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This study was designed to assess the psychological factors influencing life satisfaction of undergraduates. The instruments used were Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS), Rosenberge Self-esteem Scale (RSS), and Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS). A total number of 190 participants were purposively selected across various faculties in Ekiti State University. Four hypotheses were tested using Independent t-test to find the effects of perceived stress, emotional intelligence, and self-esteem on life satisfaction. Multiple regression was used to find the joint and individual influences of these variables. The results showed that there is no significant influence of perceived stress on life satisfaction (t (75) = 1.23, p = .22, 95% CI [-1.14, 4.83). There is no significant influence of self-esteem on life satisfaction (t (51) = -1.31, p = .20, 95% CI [-5.28, 1.11), and there is no significant joint influence of perceived stress, emotional intelligence and self-esteem on life satisfaction (F (3,187) = 1.79, p = .15, R2 =.03). Additionally, perceived stress (β = .07, p = .33), emotional intelligence (β = .14, p = 054) and self-esteem (β = .02, p = .83) did not have independent influences on life satisfaction. Implications of the present findings for future research are discussed, as well as potential interventions for improving life satisfaction.

Previous research has demonstrated a clear link between late chronotype and depression. The vulnerability factors underpinning this link, however, are unclear. Here the relationship between two specific emotion regulation strategies, cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, and chronotype was investigated using multiple regression. Two hundred and fourty participants (age range 18- 80, 189 females) completed validated self-report questionnaires assaying chronotype, neuroticism, depression symptomatology, sleep quality and emotion regulation. Eveningness was associated increased expressive suppression and morningness was associated with increased cognitive reappraisal after controlling for age, gender, depressive symptomatology, neuroticism and sleep quality. Trait expressive suppression and reduced cognitive reappraisal are known to increase depression risk. Our results suggest that eveningness is associated with impaired emotion regulation which may confer risk for future depression. These findings suggest modifiable markers that could be therapeutically targeted to prevent the onset of depression in late chronotype individuals.

Introduction: Passive detection of cigarette smoking offers potential for considerable benefits to researchers exploring smoking behaviour and designing precision behaviour change interventions. A number of systems have been developed that either use bespoke sensing technology, or rely on connected smartphones to run analytical software. Here we present StopWatch, a system for passive detection of cigarette smoking that runs on a smartwatch and does not require additional sensing or a connected smartphone.Methods: Our system uses motion data from the accelerometer and gyroscope in an Android smartwatch to detect the signature hand movements of cigarette smoking. It uses a three-stage analytical pipeline to transform raw motion data into motion features, and in turn into individual drags and instances of smoking. This pipeline runs on the smartwatch, and does not require a smartphone.Results: We validated the system in daily smokers (n=13) in laboratory and free-living conditions running on an Android LG G-Watch. In free-living conditions, over a 24 hour period, the system achieved precision of 86% and recall of 71%.Conclusions: StopWatch is a system for passive measurement of cigarette smoking that runs entirely on a commercially available smartwatch. It runs on an Android smartwatch and requires no smartphone so the cost is low. No bespoke sensing equipment is needed, and it uses a mass-market smartwatch, so participant burden is low. Performance is currently lower than other more expensive and complex systems, though adequate for some applications. Future developments will focus on enhancing performance, and validation on a range of smartwatches.

An emerging area of research in cognitive science is the utilization of networks to model the structure and processes of the mental lexicon in healthy and clinical populations, like aphasia. Previous research has focused on only one type of word similarity at a time (e.g., semantic relationships), even though words are multi-faceted. Here, we investigate lexical retrieval in a picture naming task from people with Broca’s and Wernicke’s aphasia and healthy controls by utilizing a multiplex network structure that accounts for the interplay between multiple semantic and phonological relationships among words in the mental lexicon. Extending upon previous work, we focused on the global network measure of closeness centrality which is known to capture spreading activation, an important process supporting lexical retrieval. We conducted a series of logistic regression models predicting the probability of correct picture naming. We tested whether multiplex closeness centrality was a better predictor of picture naming performance than single-layer closeness centralities, other network measures assessing local and meso-scale structure, psycholinguistic variables and group differences. We also examined production gaps, or the difference between the likelihood of producing a word with the lowest and highest closeness centralities. Our results indicated that multiplex closeness centrality was a significant predictor of picture naming performance, where words with high closeness centrality were more likely to be produced than words with low closeness centrality. Additionally, multiplex closeness centrality outperformed single-layer closeness centralities and other multiplex network measures, and remained a significant predictor after controlling for psycholinguistic variables and group differences. Furthermore, we found that the facilitative effect of closeness centrality was similar for both types of aphasia. Our results underline the importance of integrating multiple measures of word similarities in cognitive language networks for better understanding lexical retrieval in aphasia, with an eye towards future clinical applications.

