Spouses often attempt to influence patients' diabetes self-care. Spousal influence has been linked to beneficial health outcomes in some studies, but to negative outcomes in others.

Priming is a process in which exposure to a stimulus activates relevant mental representations that are given increased weight in subsequent judgment tasks. Affective primes can influence affective evaluations and associations. Such influence has meaningful implications for the promotion of exercise behavior, yet there is scant research on priming effects in exercise settings.

Self-monitoring is a key component of behavioral weight loss (BWL) interventions. Past research suggests that individuals may avoid self-monitoring in certain contexts (e.g., skipping self-weighing after higher-than-usual calorie intake). However, no studies have attempted to quantify individuals’ inclination to avoid information about their weight control (“weight-related information avoidance”; WIA)

BACKGROUND The majority of older adults are physically inactive; therefore, strategies are needed to effectively promote sustained engagement in physical activity. PURPOSE This study was designed to investigate acute bidirectional relationships between affective and physical feeling states and activity-related behaviors among older adults in the context of everyday life using Ecological Momentary Assessment

Ethnic differences in placebo and nocebo responses are an important, yet underresearched, patient factor that might contribute to treatment disparities.

Neurofibromatosis (NF) is a rare genetic disorder associated with substantial deficits in quality of life (QoL). We have previously shown that in this population the Relaxation Response Resiliency Program for NF (3RP-NF) delivered via live videoconferencing is associated with sustained improvement in QoL from baseline through 6-month follow-up over and above an attention placebo control..

BACKGROUND The responsibility and stress of being a family caregiver are associated with reduced physical and mental health. PURPOSE To examine whether a 24-week aerobic exercise program improves multiple aspects of psychological functioning in family caregivers. METHODS Family caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias (n = 68) were recruited and randomized into either an

BACKGROUND Experiences of discrimination are a risk factor for subsequent cardiovascular disease. However, there is a lack of longitudinal research examining associations between discrimination and urinary catecholamines. This is surprising given the likely mediating role of sympathetic nervous system dysregulation in the association between psychosocial stress and cardiovascular morbidity. PURPOSE

BACKGROUND Social support and social integration have been linked to lower rates of morbidity and mortality. However, the biological mechanisms responsible for such links need greater attention. Vaccine paradigms provide an integrative window into immune system involvement in the protective influence of social support/integration. PURPOSE The main aim of this article was to conduct a meta-analytic

BACKGROUND Understanding multiple components of risk perceptions is important because perceived risk predicts engagement in prevention behaviors. PURPOSE To examine how multiple components of risk perceptions (perceived magnitude of and worry about risk, prioritization of the management of one's risk) changed following genetic counseling with or without test reporting, and to examine which of these

BACKGROUND Smoking remains a global concern, especially for young adults. There is a dearth of smoking cessation programs for this population, who seldom seek help or are motivated to quit. PURPOSE This pilot study assessed the effectiveness of a digital avatar-led Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) smoking cessation program (Flexiquit) for young adult smokers at all levels of motivation to quit

BACKGROUND Personality traits, coping styles, and health-related behaviors show associations with various aspects of health. However, integrative life-course investigations of pathways by which these factors might affect later cumulative physiological health risk remain sparse. PURPOSE To investigate prospective associations of personality traits via coping styles and health-related behaviors on allostatic

BACKGROUND Seasonal influenza vaccination is an important behavior with significant individual and public health consequences, yet fewer than half of individuals in the USA are vaccinated annually. To promote vaccination adherence, it is important to understand the factors that affect vaccination behavior. PURPOSE In this research, we focused on one such factor, an individual's vaccination history

BACKGROUND In 2015, Collins and Varmus articulated a vision for precision medicine emphasizing molecular characterization of illness to identify actionable biomarkers to support individualized treatment. Researchers have argued for a broader conceptualization, precision health. Precision health is an ambitious conceptualization of health, which includes dynamic linkages between research and practice

BACKGROUND Weight stigma impairs health. Few studies have disentangled the associations of experienced versus internalized stigma with weight-related outcomes. PURPOSE To examine weight and health variables associated with weight stigma experiences and internalization in the largest-to-date sample of adults in weight management. METHODS WW (formerly Weight Watchers) members (N = 18,769, 94.6% female

BACKGROUND Little is known about life-course factors that explain why some individuals continue smoking despite having smoking-related diseases. PURPOSE We examined (a) the extent to which early-life adversities are associated with the risk of recalcitrant smoking, (b) psychosocial factors that mediate the association, and (c) gender differences in the associations. METHODS Data were from 4,932 respondents

