Psychological well-being is linked to healthy aging in older women, but associations with health behaviors are not well understood. Our study aims to evaluate the relationships between objectively-measured physical behavior (including physical activity and sedentary behavior) with optimism and positive affect in a diverse sample of older women. Our cross-sectional study of 4168 American women (aged 63–99) with accelerometer-measured physical behavior from the Objective Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Health Study assessed associations using multiple linear regression. Effect modification by age, race and ethnicity, social support, and number of chronic conditions was examined as well. In unadjusted models, positive associations for physical activity and negative associations for sedentary behaviors were generally linear for optimism and positive affect. In adjusted models, every one-hour increment in weekly moderate-vigorous physical activity was associated with higher optimism by 0.4 score points [Revised 6-item Life Orientation Test, 95% CI = 0.2, 0.6] and positive affect by 0.6 score points [modified Differential Emotions Scale, 95% CI = 0.2, 0.9]. One-hour increments in light physical activity were associated with higher positive affect [0.2 score points; 95% CI = 0.03, 0.33] while one-hour increments in sedentary behavior patterns were associated with lower positive affect [-0.1 score points; 95% CI = − 0.10, − 0.02). Effect modification by age, race and ethnicity, social support, and number of chronic conditions was not observed. In conclusion, associations between physical behavior with optimism and positive affect were modest but suggest greater activity and less sedentary time are associated with greater psychological well-being in older women.

心理健康与老年妇女的健康老龄化有关，但与健康行为的关联尚不清楚。我们的研究旨在评估客观测量的身体行为（包括身体活动和久坐行为）与乐观和积极影响在不同老年女性样本中的关系。我们对 4168 名美国女性（63-99 岁）进行了横断面研究，这些女性在客观身体活动和心血管健康研究中使用加速度计测量身体行为，使用多元线性回归评估了相关性。还检查了按年龄、种族和族裔、社会支持和慢性病数量进行的影响修正。在未经调整的模型中，身体活动的积极关联和久坐行为的消极关联通常与乐观和积极影响呈线性关系。在调整后的模型中，每周中等强度的身体活动每增加一小时，乐观情绪就会提高 0.4 分 [修订后的 6 项生活取向测试，95% CI = 0.2, 0.6]，积极影响会提高 0.6 分 [修改后的差异情绪量表，95% CI = 0.2, 0.9]。轻体力活动增加一小时与更高的积极影响相关[0.2分; 95% CI = 0.03, 0.33] 而久坐行为模式增加一小时与较低的积极影响相关 [-0.1 分；95% CI = − 0.10, − 0.02)。没有观察到因年龄、种族和民族、社会支持和慢性病数量而改变的影响。