Objective: Although basing conclusions on confidence intervals for effect size estimates is preferred over relying on null hypothesis significance testing alone, confidence intervals in psychology are typically very wide. One reason may be a lack of easily applicable methods for planning studies to achieve sufficiently tight confidence intervals. This paper presents tables and freely accessible tools to facilitate planning studies for the desired accuracy in parameter estimation for a common effect size (Cohen’s d). In addition, the importance of such accuracy is demonstrated using data from the Reproducibility Project: Psychology (RPP).Results: It is shown that the sampling distribution of Cohen’s d is very wide unless sample sizes are considerably larger than what is common in psychology studies. This means that effect size estimates can vary substantially from sample to sample, even with perfect replications. The RPP replications’ confidence intervals for Cohen’s d have widths of around 1 standard deviation (95% confidence interval from 1.05 to 1.39). Therefore, point estimates obtained in replications are likely to vary substantially from the estimates from earlier studies.Conclusion: The implication is that researchers in psychology -and funders- will have to get used to conducting considerably larger studies if they are to build a strong evidence base.

Background:Living in the time of the COVID-19 means experiencing not only a global health emergency but alsoextreme psychological stress with potential emotional side effects such as sadness, grief, irritability, and mood swings. Crucially, lockdown and confinement measures isolate people who become the first and the only ones in charge of their own mental health: people are left alone facing a novel and potentially lethal situation, and, at the same time, they need to develop adaptive strategies to face it, at home. In this view, easy-to-use, inexpensive, and scientifically validated self-help solutions aiming to reduce the psychological burden of coronavirus are extremely necessary. Aims:This pragmatic trial aims to provide the evidence that a weekly self-help virtual reality (VR) protocol can help overcome the psychological burden of the Coronavirus by relieving anxiety, improving well-being, and reinforcing social connectedness. The protocol will be based on the “Secret Garden” 360 VR video online (www.covidfeelgood.com) which simulates a natural environment aiming to promote relaxation and self-reflection. Three hundred sixty–degree or spherical videos allow the user to control the viewing direction. In this way, the user can explore the content from any angle like a panorama and experience presence and immersion. The “Secret Garden” video is combined with daily exercises that are designed to be experienced with another person (not necessarily physically together), to facilitate a process of critical examination and eventual revision of core assumptions and beliefs related to personal identity, relationships, and goals. Methods:This is a multicentric, pragmatic pilot randomized controlled trial involving individuals who experienced the COVID-19 pandemic and underwent a lockdown and quarantine procedures. The trial is approved by the Ethics Committee of the Istituto Auxologico Italiano. Each research group in all the countries joining the pragmatic trial, aims at enrolling at least 30 individuals in the experimental group experiencing the self-help protocol, and 30 in the control group, over a period of 3 months to verify the feasibility of the intervention. Conclusion:The goal of this protocol is for VR to become the “surgical mask” of mental health treatment. Although surgical masks do not provide the wearer with a reliable level of protection against the coronavirus compared with FFP2 or FFP3 masks, surgical masks are very effective in protecting others from the wearer’s respiratory emissions. The goal of the VR protocol is the same: not necessarily to solve complex mental health problems but rather to improve well-being and preserve social connectedness through the beneficial social effects generated by positive emotions.

