Characteristics of the studies

Study	N	Sample type	Optimism measure	Health measure	Study design	Effect size (r)
Studies with objective health measure
Allison et al. (2003) [41]	101	Head and neck cancer	FLOT	Survival at 1 year	PR	.06
Brennan and Charnetski (2000) [42]	112	Undergraduates	ASQ	Immunoglobulin A	CS	−.02
Brody et al. (2008) [43]	200	Diabetes mellitus	LOT (pessimism)	Glycosylated hemoglobin	CS	.10
Cohen et al. (1999) [44]	39	Healthy women	LOT	Immune measure (mean of CD 4 counts of 3 months)	LO	.29
Cohen et al. (1999) [44]	39	Healthy women	LOT	Immune measure (mean of CD 8 counts of 3 months)	LO	.02
Cohen et al. (1999) [44]	39	Healthy women	LOT	Immune measure (mean of NK Cells counts of 3 months)	LO	−.03
Contrada et al. (2004) [45]	142	Surgery	LOT-R	Post-surgical complications	LO	.10
Costello et al. (2002) [2]	20	Temporomandibular disorder	LOT	Immune measure (IL-6)	PR	−.62
De Moor et al. (2006) [46]	90	Cancer	LOT-R	Cancer antigen (CA 125)	LO	−.32
de Ridder et al. (2004) [5]	65	Type I diabetes	LOT-R	Blood glucose	CS	−.15
Friedman et al. (1993) [47]	1,178	Aging	TC	Death	LO	−.09
Giltay et al. (2004) [48]	940	Aging	SWB	Survival	PR	.18
Goetzmnn et al. (2007) [49]	76	Transplant patients (lung, liver, or bone marrow)	LOT	Survival	PR	.005
Helgeson and Fritz (1999) [50]	298	Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty	LOT	New coronary events (death from coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction, progression, etc.)	PR	.03
Kennedy and Hughes (2004) [51]	50	Healthy undergraduates	LOT-R	Systolic blood pressure reactivity	LO	.30
Kennedy and Hughes (2004) [51]	50	Healthy undergraduates	LOT-R	Diastolic blood pressure reactivity	LO	−.08
Kennedy and Hughes (2004) [51]	50	Healthy undergraduates	LOT-R	Heart rate reactivity	LO	0
Kivimaki et al. (2005) [52]	5,007	Healthy people	LOT-R	Increase in number of sick days	PR	−.04
Kohut et al. (2002) [53]	57	Aging	LOT	Immune measure (IL-10)	LO	.24
Lee et al. (1995) [54]	89	Male Air Force cadets	LOT	Immune measure (PHA)	LO	.04
Lee et al. (1995) [54]	89	Male Air Force cadets	LOT	Immune measure (PMA)	LO	.11
Lee et al. (1995) [54]	89	Male Air Force cadets	LOT	Immune measure (anti-CD3)	LO	−.02
Lobel et al. (2000) [55]	129	Pregnancy	LOT	Birth weight	LO	.20
Lobel et al. (2000) [55]	129	Pregnancy	LOT	Gestational age	LO	.13
Maruta et al. (2000) [56]	723	Aging	MMPI (pessimism)	Death	PR	.09
Matthews et al. (2004) [57]	209	Healthy middle-aged women	LOT (pessimism)	Increase in carotid intima-media thickness	PR	.19
Matthews et al. (2008) [58]	401	Healthy middle-aged women	LOT	Metabolic syndrome	PR	−.03
Motivala et al. (1999) [8]	25	Type I and II diabetes	LOT	Disease duration	CS	−.41
Nelson et al. (2003) [59]	982	Pregnancy	LOT-R	Pregnancy loss	PR	.09
Raikkonen et al. (1999) [60]	100	Healthy people	LOT	Average systolic ambulatory blood pressure over 3 days	PR	.18
Raikkonen et al. (1999) [60]	100	Healthy people	LOT	Average diastolic ambulatory blood pressure over 3 days	PR	.26
Rini et al. (1999) [61]	230	Pregnancy	LOT	Birth weight	LO	.09
Rini et al. (1999) [61]	230	Pregnancy	LOT	Gestational age	LO	.01
Scheier et al. (1989) [36]	51	Coronary artery bypass surgery	LOT	Physical recovery	PR	.36
Scheier et al. (1989) [36]	51	Coronary artery bypass surgery	LOT	Fewer post-operative complications	PR	.23
