Be Positive!

Developing a good EQ (Emotional Quotient) in an individual requires the person to be happy all the time, in other words, one should be positive, optimistic all the time in order to have high EQ. But teens these days, many tend to be inferior as long as temper and pessimism are put into the picture. In the study, "A Prospective Study of the Effects of Optimism on Adolescent Health Risks" which published in the February 2011 issue of Pediatrics, it shows that how a teen behave, their mental health condition really makes a difference when they grow older, especially against the onset of depressive symptoms.

This study involved some 5,634 students who were in their adolescent years, where the age range was from 12-14 years old. Several factors were considered in this study, such as optimistic thinking style, emotional problems, substance use and antisocial behaviors. From the results, it is surprising that boys appeared to have more stable in optimism, but in the contrary, girls were the ones who had marked falls in optimism across the study.

This phenomenon really needs to be taken into deep consideration as the youngsters are the future leaders of our society, our country, and hence, their condition, especially this one which concerns depression, should be strongly focused on. Those who were reported to have high level of optimism appeared to be protective in terms of health risks, and interestingly, those who are high in optimism level reported to have only almost half the risks of the least optimistic in developing depression in the future. Other than heath issues, optimism was also said to be protective against the onset of certain activities such as substance abuse, interpersonal violence, theft and vandalism.