Inhibitory control refers to the ability to stop, change or delay a response, and is often used in order to protect higher order goals. Theoretical models suggest that deficits in inhibitory control may be exacerbated during exposure to appetitive-cues (such as pictures of alcoholic drinks or food), and that these effects of cues may be related to individual differences (e.g. in body mass index, or alcohol consumption). In order to investigate these claims we conducted a random effects meta-analysis of 66 effect sizes from 37 articles that tested the effect of exposure to appetitive (alcohol / food) cues on indices of inhibitory control. The overall effect of cue exposure was small, but robust (SMD = -0.12 [95% CI -0.23, -0.02]; Z = 2.34, p = .02, I2 = 84%). Exposure to alcohol-related cues significantly impaired inhibitory control (SMD = -0.21 [95% CI = -0.32, -0.11]; Z = 4.17, p < .001), however exposure to food-related cues did not lead to impairments (SMD = -0.03 [95% CI = -0.21, 0.15]; Z = 0.36, p = .720). There was no evidence that drinking or weight status significantly moderated the effects of cues on inhibitory control. Similarly, cue modality (words, pictures, or smells) did not significantly moderate the effects. Trim and Fill analysis suggested bias in the literature, which when corrected, made the overall effect of cues non-significant. Overall, these findings provide some tentative support for theoretical claims that inhibitory control is a malleable construct that fluctuates with individuals, and that exposure to appetitive cues prompts transient impairments in inhibitory control. Further research is required to determine the clinical significance of these observations. However, care should be taken when drawing conclusions from a potentially biased evidence base.

Introduction: Evaluating effects of behavior change interventions is a central interest in health psychology and behavioral medicine. Researchers in these fields routinely use frequentist statistical methods to evaluate the extent to which these interventions impact behavior and the hypothesized mediating processes in the population. However, calls to move beyond the exclusive use of frequentist reasoning are now widespread in psychology and allied fields. We suggest adding Bayesian statistical methods to the researcher’s toolbox of statistical methods. Objectives: We first present the basic principles of the Bayesian approach to statistics and why they are useful for researchers in health psychology. We then provide a practical example on how to evaluate intervention effects using Bayesian methods, with a focus on Bayesian hierarchical modeling. We provide the necessary materials for introductory-level readers to follow the tutorial. Conclusion: Bayesian analytical methods are now available to researchers through easy-to-use software packages, and we recommend using them to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions for their conceptual and practical benefits.

Objective: Although ethnicity and socioeconomic status (SES) correlate with health inequality, efforts to\ud explain variance in health behavior attributable to these factors are limited by difficulties in population\ud sampling. We used ethnicity identification software to test effects of psychological beliefs about\ud screening as mediators of ethnicity and SES on faecal occult blood colorectal screening behavior in a\ud no-cost health care context. Method: Adults aged 50–67 years (N � 1,678), of whom 28% were from\ud minority South Asian religiolinguistic ethnic groups (Hindu-Gujarati/Hindi, Muslim-Urdu and Sikh-\ud Punjabi), participated in a prospective survey study. Subsequent screening participation was determined\ud from medical records. Results: Screening nonparticipation in the most deprived SES quintile was 1.6\ud times that of the least deprived quintile. Nonparticipation was 1.6 times higher in South Asians compared\ud with non-Asians. A process model in which psychological variables mediated effects of ethnicity and\ud SES on uptake was tested using structural equation modeling. Self-efficacy and perceived psychological\ud costs of screening were, respectively, positive and negative direct predictors of uptake. Paths from Hindu,\ud Muslim, and Sikh ethnicity, and SES on uptake were fully mediated by lower self-efficacy and higher\ud perceived psychological costs. Paths from South Asian ethnicity to participation via self-efficacy and\ud psychological costs were direct, and indirect via SES. Conclusion: SES is implicated, but does not fully\ud account for low colorectal screening uptake among South Asians. Targeting increased self-efficacy and\ud reduced perceived psychological costs may minimize health inequality effects. Future research should\ud test independent effects of SES and ethnicity on lower self-efficacy and higher psychological costs.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory auto-immune disease of the central nervous system. It leads to many impairments including physical, cognitive, psychological, and social challenges. Our study examined gender and cultural associations with quality of life (QoL), personal characteristics, and benefits from having MS among those with MS.The study was conducted in Austria and the United States. The sample included 128 participants, 64 in each country, of whom 78 were women and 50 were men aged between 20 and 57 years. We used standard statistical tests, including analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) and partial correlations for the analysis of quantitative data. For the qualitative part of the survey we used semi-structured interviews, which we transcribed and coded to identify categories in the answers for qualitative analyses.Austrian participants with MS perceived a higher social-emotional QoL in comparison to American participants. American participants expressed a higher self-esteem in comparison to Austrian participants. Men reported a lower ability to express love than women. Independent of sex/gender and nationality, participants reported benefits through the disease, especially with regard to improved compassion, mindfulness, improved family relations and lifestyle gains. The qualitative interviews revealed additional gender differences for coping with the illness; and in experiences, expectations, and challenges related to MS.These insights can be used to develop targeted psychological and social support interventions aimed toward improving social-emotional QoL for persons with MS.