Scheier et al. (1999) [13]	263	Coronary artery bypass surgery	LOT	Rehospitalization	PR	−.33
Schofield et al. (2004) [14]	179	Lung cancer	LOT	Survival	PR	.03
Schulz et al. (1996) [62]	238	Cancer	LOT (pessimism)	Mortality	PR	.14
Schulz et al. (1996) [62]	238	Cancer	LOT (optimism)	Mortality	PR	.04
Segerstrom (2001) [63]	22	Law students	LOT-R	Immune function (DTH skin test)	PR	.09
Segerstrom et al. (2003) [64]	30	Medical and Law students	LOT-R	Immune function (DTH skin test)	PR	.12
Segerstrom et al. (1998) [65]	50	Law students	LOT	Immune measure (CD4 helper T cells)	PR	.01
Segerstrom et al. (1998) [65]	50	Law students	LOT	Immune measure (CD8-cytotoxic T cells)	PR	.25
Segerstrom et al. (1998) [65]	50	Law students	LOT	Immune measure (CD19 B cells)	PR	.15
Segerstrom et al. (1998) [65]	50	Law students	LOT	Immune measure (CD16+56 natural killer cells)	PR	−.01
Tomakowsky et al. (2001) [66]	78	HIV/AIDS	LOT	Lower CD 4 counts	CS	−.05
Tomakowsky et al. (2001) [66]	78	HIV/AIDS	EASQ	Lower CD 4 counts	CS	−.21
Tomakowsky et al. (2001) [66]	47	HIV/AIDS	LOT	Decline in CD 4 counts at 2-year follow-up	PR	−.08
Tomakowsky et al. (2001) [66]	47	HIV/AIDS	EASQ	Decline in CD 4 counts at 2-year follow-up	PR	−.43
Von Ah and Kang (2007) [67]	49	Breast cancer	LOT-R	Disease stage at baseline	CS	−.06
Von Ah and Kang (2007) [67]	49	Breast cancer	LOT-R	Lymph node status at baseline	CS	−.02
Von Ah and Kang (2007) [67]	49	Breast cancer	LOT-R	Disease stage at post-treatment	CS	−.04
Von Ah and Kang (2007) [67]	49	Breast cancer	LOT-R	Lymph node status at post-treatment	CS	.02
Von Ah et al. (2007) [68]	54	Breast cancer	LOT-R	Immune measure (natural killer cells)	CS	.08
Yi et al. (2008) [69]	111	Diabetes mellitus	LOT	Glycosylated hemoglobin	LO	−.11
Studies with subjective health measure
Abend and Williamson (2002) [70]	63	Breast cancer	LOT	Patient report of cancer recurrence	CS	−.12
Achat et al. (2000) [71]	659	Aging	LOT	Freedom from pain	LO	.06
Affleck et al. (2001) [1]	89	Fibromyalgia	LOT	Mean daily pain	LO	−.04
Affleck et al. (2001) [1]	89	Fibromyalgia	LOT	Mean daily fatigue	LO	−.13
Allison et al. (2001) [72]	88	Head and neck cancer	FLOT	Freedom from pain	CS	.18
Baker (2007) [73]	39	Undergraduates	LOT (optimism)	Physical symptoms	LO	−.18
Baker (2007) [73]	39	Undergraduates	LOT (pessimism)	Physical symptoms	LO	.19
Bennett and Elliot (2005) [74]	72	Post-cardiac event	ASQ	Physical symptoms	LO	−.54
Bensten et al. (2008) [75]	101	Spinal fusion patients	One-item measure (pessimism)	Pain	CS	.57
Brewer (2007) [76]	91	Knee surgery	LOT-R	Knee pain	LO	.07
Chamberlain et al. (1992) [77]	50	Surgery	LOT	Knee pain	PR	−.14
Chaney et al. (2004) [78]	42	Rheumatoid arthritis	ASQ	Pain	LO	.34
Conway et al. (2008) [79]	67	Hypertension	LOT-R (optimism)	Physical symptoms	CS	−.25
Conway et al. (2008) [79]	67	Hypertension	LOT-R (pessimism)	Physical symptoms	CS	.46
Costello et al. (2002) [2]	20	Temporomandibular disorder	LOT	Pain	PR	−.02
Curbow et al. (1993) [80]	135	Bone marrow transplants	LOT	Perceived health	CS	.25
de Ridder et al. (2004) [5]	50	Multiple sclerosis	LOT-R	Physician rating of neurological disorder interfering with functioning	CS	−.11
de Ridder et al. (2004) [5]	50	Multiple sclerosis	LOT-R	Physical functioning	PR	.06
de Ridder et al. (2004) [5]	65	Type I diabetes	LOT-R	Physical functioning	PR	.24
Ferreira and Sherman (2007) [81]	72	Osteoarthritis	LOT-R	Pain	CS	−.28
