risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). Secondary aims are to consider whether effects are independent of negative emotion and how they may occur.

Design  A prospective population-based cohort study.

Setting  National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey I and follow-up studies (a probability sample of US adults).

Participants  Six thousand twenty-five men and women aged 25 to 74 years without CHD at baseline, followed up for a mean 15 years after the baseline interview.

Main Outcome Measures  Measures of incident CHD were obtained from hospital records and death certificates. During the follow-up period, 1141 cases of incident CHD occurred.

Results  At the baseline interview (1971-1975), participants completed the General Well-being Schedule from which we derived a measure of emotional vitality. Compared with individuals with low levels, those reporting high levels of emotional vitality had multivariate-adjusted relative risks of 0.81 (95% confidence interval, 0.69-0.94) for CHD. A dose-response relationship was evident (P < .001). Significant associations were also found for each individual emotional vitality component with CHD, but findings with the overall emotional vitality measure were more reliable. Further analyses suggested that one way in which emotional vitality may influence coronary health is via health behaviors. However, the effect remained significant after controlling for health behaviors and other potential confounders, including depressive symptoms or other psychological problems.

Conclusion  Emotional vitality may protect against risk of CHD in men and women.

Author Affiliations: Department of Society, Human Development, and Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts (Dr Kubzansky); and Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Dr Thurston).

CiteULike    Connotea    Delicious    Digg    Facebook    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Positive health, cardiorespiratory fitness and fatness in children and adolescents
Padilla-Moledo et al.
Eur J Public Health 2012;22:52-56.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Positive affect measured using ecological momentary assessment and survival in older men and women
Steptoe and Wardle
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2011;108:18244-18248.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Heart health when life is satisfying: evidence from the Whitehall II cohort study
Boehm et al.
Eur Heart J 2011;32:2672-2677.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Dispositional Optimism Protects Older Adults From Stroke: The Health and Retirement Study
Kim et al.
Stroke 2011;42:2855-2859.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Psychosocial biomarker research: integrating social, emotional and economic factors into population studies of aging and health
Steptoe
Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2011;6:226-233.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Healthy Psychological Functioning and Incident Coronary Heart Disease: The Importance of Self-regulation
Kubzansky et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 2011;68:400-408.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Psychosocial Factors in the Development of Heart Disease in Women: Current Research and Future Directions
Low et al.
Psychosom. Med. 2010;72:842-854.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Feeling Vigorous and the Risks of All-Cause Mortality, Ischemic Heart Disease, and Diabetes: A 20-Year Follow-up of Healthy Employees
Shirom et al.
Psychosom. Med. 2010;72:727-733.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Perceived Level of Life Enjoyment and Risks of Cardiovascular Disease Incidence and Mortality: The Japan Public Health Center-Based Study
Shirai et al.
Circulation 2009;120:956-963.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Building Emotional Resilience to Promote Health
Davis
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF LIFESTYLE MEDICINE 2009;3:60S-63S.
ABSTRACT  

Depression and heart disease: What do we know, and where are we headed?
POZUELO et al.
Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine 2009;76:59-70.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Depressed Mood, Positive Affect, and Heart Rate Variability in Patients With Suspected Coronary Artery Disease
Bhattacharyya et al.
Psychosom. Med. 2008;70:1020-1027.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Positive Psychological Well-Being and Mortality: A Quantitative Review of Prospective Observational Studies
Chida and Steptoe
Psychosom. Med. 2008;70:741-756.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Emotional Health = Heart Health
JWatch Psychiatry 2008;2008:1-1.
FULL TEXT