Background: The importance of social connectedness in supporting public mental health is well established. However, the reverse causal pathway (that psychological ill-health leads to reduced social connectedness) remains a dominant perspective among mental health practitioners. Our analysis aimed to provide a rigorous test of the directionality of this relationship. Method: A cross-lagged panel analysis of a large longitudinal national probability sample ( N ≈ 21,227), the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Survey, was used to assess the bidirectional longitudinal relationship between social connectedness and mental health, controlling for baseline levels of both variables and demographics. Results: Social connectedness was found to be a stronger and more consistent predictor of mental health year-on-year than mental health was of social connectedness. Conclusion: These results further demonstrate how the psychological resources conferred by social connectedness can act as a ‘social cure’ for psychological ill-health, and provide the strongest evidence to date for the direction of this relationship in the general community.

This paper provides a primer for researchers seeking an introduction to quantitative narrative research methods. It represents a consensus document of most common practices used by the co-authors. Key elements of conducting narrative research (e.g., asking narrative questions, designing narrative prompts, collecting narratives, coding narratives) are discussed, along with limitations to this approach and future directions.

Health psychology aims to explain and change a wide variety of behaviours, and to this end has developed a plethora of theories. Several attempts have been undertaken to build integrative theories, and some even strive for a Theory of Everything. We argue against these efforts, arguing that instead, adopting a stance that may be called ‘pragmatic nihilism’ is more fruitful in the endeavour to understand and change specific health behaviours.The first tenet of pragmatic nihilism is that psychological variables, those defined in our health psychology theories, are usefully considered as metaphors rather than referring to entities that exist in the mind. As a consequence, the second tenet emphasizes theories’ definitions and guidelines for the operationalisation of those variables. The third tenet of pragmatic nihilism is that each operationalisation represents a cross section of a variety of dimensions, such as behavioural specificity and duration of the behaviour, and most importantly, psychological aggregation level. Any operationalisation thus represents a number of implicit or explicit choices regarding these dimensions.These three tenets of pragmatic nihilism have two implications. First, they provide a foundation that enables integrating theories in a more flexible and accurate manner than made possible by integrative theories. Second, this perspective emphasizes the importance of operationalisations, underlining the importance of investing in the careful development of measurement instruments, and thorough and extensive reporting of the specifics and performance on those measurement instruments as well as disclosure of the instruments themselves.

Many individuals who engage with conspiracy theories come to do so through a combination of individual and social factors. The interaction between these factors is challenging to study using traditional experimental designs. Reddit.com is a large connected set of online discussion forums, including one (r/conspiracy) devoted to wide-ranging discussion of conspiracy theories. The availability of large datasets of user comments from Reddit give a unique opportunity to observe human behavior in social spaces and at scale. Using a retrospective case control study design, we analyzed how Reddit users who would go on to engage with a conspiracy-related forum differed from other users in the language they use, differences in the social environments where they posted, and potential interactions between the two factors. Together, the analyses provide evidence for self-selection into communities with a shared set of interests which can feed into a conspiratorial world-view, and that these differences are detectable relative to controls even before users begin to post in r/conspiracy. We also suggest that survey-based and experimental studies may benefit from differentiating between passive private endorsement by individuals and active engagement with conspiracy theories in social spaces.

