Do subjective and objective resilience measures assess unique aspects and what is their relationship to adolescent well‐being?

Optimism, pessimism, and physical health among youth: a scoping review

OBJECTIVE

High levels of optimism (and low levels of pessimism) are associated with improved physical health in adults. However, relatively less is known about these relations in youth. The present study aimed to review the literature investigating optimism, pessimism, and physical health in children and adolescents from populations with and without health conditions.

METHODS

We conducted a scoping review up until February 2024. Studies were included if they sampled youth (average age ≤18 years) and treated optimism or pessimism as predictors of health behaviors or outcomes. Data on study and sample characteristics, health outcome, optimism construct, and findings were extracted from eligible papers and results were synthesized.

RESULTS

Sixty studies were retained. Most studies were conducted in North America, with adolescents, and used cross-sectional designs and self-reported measures of health. Measures of optimism and pessimism differed across studies. Roughly one-third of studies sampled medical populations. Health categories included substance use, diet and physical activity, sexual health practices, medical adherence, other health behaviors, cardiometabolic health, subjective health/health-related quality of life, pain, sleep, and oral health. Generally, we observed adaptive associations between optimism and health. Higher optimism and lower pessimism were most consistently associated with lower rates of substance use and lower cardiometabolic risk.

CONCLUSIONS

The presence of optimism or the absence of pessimism appears to be associated with various adaptive health outcomes among youth with and without health conditions. Developmental, methodological, and clinical considerations for future research are discussed, such as conducting longitudinal studies with objective measures of health and psychometrically validated instruments.

Promotion of Healthy Habits in University Students: Literature Review

The increase in responsibilities, together with the multiple challenges that students face in the university period, has a direct impact on their healthy lifestyles. This literature review describes the benefits of promoting healthy habits in college, highlighting the fundamental role of prevention and promotion. A systematic review was carried out following the PRISMA recommendations, searching for information in the WOS and Scopus databases. On the other hand, a search was carried out within the existing and available grey literature. The review focused on finding information about physical activity, nutrition, and stress (with an emphasis on resilience and academic burnout) in university students. This bibliographic review includes 32 articles and six web pages, containing information on the benefits of physical activity, healthy habits, and health prevention. The information collected in this study shows that university students are exposed to multiple changes during this period, increasing as the academic years progress. At that time, their habits worsen, with low adherence to the Mediterranean diet, low physical activity, and high levels of stress, specifically increasing cases of academic burnout. The establishment of healthy habits during the university period is necessary, observing an improvement in all the variables studied. Prevention has played a fundamental role.