The DOI matches its Crossref record; 135 of the 138 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The Value of Positive Psychology for Health Psychology: Progress and Pitfalls in Examining the Relation of Positive Phenomena to Health
Abstract
The growth of the "positive psychology" movement reflects increased scientific and lay interest in the relation of positive phenomena to mental and physical health and the corresponding potential for interventions that promote positive feelings, thoughts, and experiences to improve health and well-being. In this article, we (1) consider research on optimism, sense of coherence, and posttraumatic growth that predates the contemporary emphasis on positive psychology, but has clear and increasingly well-supported connections to health psychology, (2) examine several potential mechanisms through which such positive phenomena may influence the etiology, progression, and management of illness, (3) identify four pervasive but misleading assumptions about positive phenomena that may limit both scientific research and practical application, and (4) caution against serious pitfalls of popular views of positive thinking, such as its promotion as a cure for cancer and other diseases. We conclude with recommendations for the balanced scientific investigation and application of positive phenomena.
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In the citing paper
“Positive experiences and cognitions can help people better attend to and process health information [37], including unbiased and open appraisal of negative health information [56].”
From Positive Psychological Interventions for Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: Rationale, Theoretical Model, and Intervention Development (2015) · cites this paper as [56]
In the citing paper
“Positive affect is also linked to improved coping and problem-solving skills [56, 58].”
From Positive Psychological Interventions for Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: Rationale, Theoretical Model, and Intervention Development (2015) · cites this paper as [56]
In the citing paper
“Broadly, positive states are thought to improve people's social, psychological, and physical resources [55–57].”
From Positive Psychological Interventions for Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: Rationale, Theoretical Model, and Intervention Development (2015) · cites this paper as [56]
In the citing paper
“Positive psychological constructs appear to affect attention and cognitive processing.”
From Positive Psychological Interventions for Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: Rationale, Theoretical Model, and Intervention Development (2015) · cites this paper as [56]
In the citing paper
“positive affect may have stress-buffering effects that allow for a broader range of adaptive and creative coping skills [56]”
From Positive Psychological Interventions for Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: Rationale, Theoretical Model, and Intervention Development (2015) · cites this paper as [56]
Citations
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“Most of these unsolicited reports were obtained in studies of cancer patients who reported the domains of posttraumatic growth described by Tedeschi and Calhoun [40], as well as positive changes in health behaviors.”
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“It is beyond the scope of this article to review many of the positive psychology constructs that are related to health, so we will consider some representative and welldeveloped areas of study: sense of coherence [9, 17], optimism [15, 16], and benefit-finding and posttraumatic growth [18–20].”
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Review of the application of positive psychology to substance use, addiction, and recovery research.
Krentzman, A. R. (2012) · Psychology of Addictive Behaviors · doi:10.1037/a0029897 · Cited by 216
Resilience in chronic diseases: A systematic review
Cal, S. F., de Sá, L. R., Glustak, M. E., & Santiago, M. B. (2015) · Cogent Psychology · doi:10.1080/23311908.2015.1024928 · Cited by 185
“(2011) and Aspinwall and Tedeschi (2010). Further studies will be necessary to explore this aspect.”
BackgroundMeaning in life: An important factor for the psychological well-being of chronically ill patients?
Dezutter, J., Casalin, S., Wachholtz, A., Luyckx, K., Hekking, J., & Vandewiele, W. (2013) · Rehabilitation Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0034393 · Cited by 197
Gana, K., Bailly, N., Saada, Y., Joulain, M., Trouillet, R., Hervé, C., & Alaphilippe, D. (2013) · Health Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0031656 · Cited by 171
Assessing psychological well-being: self-report instruments for the NIH Toolbox
Salsman, J. M., Lai, J., Hendrie, H. C., Butt, Z. A., Zill, N., Pilkonis, P. A., Peterson, C., Stoney, C. M., Brouwers, P. Y., & Cella, D. F. (2013) · Quality of Life Research · doi:10.1007/s11136-013-0452-3 · Cited by 163
“Research on psychological well-being (PWB) has received increasing attention over the past decade in part due to the growth of the positive psychology movement [1] and renewed interest on the relationship between positive psychology and health [2].”
Background
Metadata
- Authors
- Aspinwall, L. G., & Tedeschi, R. G.
- Affiliations
- University of Utah (US)
- University of North Carolina at Charlotte (US)
- Corresponding author
- Aspinwall, Lisa G.
- Venue
- Annals of Behavioral Medicine
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2010-01-21
- Volume
- 39
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 4-15
- ISSN
- 0742-5554 (ISSN-L)
- 0883-6612
- 1532-4796
- OpenAlex
- W2095639382
- Semantic Scholar
- daa089406818be30f260af382ebd347ca57ec66a
- Cited by
- 271
- References
- 138
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 25 · 2015: 20 · 2014: 31 · 2013: 17 · 2012: 24
- FWCI
- 2.18
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Annals of Behavioral Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Optimism, Hope, and Well-being
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health, psychology, and well-being
- Keywords
- positive psychology, health psychology, optimism, sense of coherence, posttraumatic growth, positive thinking, well-being, health interventions
- MeSH terms
- Affect, Behavioral Medicine, Health, Humans, Mental Health, Models, Psychological, Psychological Theory
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