When a patient receives a health diagnosis, their response (e.g., changes in behavior, seeking support) can have significant consequences for long-term health and well-being. Characteristics of health news are known to influence these responses, but personality traits have been omitted from this line of research. The current study examines the role of personality traits in predicting response to health news. Participants (N = 298) read scenarios in which they received health news that was manipulated to vary in severity, controllability and likelihood of outcomes. Participants then rated how likely they were to engage in a number of response behaviors. We examined the main effects and interaction of situational manipulations and personality traits on ratings of these behaviors. Both situations and personality traits influenced behavioral responses to health events. In particular, conscientiousness predicted Taking Action and Seeking Social Support. Neuroticism predicted both maladaptive and adaptive behavioral responses, providing support for the “healthy neurotic” hypothesis. Moreover, personality traits predicted best in weak (unlikely, controllable) situations. Both personality traits and situational characteristics contribute to behavioral responses to health news.

When developing behavior change interventions, it is important to target the most important determinants of behavior (i.e. psychological constructs that predict behavior). This is challenging for two reasons. First, determinant selection requires integrating multiple information sources: determinants' associations with either behavior or with determinant that mediate their effect on behavior (i.e. effect sizes), as well as how much room for improvement there is in the population (i.e. means and spread). Second, only information from samples is normally available, and point estimates obtained from samples vary from sample to sample, and therefore cannot be interpreted without information about how much they can be expected to vary over samples. In practice, determinant studies often present multivariate regression analyses, but this is problematic because by default, shared covariance is removed from the equation (literally), compromising operationalisations' validity and affecting effect sizes (i.e., the results of such analyses cannot be used as a first source of information regarding each determinant's association to behavior). In the present contribution, we will briefly explain these points in more detail, after which we will introduce a solution: confidence interval based estimation of relevance (CIBER). We will then present a brief tutorial as to how to generate CIBER plots and how to interpret them. This is a more detailed explanation and introduction: originally, CIBER was published in Crutzen, Peters & Noijen (2017).

Objective: Pre-drinking, the practice of consuming alcohol prior to attending a subsequent event, increases the risk of alcohol-related harm, and is common in undergraduate student populations. The current study tested an integrated behaviour change model to identify the motivational, social-cognitive, and implicit predictors of pre-drinking. Design: University students (N = 289) completed an online questionnaire comprising measures of motivational and social-cognitive constructs related to reducing pre-drinking alcohol consumption and past behaviour, and an implicit association test for drinking identity. Participants reported their pre-drinking alcohol consumption at follow-up, four weeks from baseline. Main Outcome Measures: Self-reported pre-drinking alcohol consumption. Results: A variance-based structural equation model revealed that few model hypotheses were supported. Although the effects of past behaviour, perceived behavioural control, and implicit drinking identity, on follow-up pre-drinking alcohol consumption were statistically significant, the effect of intention was not. Conclusion: Current findings indicate pre-drinking alcohol consumption is associated with past behaviour, perceived behavioural control, and implicit drinking identity, and not intentions to reduce pre-drinking alcohol consumption. Finding raise questions over the validity of applying the integrated model in this context. Interventions should consider these factors and attempt to facilitate the formation of intentions that lead to subsequent behaviour.

In this brief accessible introduction, an overview is provided of how to apply theory- and evidence-based methods for behavior change when developing a behavior change intervention. It is the second part of a two-piece introduction to effective behavior change, the first part of which is called "A practical guide to effective behavior change: How to identify what to change in the first place".

In this brief accessible introduction, an overview is provided of how to determine which aspects of the target populations' psychology to target in a behavior change intervention. It is the first part of a two-piece introduction to effective behavior change, the second part of which is called "A practical guide to effective behavior change: How to apply theory- and evidence-based behavior change methods in an intervention".

Background. Heterogeneity in the effects of trait neuroticism on mortality has inspired recent theories of “healthy neuroticism,” or the possibility that neuroticism can lead people down either healthy or unhealthy behavioral pathways. The logical extension of this theory is that some construct – perhaps another trait, financial resource or health-relevant situation – changes the relationship between neuroticism and health. The other possibility is that different components of neuroticism lead to different health behaviors, and therefore different outcomes. Purpose. The current study systematically examines the relationship between child and adult neuroticism and various health indicators including perceptions of health, behaviors, health outcomes and biomarkers of health. Finally, we examine both potential moderators of the associations with neuroticism and examine its facet-structure. Methods. The current study utilizes data from the Hawaii Longitudinal Study of Personality and Health, which includes both adult (IPIP-NEO) and childhood (teacher-reported) measures of personality and SES, as well as a variety of health outcomes, from self-reported health and health behavior to biological markers, such as cholesterol and blood glucose levels. Sample sizes range from 299 to 518. Results. The relationship between neuroticism and health was not consistently moderated by any other variable, nor were facets of neuroticism differentially related to health. Conclusions. Despite a systematic investigation of the potential “paths” which may differentiate the relationship of neuroticism to health, no evidence of healthy neuroticism was found.