BACKGROUND Despite clear evidence that peers are crucial for youth development, research on the role of peers for youth with Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is scarce. PURPOSE The present study identified trajectory classes of perceived peer functioning in youth with T1D, based on peer support and extreme peer orientation (EPO). Further, classes were compared with respect to their trajectories of depressive

BACKGROUND Planning in behavioral weight loss (BWL) programs helps participants enact changes in eating and exercise, although the direct impact on weight loss is unclear. PURPOSE To examine how meal and exercise planning frequencies change in a BWL program and their relations to weight loss outcomes. METHODS Participants (N = 139) in a 40 week worksite-based BWL program completed a questionnaire regarding

Little is known about the effect of health professionals’ advice on promoting healthy lifestyle behaviors (diet and exercise) among breast cancer patients.

Although past longitudinal research demonstrates that romantic partners affect one another’s health outcomes, considerably less is known about how romantic experiences “get under the skin” in everyday life.

Tekwe and colleagues raise the important issue of adjusting for clustering in family-based trials that enrol more than one child per family. We appreciate the opportunity to clarify that the analyses presented in our article were indeed adjusted for clustering and it was an error on our part to report this was not the case.

We recently read the article by Morgan et al. addressing the important topic of physical activity and obesity among girls [1]. The article focused on testing a novel program designed to increase physical activity levels among fathers/male guardians and their daughters. The study design involved a cluster randomized controlled trial involving 115 fathers and 153 daughters where family units were randomized

BACKGROUND Recommendations for skin cancer prevention include behaviors such as using sunscreen, seeking shade, and wearing a shirt with sleeves, but the best way to persuasively communicate this information to the public is not clear. PURPOSE To test whether a messaging strategy using videos that focus on one specific behavior at a time versus a more general or multibehavior sun protection message

BACKGROUND Choice has been found to facilitate placebo effects for single-session treatments where standard placebo treatment without choice failed to elicit a placebo effect. However, it is unknown whether choice can enhance the placebo effect for treatments occurring over a period of days and where placebo effects are readily established without choice. PURPOSE We tested whether single or daily choice

BACKGROUND Alcohol craving, or the desire to drink alcohol, has been identified as a key experience preceding alcohol use. Alcoholics Anonymous has long claimed that individuals can allay alcohol cravings by eating sweets. Empirical tests of this strategy are limited to a few preclinical studies in rats, and there is no existing experiment testing the acute effect of eating sweets on alcohol cravings

BACKGROUND The positive association between physical activity and sunburn is a health behavior trade-off between the health benefits of physical activity and increased risk of skin cancer. PURPOSE We assessed walking, which is a common source of physical activity, and the prevalence of sunburn. METHODS This research used the 2015 National Health Interview Survey of adults (N = 26,632), age ≥ 18 years

BACKGROUND Previous research documents an association between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and immune system inflammation. High chronic inflammation is believed to be one biological pathway through which childhood adversity may affect health into adulthood. The Blackfeet tribal community has high rates of childhood trauma and community members are disproportionately affected by inflammatory

BACKGROUND Health risk behaviors (HRBs) are common, yet not well understood in young adult smokers. PURPOSE We examined HRB profiles over 12 months in young adult smokers participating in a Facebook smoking cessation intervention clinical trial. METHODS Participants (N = 500; age M = 20.9 years; 54.6% women) were recruited online and randomized to receive either a 3-month Facebook smoking cessation

BACKGROUND Depressive symptoms are prevalent during pregnancy and the postpartum period and affect risk for smoking relapse. Whether and how depression affects response to postpartum interventions designed to sustain smoking abstinence is unknown. PURPOSE We examined end-of-pregnancy depressive symptoms as a moderator of response to two postpartum-adapted smoking relapse prevention interventions. METHODS

BACKGROUND Self-reported experiences of discrimination have been linked to indices of cardiovascular disease. However, most studies have focused on healthy populations. Thus, we examined the association between experiences of everyday discrimination and arterial stiffness among patients with a history of myocardial infarction (MI). PURPOSE We hypothesized that higher reports of discrimination would

BACKGROUND Compared to White and high socioeconomic status (SES) patients, Black and low SES patients receive less adequate pain care. Providers may contribute to these disparities by making biased decisions that are driven, in part, by their attitudes about race and SES. PURPOSE We examined the effects of patient race and SES on providers' chronic pain decisions and the extent to which providers'

BackgroundPlacebo analgesia studies generally reported that the actual use of a placebo analgesic reduces pain. Yeung VW, Geers A, Kam SM. Merely possessing a placebo analgesic reduced pain intensity: Preliminary findings from a randomized design. Curr Psychol. 2019;38(1):194–203 found that the mere possession (without use) of a placebo analgesic also reduces pain. PurposeWe investigated the relative