Fitzgerald et al. (2000) [82]	50	Coronary artery bypass surgery	LOT	Reduction in post-CABG angina	LO	.29
Fotiadou et al. (2008) [83]	100	Parents of cancer patients	LOT-R	Perceived health	CS	.26
Fournier et al. (2002a) [6]	269	Chronic disease	LOT-R	Physical functioning at 6-month follow-up	LO	.24
Fournier et al. (2002a) [6]	269	Chronic disease	LOT-R	Physical functioning at 1-year follow-up	LO	.24
Fournier et al. (2002a) [6]	269	Chronic disease	LOT-R	Disease severity at 6-month follow-up	LO	−.22
Fournier et al. (2002a) [6]	269	Chronic disease	LOT-R	Disease severity at 1-year follow-up	LO	−.21
Fournier et al. (2002b) [7]	104	Type I diabetes	LOT-R	Patient report of physical functioning	CS	.15
Fournier et al. (2002b) [7]	95	Rheumatoid arthritis	LOT-R	Patient report of physical functioning	CS	.25
Fournier et al. (2002b) [7]	98	Multiple sclerosis	LOT-R	Patient report of physical functioning	CS	.33
Fournier et al. (2002b) [7]	104	Type I diabetes	LOT-R	Physical symptoms	CS	−.26
Fournier et al. (2002b) [7]	95	Rheumatoid arthritis	LOT-R	Physical symptoms	CS	−.36
Fournier et al. (2002b) [7]	98	Multiple sclerosis	LOT-R	Physical symptoms	CS	−.29
Fry (1995) [84]	37	Female executives	LOT	Physical symptoms	CS	−.44
Glazer et al. (2002) [9]	46	Cardiac patients	LOT	Physical symptoms	CS	−.43
Glazer et al. (2002) [9]	46	Cardiac patients	LOT	Physical symptoms at 3-month follow-up	LO	−.11
Hamid (1990) [85]	75	Undergraduates	LOT	Influenza symptoms	LO	−.24
Hooker et al. (1992) [86]	51	Alzheimer's caregivers	LOT	Perceived health	CS	.15
Jackson et al. (2002) [87]	99	Undergraduates	EASQ (pessimism)	Physical illness	PR	.25
King et al. (1998) [88]	75	Coronary artery bypass surgery	LOT	Angina	LO	0
Kurdek and Siesky (1990) [10]	48	HIV/AIDS	LOT	Physical symptoms	CS	−.06
Lam et al. (2004) [89]	367	Breast cancer	CLOT	Physical symptoms	CS	−.25
Lau and Knardahl (2008) [90]	1,946	Healthy adults	One-item measure (optimism)	Perceived health	CS	.27
Lau and Knardahl (2008) [90]	1,946	Healthy adults	One-item measure (optimism)	Mean pain	CS	−.11
Lyons and Chamberlain (1994) [11]	158	Undergraduates	LOT	Perceived health	CS	.28
Lyons and Chamberlain (1994) [11]	158	Undergraduates	LOT	Upper respiratory illness (URI) symptoms	CS	−.23
Lyons and Chamberlain (1994) [11]	158	Undergraduates	LOT	Physical symptoms	CS	−.17
Lyons and Chamberlain (1994) [11]	138	Undergraduates	LOT at 2-week follow-up	Perceived health at 2-week follow-up	CS	.16
Lyons and Chamberlain (1994) [11]	138	Undergraduates	LOT at 2-week follow-up	URI symptoms at 2-week follow-up	CS	−.01
Lyons and Chamberlain (1994) [11]	138	Undergraduates	LOT at 2-week follow-up	Physical symptoms at 2-week follow-up	CS	−.08
Lyons and Chamberlain (1998) [91]	175	Undergraduates	LOT	URI symptoms	CS	−.20
Lyons and Chamberlain (1998) [91]	175	Undergraduates	LOT	Non-URI symptoms	CS	−.16
Lyons and Chamberlain (1998) [91]	131	Undergraduates	LOT	URI symptoms	LO	−.32
Lyons and Chamberlain (1998) [91]	131	Undergraduates	LOT	Non-URI symptoms	LO	−.21
Mahler and Kulik (2000) [3]	215	Coronary artery bypass surgery	LOT	Pain at 2 week post coronary artery bypass surgery	LO	−.21
Mahler and Kulik (2000) [3]	215	Coronary artery bypass surgery	LOT	Pain at 1 month post coronary artery bypass surgery	LO	−.17
Mahler and Kulik (2000) [3]	215	Coronary artery bypass surgery	LOT	Pain at 3 months post coronary artery bypass surgery	LO	−.14