Becoming a parent is a transformative experience, marked by hormonal changes and neuroplasticity as well as shifts in self-concept, social roles, and daily routines. Although the arrival of a new baby is often a joyful event, the postpartum period can also be a time of heightened psychosocial stress and health behavior changes, including significant sleep disruption and decreased physical activity. Markers of allostatic load, such as physiological stress and inflammation, may also become dysregulated during this time. Given these neurobiological, psychosocial, and behavioral changes, the transition to parenthood may shape health trajectories in midlife. For many mothers and fathers, the transition to parenthood represents an inflection point for obesity, such that perinatal weight gains are retained long-term. Similarly, many individuals experience their 1st episode of major depression during the postpartum period. In sum, the transition to parenthood may represent a critical window for determining both mental and physical health in midlife and beyond. Physical and mental health problems over the transition to parenthood may be exacerbated for parents without access to protected, paid time off from employment. Known disparities in mood disorders, obesity, and allostatic load may be linked to risk factors stemming from the perinatal period. This article relates the importance of the transition to parenthood to population health and discusses parental leave policy as an example of an initiative that can support parents and relieve stress during the perinatal period. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Background: Partner support can play an important role in health behavior change, but well-intentioned supportive behaviors can also generate resistance to change. Previous research found that “perceived partner responsiveness” to support is highest when the supporting partner demonstrates respect, understanding, and caring.Purpose: Here we explore the hypothesis that exposure to a responsiveness-based intervention leads to improvements in supportive behaviors and attitudes, in the smokeless tobacco (ST) cessation context.Methods: 1,145 wives/domestic partners of ST users who wanted their male partner to quit tobacco were randomized to intervention or delayed treatment control. Those randomized to intervention received immediate access to the interactive UCare (Understanding, Caring, Respect) website and were mailed a printed booklet. Enrollment began in July 2015 and ended in December 2016. Outcome measures were change from baseline to six-week follow-up in behaviors and attitudes/beliefs related to showing respect, understanding, and caring (responsiveness) in the tobacco cessation context, and change in a measure of instrumental (practical) support, and the relation between these variables and intervention exposure.Results: Changes in the desired direction were observed for the intervention group, as compared to the control group, for the three main outcomes of interest. Effect sizes assessing change were between small and medium. Change in each of the support outcomes was predicted by intervention use.Conclusions: A brief intervention can train individuals to show greater partner responsiveness toward their partner in the tobacco cessation context, increasing their supportive behaviors and improving their attitudes/beliefs about their partner’s tobacco use and the cessation process.

Introduction Partner behaviors and attitudes can motivate or undermine a tobacco user’s cessation efforts. We developed a multimedia intervention, UCare (Understanding-CAring-REspect) for women who wanted their male partner to quit smokeless tobacco (ST), based on perceived partner responsiveness—the empirically based theory that support is best received when the supporter conveys respect, understanding, and caring. Methods One thousand one hundred three women were randomized to receive either immediate access to the UCare website and printed booklet (Intervention; N = 552), or a Delayed Treatment control (N = 551). We assessed supportive behaviors and attitudes at baseline and 6-week follow-up, and the ST-using partner’s abstinence at 6 weeks and 7.5 months (surrogate report). Results For partners of women assigned to Intervention, 7.0% had quit all tobacco at 7.5 months, compared with 6.6% for control (χ2 (1, n = 1088) = .058, p = .810). For partners of women completing the intervention, 12.4% had quit all tobacco at 7.5 months, compared with 6.6% for Delayed Treatment (χ2 (1, n = 753) = 6.775, p = .009). A previously reported change in responsiveness-based behaviors and instrumental behaviors at 6 weeks mediated 7.5-month cessation, and change in responsiveness-based attitudes mediated the change in responsiveness-based behaviors, indirectly increasing cessation. Conclusions A responsiveness-based intervention with female partners of male ST users improved supportive attitudes and behaviors, leading to higher cessation rates among tobacco users not actively seeking to quit. The study demonstrates the potential for responsiveness as a basis for effective intervention with supporters. This approach may reach tobacco users who would not directly seek help. Implications This study demonstrates the value of a responsiveness-based intervention (showing respect, understanding, and caring) in training partners to provide support for a loved one to quit ST. In a randomized clinical trial, 1,103 women married to or living with a ST user were randomized to receive the UCare-ChewFree intervention (website + booklet) or a Delayed Treatment control. Women completing the intervention were more likely to improve their behaviors and attitudes, and change in behaviors and attitudes mediated cessation outcomes for their partners, who had not enrolled in the study and may not have been seeking to quit. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01885221

