Reduced Optimism for Perceived Age-Related Medical Conditions

Abstract

In this study we investigated how people's age-related attributions affected their perceived optimism for contracting medical conditions and whether the magnitude of unrealistic optimism for age-related medical conditions differed across age groups. Not only was unrealistic optimism reduced for age-related compared to non-age-related medical conditions for younger, middle-aged, and older adults, but this relationship between age-related medical conditions and reduced optimism was most pronounced for the middle-aged and older adults. These findings extend research on unrealistic optimism by demonstrating that age-related attributions for illness qualifies unrealistic optimism and that people's perceived risk for acquiring age-related medical conditions may vary when assessed at different points in the life span.