BackgroundSleep problems are common in eating disorders (EDs). PurposeWe evaluated whether sleep-phasing regularity associates with the regularity of daily eating events. MethodsED patients (n = 29) completed hourly charts of mood and eating occasions for 2 weeks. Locomotor activity was recorded continuously by wrist actigraphy for a minimum of 10 days, and sleep was calculated based on periods of

BackgroundSexual minority men remain highly impacted by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) with social stress being a clear predictor of their risk for infection. The past several decades of stress research regarding sexual minority men’s HIV-risk behaviors has almost exclusively focused on the influence of stress emanating from outside the gay community (e.g., stigma-related stress, or minority

BACKGROUND Depression is a robust predictor of nonadherence to antiretroviral (ARV) therapy, which is essential to prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT). Women in resource-limited settings face additional barriers to PMTCT adherence. Although structural barriers may be minimized by social support, depression and stigma may impede access to this support. PURPOSE To better understand modifiable

BACKGROUND Individual stress beliefs are associated with stress-related behavioral responses and health consequences. The Common-Sense Model of Self-Regulation may help in understanding the role of stress beliefs in these behavioral responses and consequences. PURPOSE To synthesize empirical studies exploring the relationship between stress beliefs and stress-related behavioral responses and health

BACKGROUND Despite the suggested contribution of cumulative chronic stress to the racial/ethnic disparities in preterm birth (PTB), it is unclear how chronic stress, maternal age, and race/ethnicity are linked underlying PTB. PURPOSE We investigated the moderating effect of chronic stress on the maternal age-PTB association among non-Hispanic (N-H) White, N-H Black, Hispanic, and Asian women. METHODS

BACKGROUND Conditioned pain modulation (CPM) is a task that involves measuring pain in response to a test stimulus before and during a painful conditioning stimulus (CS). The CS pain typically inhibits pain elicited by the test stimulus; thus, this task is used to assess endogenous pain inhibition. Moreover, less efficient CPM-related inhibition is associated with chronic pain risk. Pain catastrophizing

BACKGROUND Key dimensions of cardiac arrest-induced posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms include reexperiencing, avoidance, numbing, and hyperarousal. It remains unknown which dimensions are most predictive of outcome. PURPOSE To determine which dimensions of cardiac arrest-induced PTSD are predictive of clinical outcome within 13 months posthospital discharge. METHODS PTSD symptoms were assessed

BACKGROUND Inflammation is implicated as one of many factors related to the development of chronic disease; thus, identifying its modifiable risk factors offers potential intervention targets to reduce risk. PURPOSE To investigate whether depression and anxiety symptoms may indirectly affect high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) through sleep duration

BACKGROUND Physical activity tends to decline in older age, despite being key to health and longevity. Previous investigations have focused on demographic and individual factors that predict sustained physical activity. PURPOSE To examine whether engaging in physical activity in the context of sport or exercise group membership can protect against age-related physical activity decline. METHODS Drawn

BACKGROUND Depressed patients have an increased risk of myocardial infarction, for which acute stress is a frequent trigger. Prothrombotic changes could be one involved mechanism that can be modulated by psychological coping. PURPOSE We examined the effects of remitted major depression and situation-specific coping strategies on stress-induced coagulation activation. METHODS Forty patients with remitted

BACKGROUND Lung cancer patients commonly report stigma, often attributing it to the well-established association of smoking as the leading preventable cause. Theory and research suggest that patients' smoking history may differentiate patients' experience of lung cancer stigma. However, there is inconsistent evidence whether lung cancer stigma varies by patients' smoking history, owing to limitations

BACKGROUND Poor sleep health is highly prevalent. Physical activity is known to improve sleep quality but not specifically targeted in sleep interventions. PURPOSE To compare the efficacy of a combined physical activity and sleep intervention with a sleep-only intervention and a wait-list control, for improving sleep quality in middle-aged adults without a diagnosed sleep disorder. METHODS Three-arm

BACKGROUND Obesity is a cardiovascular disease risk factor and affects approximately 13.7 million U.S. children and adolescents between the ages 2 and 19 years old in 2015-2016. PURPOSE To determine the relationship between children's average long-term exposure to maternal depressive symptoms age 1 month to Grade 6 and adolescents' body mass index (BMI) z-score at age 15 mediated by the adolescents'

BACKGROUND Socioecological models highlight the potential direct and indirect effects of multiple levels of influence in explaining physical activity (PA). Social cognitive theories, however, position individual cognitions as the mediator of external factors such as the built environment when explaining PA. PURPOSE To appraise the evidence for direct and indirect associations between the built environment

