Being optimistic lowers depression risk

Adolescents with optimistic viewpoint are less likely to suffer health risks including emotional problems, substance abuse and antisocial behaviors.

Following over 5,600 teens showed Australian scientists that adolescents who think more positively about themselves and their life are less likely to develop depression later on in life.

About 15 percent of teens with the highest levels of optimism showed mild depression, whereas signs of the disease were frequently reported in 59 percent of boys and 76 percent of girls with "very low" levels of optimism, said a report published in Pediatrics.

Compared with their least-positive peers, the most optimist teens were half as likely to report the new onset depression symptoms in the following year.

Lack of optimism also seems to put girls on a higher risk of developing depression. Boys with low optimism levels are about half as likely to get depressed as girls with the same mental condition.

While the study showed that optimistic adolescents were better at problem solving, it failed to point out the protective effects of positive thinking against stressful life events, which boost the risk of depression.

"It may just be that the set-point for getting into a negative way of thinking and the loss of self-confidence that go with depression is just that much lower for optimists and that is the reason for its protective effects," said lead researcher George C. Patton of the University of Melbourne and Royal Children's Hospital in Australia.

The study was not capable of determining the reasons for which some teens were more optimistic or how this view may be developed in others.

Kids' outlook often gets darker as they go through their teen years. "So what is perhaps avoidable is the catastrophic reaction some teens can have when something goes wrong," said Patton, adding that parents should try to provide the adolescents with a chance to have an "honest and realistic dialogue" about the ups and downs they naturally experience during their life.