POSITIVITY AND ITS ASSOCIATION WITH QUALITY OF LIFE OUTCOMES AND HEALTH BEHAVIORS. Proceedings XX NATIONAL CONGRESS ITALIAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION CLINICAL AND DYNAMIC SECTION URBINO - 7/9 SEPTEMBER 2018 Abstracts

Introduction: Positive Orientation is a general tendency to react to life experiences in a positive way, a rather pervasive way of looking at and facing reality, framing events, interpreting and evaluating oneself and subjective, personal and interpersonal experience, past and future (Caprara, 2009). It is not just a good indicator of the optimal functioning of the individual but promotes such adaptation. In fact, several results show that people with higher scores on this scale experience greater positive affections, are less prone to negative emotions, perceive their social ties in a more optimistic way, enjoy better health, have positive interpersonal relations (Alessandri et al., 2012). Aim: The purpose of this contribute will be to examine the role of positivity in predicting health outcomes and health behaviors samples with diverse conditions. Method: The role of positivity in predicting functioning impairment, length of hospitalization, physical and mental health and health behaviors will be examined considering different cross sectional and longitudinal samples of patients with diverse forms of cancer, patients who underwent a surgery of lobectomy or atypical pulmonary resection, and pregnant women. Results and Conclusion: patients who are high in positivity may afford better their physical impairments or conditions. Further studies are needed in order to understand the pathways of this association.