title: Seligman's theory of attributional style: optimism, pessimism, and quality of life after heart transplant.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Posttransplant quality of life can be significantly affected by personality characteristics identified before transplant.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Although overall quality of life in heart transplant patients improves after transplant, many studies reveal poorer mental health outcomes after transplant. We aimed to determine whether transplant recipients with an optimistic explanatory style had improved quality of life, fewer depressive symptoms, and increased survival.
  
  
  METHODS
  We reviewed 68 patients who had completed a Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory a mean of 2 years before transplant and examined associations between scores on the Optimism-Pessimism scale, survival rates, and results from the Health Status Questionnaire nearly 4 years after transplant.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Optimism was significantly associated with higher quality of life even after age (at the time of transplant), sex, depression score before transplant, time from the personality inventory to transplant, and time from transplant to the Health Status Questionnaire were controlled for. Furthermore, a pessimistic explanatory style was significantly associated with self-reported depressive symptoms, even after depression before transplant was adjusted for. Neither optimism nor pessimism was associated with length of survival.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Pretransplant patients with a pessimistic explanatory style reported depressive symptoms nearly 5 years later. Furthermore, over the same time span, patients with an optimistic explanatory style described a significantly higher quality of life than the pessimists described.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry & Psychology, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA. jowsey.sheila@mayo.edu
authors.forename: Sheila G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Jowsey
authors.forename: Susanne M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Cutshall
authors.forename: Robert C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Colligan
authors.forename: Susanna R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Stevens
authors.forename: Walter K
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Kremers
authors.forename: Adriana R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Vasquez
authors.forename: Brooks S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.forename: Richard C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Daly
authors.forename: Christopher G A
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: McGregor
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000523:psychology* / Q000601:surgery; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009341:Negativism; D011788:Quality of Life; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013694:Temperament; D055815:Young Adult