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Current knowledge about the relationship between psychological characteristics and metabolic syndrome (MetS) components is limited in Asian populations. The purpose of this study is to investigate linkages between physiological markers of MetS and life satisfaction, hostility, and depression in Chinese adults. Secondary analyses were conducted using cross-sectional data from parents of randomly selected middle school students participating in a pilot study in Qingdao, China. Among 440 parents who consented to participate (237 women, 203 men), 368 provided valid responses in all three categories of psychological characteristics, and only those subjects were included in these analyses. General linear models and logistic regressions were run separately by gender, controlling for covariates. Among women, life satisfaction was inversely associated with triglyceride levels (p = .04), LDL-C (p < .01), risk of hypertriglyceridemia (OR[.53],p < .01), HDL-C (OR[.78],p = .03), and MetS (OR[.52],p = .03). No associations were found between life satisfaction and any psychological characteristics among men. Among women, hostility was positively associated with triglyceride level (p = .04) and risk of hypertriglyceridemia (OR[2.12],p < .05). Among men, hostility was positively associated with waist circumference (p = .04), waist-hip ratio (p < .05), and fasting plasma insulin (p < .01). Depression was not associated with any physiological measurement in either gender. These findings indicate that relationships exist between certain psychological characteristics and physiological indicators of MetS among Chinese adults, although there may be important differences between genders. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The relationship of plasma cholesterol-reducing interventions to emotional states, such as depression and hostility, remains a topic of debate. The present study employed a randomised, controlled design, and was conducted at a clinical research center to test the effect of dietary cholesterol-lowering on psychological symptoms. Ten women and eight men were randomly assigned to one of two counterbalanced diet cycles (low-fat versus high-fat diet; isocaloric; 6 weeks each; separated by a washout period). Analyses for repeated measures revealed that the low-fat diet significantly reduced total, LDL and HDL cholesterol, when compared with baseline and the high-fat diet. As expected, weight remained unchanged. Ratings of depression, hostility and global severity of psychological symptoms as measured by the SCL-90-R also improved significantly on the low-fat, high-complex carbohydrate diet when compared with baseline. These results suggest that plasma cholesterol-lowering in the context of a low-fat, high-complex carbohydrate diet may have a beneficial effect on psychological symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined, first, differences in dispositional and situational coping, and psychological distress between political ex-prisoners and their matched controls, and second, coping effectiveness in protecting mental health from impacts of imprisonment and military trauma. Thirdly, we tested the hypothesis that compatibility (“goodness of fit”) between dispositional and situational coping would predict low psychological distress. Participants were 184 men recruited from a Palestinian community sample, 92 were former political prisoners and 92 non-prisoners. The dispositional coping was assessed as a general response style to hypothetical stressors and situational coping as responses to their own traumatic experiences. Psychological distress was measured by SCL-90-R, and posttraumatic stress disorder, depression and somatoform symptoms by scales based on CIDI 2.1 diagnostic interview. The results showed that, compared to non-prisoners, the political ex-prisoners employed less avoidant, denying, and emotion-focused coping strategies. Military trauma was associated with avoidant and denying coping only among non-prisoners. The ex-prisoners showed more mental health and medical problems, especially when exposed to military trauma. None of the coping styles or strategies were effective in protecting the mental health in general or in either groups. However, main effect results revealed that the high level of active and constructive and low level of emotion-focused coping were associated with low levels of psychiatric symptoms and psychological distress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]