Sleep is an important, restorative behavior for health, yet many adults report troubled sleep. The existence of a support network may be beneficial for sleep quality, including as a buffer for stressful events, yet few studies have examined these relationships longitudinally.

Sexual minority populations in the United States have persistently higher rates of cigarette use than heterosexuals, partially driven by exposure to minority stressors (e.g., discrimination and victimization). Little is known about cigarette use across cohorts of sexual minority adults who came of age in distinctly different sociopolitical environments.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is an emerging pandemic with heightened concerns for people with compromised immune systems, including people living with HIV.

Social distancing is a key behavior to minimize COVID-19 infections. Identification of potentially modifiable determinants of social distancing behavior may provide essential evidence to inform social distancing behavioral interventions.

Weight stigma is common for people with obesity and harmful to health. Links between obesity and complications from COVID−19 have been identified, but it is unknown whether weight stigma poses adverse health implications during this pandemic.

Overuse of unnecessary services, screening tests, and treatments is an ongoing problem for national health care systems. Overuse is at least partly driven by patient demand.

Behavioral interventions typically include multiple behavior change techniques (BCTs). The theory informing the selection of BCTs for an intervention may be stated explicitly or remain unreported, thus impeding the identification of links between theory and behavior change outcomes.

National and international guidelines recommend advance care planning (ACP) for patients with heart failure. But clinicians seem hesitant to engage with ACP.

Concurrent general psychopathology (GP) and eating disorder psychopathology (EDP) are commonly reported among youth with overweight/obesity and may impact weight change.

Men who have sex with men (MSM) are at high risk for human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and HPV-related anal cancer. Although a safe and effective vaccine is available to prevent HPV infection, HPV vaccine uptake among young MSM remains low.

Sleep is an important aspect of child development and health. Disparities in childhood sleep have been observed as early as infancy, but little is known about the factors contributing to them.

Understanding determinants of metabolic risk has become a national priority given the increasingly high prevalence rate of this condition among U.S. adults.

Pain and substance use are frequently comorbid and have been shown to exert bidirectional effects. Self-medication of pain and distress via substance use is common and can be understood via negative reinforcement, ultimately strengthening the pathway between pain to substance use over time. As such, a testable model of the potentially modifiable candidate mechanisms that underlie the pain to substance

In August 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed a set of 13 new graphic warnings for cigarette packaging and advertisements.

Conflicting research emphasizes depression, diabetes distress, or well-being in relation to diabetes self-care and risk for poor health outcomes.

Mediation analysis is an important tool for understanding the processes through which interventions affect health outcomes over time. Typically the temporal intervals between X, M, and Y are fixed by design, and little focus is given to the temporal dynamics of the processes.

Loneliness, the subjective experience of social isolation, represents one of the largest risk factors for physical illness and early death in humans. However, the mechanisms by which loneliness leads to adverse health outcomes are not well understood.

Racial discrimination has been associated with biological dysfunction among ethnic minorities. The extent to which regular physical activity (PA) may buffer this association is unknown.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offer behavioral guidance to prevent the spread of infectious diseases like COVID-19. Cleaning (e.g., cleaning surfaces, washing and sanitizing hands) and containing (e.g., covering coughs, keeping distance from others, especially sick people) behaviors are recommended.

Research suggests that loneliness and social isolation (SI) are serious public health concerns. However, our knowledge of the associations of loneliness and SI with specific chronic diseases is limited.

Disturbed sleep is prevalent in older adulthood and particularly among women. Greater psychological well-being (PWB) is associated with better sleep, but intraindividual variability in PWB has not been examined.

Stress is a dynamic construct that predicts a range of health behaviors and conditions, including binge eating and excess weight. Thus far, there have been limited and inconsistent findings regarding stress responses in binge-eating disorder (BED) and insufficient consideration of temporal patterns of stress responses across the weight spectrum.

Prior research has debated whether reflective pondering is a more constructive form of rumination than brooding, which is generally considered maladaptive. This study sought to investigate whether reflective pondering predicts depressive symptoms and whether reflective pondering is adaptive under certain conditions. We predicted that the effectiveness of reflective pondering could depend on concurrent

Behavioral medicine is showing growing theoretical and applied interest in multiple health-risk behaviors. Compared to engaging in a single health-risk behavior, multiple health-risk behaviors are linked to increased morbidity and mortality. A contextual determinant of multiple risk behaviors may be living with a smoker.

