Relação entre o otimismo e a qualidade de vida numa amostra de mulheres na comunidade

Introduction: Optimism is a cognitive style that influences how people process information about the future. This study aimed to analyze the relationship between quality of life and optimism, investigating their interaction.Methods: Descriptive, analytical, and cross-sectional study with a sample of 89 women aged between 45 and 85 years (65.04 ± 9.5), living in a subsidized housing neighborhood. Quality of Life was assessed using the WHOQOL-BREF, while optimism was measured with the LOT-R. Results: Quality of Life was higher on average in the “Environment” domain and lowest in the “Social Relationships” domain. The correlation between optimism and pessimism was significant (p ≤ 0.05 and p ≤ 0.01), except between pessimism and the “Social Relationships” domain of quality of life. Optimism was most strongly related to the “Psychological” domain (r = 0.45; p ≤ 0.01).Discussion: Although the correlational nature of the analyses does not allow for causal inference, it appears that maintaining high optimism contributes to quality of life, especially in the “Psychological” domain. There is a distinction between pessimism and optimism, which were analyzed separately in this study. Conclusion: Maintaining high optimism contributes to the quality of life of aging women, who in this study, appear more optimistic than pessimistic despite their age and socioeconomic context.