BACKGROUND Self-management of symptoms related to cancer and its treatment is important for maintaining treatment regimens and improving outcomes. PURPOSE To determine factors associated with engagement in a symptom self-management intervention among patients initiating oral anticancer treatment. METHODS This secondary analysis included 127 patients randomized to the medication adherence reminder and

BACKGROUND Individuals' emotional responses to stressors in everyday life are associated with long-term physical and mental health. Among many possible risk factors, the stressor-related emotional responses may play an important role in future development of depressive symptoms. PURPOSE The current study examined how individuals' positive and negative emotional responses to everyday stressors predicted

BACKGROUND Nurses' suboptimal physical activity (PA) levels place them at high risk for cardiovascular diseases. Little is known about the motivational factors that influence their PA behavior. PURPOSE This study drew on the Self-Determination Theory (SDT) to investigate whether associations between nurses' levels of mood disturbance, psychological need satisfaction (competence, autonomy, and relatedness)

BACKGROUND Communal coping is one person's appraisal of a stressor as shared and collaboration with a partner to manage the problem. There is a burgeoning literature demonstrating the link of communal coping to good relationships and health among persons with chronic disease. PURPOSE We examined links of communal coping to relationship and psychological functioning among couples in which one person

BACKGROUND Depression and anxiety symptoms (termed distress) are common among coronary heart disease (CHD) patients and associated with poor outcomes. Illness perceptions predict distinct outcome trajectories in other long-term conditions, yet it is not known how they relate to distress trajectories in CHD. PURPOSE This study aimed to examine whether baseline illness perceptions are associated with

BACKGROUND Mindfulness-based interventions, Tai Chi/Qigong, and Yoga (defined here as meditative cancer interventions [MCIs]) have demonstrated small to medium effects on psychosocial outcomes in female breast cancer patients. However, no summary exists of how effective these interventions are for men with cancer. PURPOSE A meta-analysis was performed to determine the effectiveness of MCIs on psychosocial

BACKGROUND Previous studies have shown affective and physiological states in response to exercise as predictors of daily exercise, yet little is known about the mechanism underlying such effects. PURPOSE To examine the mediating effects of self-efficacy and outcome expectancy on the relationships between affective and physiological responses to exercise and subsequent exercise levels in endometrial

BACKGROUND The fear-avoidance model of chronic pain holds that individuals who catastrophize in response to injury are at risk for pain-related fear and avoidance behavior, and ultimately prolonged pain and disability. PURPOSE Based on the hypothesis that the predictive power of the fear-avoidance model would be enhanced by consideration of positive psychological constructs, the present study examined

BACKGROUND Colorectal cancer screening remains suboptimal among poor and underserved people. PURPOSE We tested the effectiveness of a community-to-clinic navigator intervention to guide multicultural, underinsured individuals into primary care clinics to complete colorectal cancer screening. METHODS This two-phase behavioral intervention study was conducted in Phoenix, Arizona (2012-2018). Community

BACKGROUND Resilience is a psychological construct referring to one's positive adaptation in response to adversity. Evidence suggests that resilience may contribute to various function domains in adults with chronic physical disabilities. PURPOSE To test hypothesized temporal associations between resilience and four function domains (anxiety, depression, social role satisfaction, and physical function)

BACKGROUND The Multiphase Optimization Strategy (MOST) is an approach to systematically and efficiently developing a behavioral intervention using a sequence of experiments to prepare and optimize the intervention. PURPOSE Using a 6 year MOST-based behavioral intervention development project as an example, we outline the results-and resulting decision-making process-related to experiments at each step

BACKGROUND In the UK, cancer-screening invitations are mailed with information styled in a standard, didactic way to allow for informed choice. Information processing theory suggests this "standard style" could be more appealing to people who prefer deliberative thinking. People less likely to engage in deliberative thinking may be disenfranchised by the design of current standard-style information

BACKGROUND Pain interferes with people's daily lives and often limits the extent to which they can pursue goals and engage in activities that promote well-being. However, people vary in how much interference they experience at a given level of pain. PURPOSE The present study tested how optimism affects and is affected by pain interference and goal-directed activity among older women. METHODS Every

BACKGROUND Low socioeconomic status (SES) is linked to failure to quit smoking. Health inequity models suggest that low SES smokers experience barriers to quitting in part due to greater exposure to pro-smoking social contexts. PURPOSE The current study examined longitudinal associations among socioeconomic status, pro-smoking social context factors (i.e., exposure to other smokers, places where smoking