African American adults are twice as likely to develop type 2 diabetes (T2D) compared toNon-Hispanic White individuals. Positive psychosocial resources (optimism) are associated withreduced cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in African American individuals. However, littledata exist on the relationship between optimism and T2D among African American individualsby age. We hypothesize that high levels of optimism and younger individuals will be negativelyassociated with T2D. This study examines the association of optimism with T2D prevalenceamong African American men and women stratified by age categories, using data from theJackson Heart Study (JHS). Optimism was measured using the 6-item Life OrientationTest-Revised (LOT-R) scale. Using multivariable Poisson regression analysis, we estimated theprevalence ratios (PR, 95% confidence interval-CI) of diabetes (yes/no) by tertiles of optimism(low, medium, high), adjusting for age, sex, socioeconomic status, and behaviors. A greaterpercentage of participants with high optimism were younger, male, high SES, and not depressed(p<0.05). Optimism, as measured in standard deviation units, showed a significant inverserelationship between levels of optimism and diabetes (0.94 95% CI 0.90-0.99). The associationattenuated after full adjustment. High (vs. low) total optimism was more protective againstdiabetes for participants less than 45 years of age (PR 0.49, 95% CI 0.30-0.79) than olderparticipants after full adjustment. The results from this study demonstrate that interventions thatfocus on positive psychosocial well-being in Black adults may help to reduce the risk of diabetesin an aging population