Patients undergoing chemotherapy experience a range of aversive symptoms. These symptoms vary across individuals and at least some of this variation can be predicted by psychological factors, such as distress. However, while psychological distress predicts some of the symptoms, it is limited in important ways.

The global COVID-19 pandemic and efforts to stem its transmission highlights the essential role of behavioral medicine in contemporary healthcare. As a result, the Annals of Behavioral Medicine instituted a COVID-19 rapid review process in mid-April to bring new knowledge to publication. This editorial describes the first two papers accepted through this mechanism and issues a broader call to recognize

The Center for Latino Health Research Opportunities (CLaRO) supports and facilitates research addressing substance abuse, violence/trauma, and HIV/AIDS among diverse and underserved Latinx populations. CLaRO runs a pilot awards program for early-stage investigators conducting Latinx health disparities research. This pilot awards program was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, necessitating innovative

Social distancing—when people limit close contact with others outside their household—is a primary intervention available to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The importance of social distancing is unlikely to change until effective treatments or vaccines become widely available. However, relatively little is known about how best to promote social distancing. Applying knowledge from social and behavioral

Disturbed sleep can be a cause and a consequence of elevated stress. Yet intensive longitudinal studies have revealed that sleep assessed via diaries and actigraphy is inconsistently associated with daily stress.

Promoting adolescent physical activity is crucial as this marks a time when physical activity rates decline.

Sexual minority men (SMM) and transgender women (TW) are more likely to smoke cigarettes than heterosexual and cisgender peers, which may exacerbate existing disparities in mental and psychosocial health and substance use.

Although pain-related avoidance is mainly intended to reduce the accompanying anticipatory fear, avoidance behavior may paradoxically increase fear when a previous avoidance response is no longer available, suggesting that there is a bidirectional relationship between pain-related fear and avoidance.

Several studies have proposed that coping strategies are a key predictor of sleep problems. Furthermore, some authors have suggested that depressive symptoms, a factor that is related to both coping strategies and sleep, may play a critical role in this relationship. However, this preliminary research has shown mixed results.

Family and friends have both helpful and harmful effects on adults’ diabetes self-management. Family-focused Add-on to Motivate Self-care (FAMS) is a mobile phone-delivered intervention designed to improve family/friend involvement, self-efficacy, and self-care via monthly phone coaching, texts tailored to goals, and the option to invite a support person to receive texts.

African American women participate in less physical activity (PA), have higher rates of chronic disease, and report higher perceived stress relative to other race and sex demographic groups.

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a risk factor for the development of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. Although the development of MetS is attributed to known lifestyle factors, perceived discrimination may also contribute to MetS development and severity.

Stress in pregnancy predicts adverse birth outcomes. Stressors occurring prior to conception may also pose risk for the mother and child. The few published studies on preconception stress test a single stress measure and examine only linear associations with birth outcomes.

Evidence shows that clinician-delivered brief opportunistic interventions are effective in obesity, and guidelines promote their use. However, there is no evidence on how clinicians should do this, and guidelines are not based on clinical evidence.

Erratum to: Ann. Behav. Med.

Withholding cancer-related concerns from one’s partner (protective buffering) and feeling that one’s partner is inaccessible or unresponsive to such disclosure (social constraints) are two interpersonal interaction patterns that separately have been linked to poorer adjustment to cancer.

Many of our daily behaviors are habitual, occurring automatically in response to learned contextual cues, and with minimal need for cognitive and self-regulatory resources. Behavioral habit strength predicts adherence to actions, including to medications. The time of day (morning vs. evening) may influence adherence and habit strength to the degree that stability of contexts/routines varies throughout

Young children with Type 1 diabetes (T1D) are at risk for extreme blood glucose variability, a risk factor for suboptimal glycated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and long-term health complications. We know that a reciprocal relationship exists between sleep and glycemic outcomes in older youth with T1D; however, little research has examined objective sleep in young children (<7 years) with T1D.

Disrupted sleep quality is one of the proposed mechanisms through which chronic stress may lead to depression. However, there exist significant individual differences in sleep reactivity, which is the extent to which one experiences sleep disturbances in response to stress.

Worldwide, there are more than 13.3 million orphans and vulnerable children affected by Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) (HIV OVC), defined as individuals below the age of 18 who have lost one or both parents to HIV/AIDS or have been made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS; they are at risk for negative psychosocial and cognitive outcomes.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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