Mahler and Kulik (2000) [3]	215	Coronary artery bypass surgery	LOT	Pain at 6 months post coronary artery bypass surgery	LO	−.17
Mahler and Kulik (2000) [3]	215	Coronary artery bypass surgery	LOT	Pain at 12 months post coronary artery bypass surgery	LO	−.27
Motivala et al. (1999) [8]	25	Type I and II diabetes	LOT	Physical symptoms	CS	−.47
Northouse et al. (1999) [12]	98	Breast cancer	LOT	Physical symptoms	CS	−.48
Pence (2007) [92]	27	Sickle cell patients	LOT-R	Mean pain	LO	.09
Pritchard et al. (2007) [93]	242	Undergraduates	LOT	Physical symptoms	PR	−.16
Pakenham and Rinaldis (2001) [94]	114	HIV/AIDS	LOT	Perceived health	CS	.07
Ruthig et al. (2007) [95]	231	Aging	LOT	Perceived health	CS	.33
Scheier et al. (1989) [36]	51	Coronary artery bypass surgery	LOT	Staff ratings of physical recovery	PR	.25
Scheier et al. (1989) [36]	51	Coronary artery bypass surgery	LOT	Angina	PR	−.29
Segerstrom (2007) [96]	61	Law students	LOT	Physical symptoms	LO	−.22
Shen et al. (2004) [97]	149	Post-cardiac event	LOT-R	Physical health at 6-week follow-up	LO	.49
Shepperd et al. (1996) [98]	22	Cardiac patients	LOT	Decrease in global coronary risk (self-report)	LO	.64
Shnek et al. (2001) [99]	86	Cardiac patients	LOT	Chest pain	CS	−.29
Smets et al. (1998) [100]	250	Cancer	LOT	Fatigue	CS	−.01
Smets et al. (1998) [100]	250	Cancer	LOT	Fatigue at 2-week follow-up	LO	.03
Smets et al. (1998) [100]	250	Cancer	LOT	Fatigue at 9-month follow-up	LO	.08
Smith and Zautra (2004) [4]	64	Knee surgery	LOT-R	Pain	CS	.11
Smith and Zautra (2004) [4]	64	Knee surgery	LOT-R	Pain	PR	−.02
Tallman et al. (2007) [101]	56	Cancer	LOT	Physical functioning	LO	.42
Tennen et al. (1992) [102]	54	Rheumatoid arthritis	LOT	Pain	CS	−.27
Tennen et al. (1992) [102]	54	Rheumatoid arthritis	LOT	Disease activity	CS	−.09
Treharne et al. (2007) [103]	117	Rheumatoid arthritis	LOT (optimism)	Pain	LO	.01
Treharne et al. (2007) [103]	117	Rheumatoid arthritis	LOT (pessimism)	Pain	LO	.23
Treharne et al. (2007) [103]	117	Rheumatoid arthritis	LOT (optimism)	Fatigue	LO	−.05
Treharne et al. (2007) [103]	117	Rheumatoid arthritis	LOT (pessimism)	Fatigue	LO	.14
Tomakowsky et al. (2001) [66]	78	HIV/AIDS	LOT	HIV symptoms	CS	−.30
Tomakowsky et al. (2001) [66]	78	HIV/AIDS	EASQ	HIV symptoms	CS	−.28
Treharne et al. (2005) [104]	154	Rheumatoid arthritis	LOT	Pain/fatigue	CS	−.13
Treharne et al. (2001) [105]	125	Undergraduates	LOT	URI symptoms	LO	−.04
Umstattd et al. (2007) [106]	231	Older women	LOT-R (optimism)	Physical functioning	CS	−.13
Umstattd et al. (2007) [106]	231	Older women	LOT-R (pessimism)	Physical functioning	CS	.20
Wong and Fielding (2007) [107]	144	Lung cancer patients	Single item optimism measure	Pain	LO	−.03
Wyatt et al. (1999) [108]	699	Cancer	LOT	Physical symptoms	CS	−.21

LOT Life Orientation Test (Scheier and Carver [18]), LOT-R Life Orientation Test-Revised (Scheier et al. [19]), FLOT French life orientation test (Allison et al. [109]), CLOT Chinese life orientation test (Lai et al. [110]); ASQ Attributional Style Questionnaire (Peterson et al. [21]), EASQ Expanded Attributional Style Questionnaire (Peterson and Vallanova [22]), TC Terman cheerfulness (Friedman et al. [47]), SWB Dutch subjective well-being for older persons (Tempelman [111]), CS cross-sectional, LO longitudinal; PR prospective