A healthy dose of realism: The role of optimistic and pessimistic expectations when facing a downward spiral in health

摘要

Rationale and objectives: Whether expectations about future health are adaptive or maladaptive in late life likely depends on the extent to which they conform to or defy a future reality of declining health. Our premise was that, when adults face a downward spiral in health, it can be adaptive to realistically expect poorer future health and maladaptive to unrealistically expect good health.