Abstract
A large variety of positive outcomes including social adjustment, psychological well-being and health, have been recently closely associated with positivity (POS). On the assumption that differences in the POS degree might be associated with different individual neuroendocrine assets that enables people to cope effectively with stress, the present study examined the association between POS, salivary cortisol and α-Amylase (α-Amy) production in a group of healthy male volunteers university students, respectively scoring high (POS-H, N = 10) and low (POS-L, N = 10) in POS. Participants were selected from a larger sample of 300 students of the Medical School at Sapienza University of Rome on the basis of their positivity level: POS was analysed and the upper and lower 25% were invited to participate in this new study. The findings report a distinct salivary cortisol and α-Amy production in the study population: in comparison to the POS-H group, the POS-L subjects presented a lower salivary cortisol awake response (CAR) and a flattened α-Amy production at 30 and 60 min after awakening. In addition, salivary cortisol and α-Amy areas under the curve (AUCs), which were calculated as indicators of the two subclinical biomarkers production during the first hour after awakening, resulted significantly lower in the POS-L group in comparison to the POS-H group. Further studies on larger and different populations are needed to definitively confirm that the different cortisol and α-Amy secretion patterns between POS-H and POS-L individuals is associated with a potentially better capacity to preserving an adequate quality of life in individuals being equipped with a system apparently able to better respond to external and/or internal stimuli. Lastly, a better understanding of the biological correlates of POS is crucial to design psychological interventions able to take advantage of individuals’ assets and thus to integrate and strengthen the efficacy of traditional medications.
Highlights
A growing body of research has focused on the roles that individual differences in personality may play in promoting health and in moderating vulnerability to adversities and illness
Among the individual characteristics that have been previously associated with a variety of positive outcomes are self-esteem (Baumeister et al 2003), optimism (Carver et al 2010) and life satisfaction (Pavot and Diener 2008)
The present study examined the associations among POS, salivary cortisol, and α-Amy production in a select group of healthy male university student volunteers who had high (POS-H) or low (POS-L) POS scores
Summary
A growing body of research has focused on the roles that individual differences in personality may play in promoting health and in moderating vulnerability to adversities and illness. Among the individual characteristics that have been previously associated with a variety of positive outcomes are self-esteem (Baumeister et al 2003), optimism (Carver et al 2010) and life satisfaction (Pavot and Diener 2008). A large number of studies have corroborated the idea that positivity (POS) represents a common latent factor underlying self-esteem, life satisfaction, and dispositional optimism in diverse samples and cultures (Caprara et al 2010a). Further studies have provided evidence of the stability of POS over the course of development and of its potential positive effect on people’s lives across diverse domains of functioning, including health, work performance, psychological well-being, and social adjustment (Alessandri et al 2012; Fagnani et al 2014). Little residual variance was explained in the above outcomes by self-esteem, life satisfaction, and optimism once their common component was considered (Alessandri et al 2015)
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