Country: Canada

Study Design: Observational cohort with repeated measurements over time

Participant age range:​ ​​Adults aged 50 and over

Number of participants at baseline: 1,739

Year of initial enrollment: 1995

Number of data collection waves: 9; data collection ongoing

Measures of well-being: 

• Optimism

• Positive affect

Quantity of well-being measures (e.g., number of constructs, number of times of well-being was assessed: Low

Quality of well-being measures (e.g., were measures reliable and valid in the study population): High

Measures of physical health: ​

• Self-rated / questionnaire-based health

• Self-report medical history or medication use

• Measured anthropometrics, e.g., weight

• Biomarkers

• Adjudicated health outcomes

Access information:

Interested researchers should contact Health Data Nova Scotia, Dalhousie University (HDNS@dal.ca) for more information

Notable Citation: Davidson K, Mostofsky E, & Whang W. (2010). Don’t worry, be happy: positive affect and reduced 10-year incident coronary heart disease: the Canadian Nova Scotia Health Survey. European heart journal, 31(9), 1065-1070.