Abstract
Dispositional optimism reflects one's generalized positive expectancies for future outcomes and plays a crucial role in personal developmental outcomes and health (e.g., counteracting related mental disorders such as depression and anxiety). Increasing evidence has suggested that extraversion is an important personality factor contributing to dispositional optimism. However, less is known about the association between dispositional optimism and brain structure and the role of extraversion in this association. Here, we examined these issues in 231 healthy high school students aged 16 to 20 years (110 males, mean age = 18.48 years, SD = 0.54) by estimating regional gray matter density (rGMD) using a voxel‐based morphometry method via structural magnetic resonance imaging. Whole‐brain regression analyses revealed a significant positive correlation between dispositional optimism and the rGMD of the bilateral putamen after adjusting for age, sex, family socioeconomic status (SES), general intelligence, and total gray matter volume (TGMV). Moreover, prediction analyses using fourfold balanced cross‐validation combined with linear regression confirmed a significant connection between dispositional optimism and putamen density after adjusting for age, sex, and family SES. More importantly, subsequent mediation analysis showed that extraversion may account for the association between putamen density and dispositional optimism after adjusting for age, sex, family SES, general intelligence, TGMV, and the other four Big Five personality traits. Taken together, the current study provides new evidence regarding the neurostructural basis underlying dispositional optimism in adolescents and underscores the importance of extraversion as an essential personality factor for dispositional optimism acquisition.
Highlights
As a long-standing research topic in the fields of psychiatry, psychology, and sociology (Bouchard, Carver, Mens, & Scheier, 2018; Scheier & Carver, 2018), dispositional optimism is typically defined as a tendency to hold generalized positive expectancies for future outcomes (Carver & Scheier, 2014; Scheier, Carver, & Bridges, 1994)
Given that an important purpose of this study is to identify prominent brain structures linked to dispositional optimism in late adolescents, we used regional gray matter density (rGMD) as a structural metric
The results showed that extraversion (β = .35, p < .001) but not the other four Big Five personality traits can significantly explain the variance in dispositional optimism, suggesting that extraversion has a more crucial association with dispositional optimism
Summary
As a long-standing research topic in the fields of psychiatry, psychology, and sociology (Bouchard, Carver, Mens, & Scheier, 2018; Scheier & Carver, 2018), dispositional optimism is typically defined as a tendency to hold generalized positive expectancies for future outcomes (Carver & Scheier, 2014; Scheier, Carver, & Bridges, 1994). Considerable research has shown that dispositional optimism plays an important positive role in personal health and developmental outcomes, which is similar across cultures (Bouchard et al, 2018; Carver & Scheier, 2014; Jiang et al, 2014; Kwok & Gu, 2017; Lai, 2009; Scheier & Carver, 2018; Wong & Fielding, 2007; Yu, Chen, Liu, Yu, & Zhao, 2015; Zhang et al, 2014). Behavioral studies on dispositional optimism have achieved substantial progress (Carver & Scheier, 2014; Scheier & Carver, 2018), the neurobiological substrates underlying dispositional optimism are poorly understood, and identifying these substrates may help better understand the nature of optimism and its relations with health and developmental outcomes
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