Alcohol-related content is common on social media and may both reflect and influence offline drinking behavior. Posting alcohol-related content has been linked to alcohol outcomes, including higher rates of alcohol consumption, cravings, alcohol-related problems, and clinical alcohol use disorders. Exposure to alcohol-related content on social media has likewise been associated with adverse alcohol outcomes. In this paper, we review research on the relationship between social media and alcohol use, and explore the ways that online identity and social influence can account for this relationship. Finally, we call for further research on the use of social media as a platform for prevention and intervention efforts.

Due to their generally positive prognosis, patients with thyroid cancer experience cancer differently compared to patients with other types of cancer. The different set of experiences that come with the unique medical trajectory and treatment of thyroid cancer may lead to a different quality of life and may necessitate a different set of psychosocial support. This paper reviews and critiques some extant literature on the quality of life and psychosocial needs of patients with thyroid cancer. Although they have a positive prognosis and relatively less aggressive cancer treatment, their quality of life is still affected by their illness and its treatment. The “good cancer” label sometimes falls short to its promise. Accordingly, patients’ psychosocial needs in each of the quality of life domains—physical, psychological, social, and environmental—should be addressed. Addressing experience of fatigue, employment issues, depression, and anxiety is especially important. A comprehensible and readily doable list of recommendations for patients and their health care providers is suggested to help address patients’ psychosocial needs and improve their quality of life.

Background: Mass gatherings are well-documented for their public health risks, however, little research has examined their impact on mental health or focused on young people specifically. This study explores risk and protective factors for mental health at mass gatherings, with a particular focus on characterizing attendees with high levels of psychological distress and risk taking. Method: Data collection was conducted in situ at “Schoolies”, an annual informal week-long mass gathering of approximately 30,000 Australian school leavers. Participants were 812 attendees of Schoolies on the Gold Coast in 2015 or 2016 (74% aged 17 years old).Results: In both years, attendee mental health was found to be significantly better than population norms for their age-peers. Identification with the mass gathering predicted better mental health, and this relationship became stronger across the course of the mass gathering. Attendees with high levels of psychological distress were more likely to be male, socially isolated, impulsive, and in a friendship group where risk taking was normative. Conclusions: Mass gatherings may have a net benefit for attendee mental health, especially for those attendees who are subjectively committed to the event. However, a vulnerable subgroup of attendees requires targeted mental health support.

Objective:This study investigated whether self-reports of alcohol-related postings on Facebook by oneself or one’s Facebook friends were related to common motives for drinking and were uniquely predictive of self-reported alcohol outcomes (alcohol consumption, problems, and cravings).Method:Pacific Northwest undergraduates completed a survey of alcohol outcomes, drinking motives, and alcoholrelated Facebook postings. Participants completed the survey online as part of a larger study on alcohol use and cognitive associations. Participants were randomly selected through the university registrar’s office and consisted of 1,106 undergraduates (449 men, 654 women, 2 transgender, 1 declined to answer) between the ages of 18 and 25 years (M = 20.40, SD = 1.60) at a large university in the Pacific Northwest. Seven participants were excluded from analyses because of missing or suspect data.Results:Alcohol-related postings on Facebook were significantly correlated with social, enhancement, conformity, and coping motives for drinking (all ps < .001). After drinking motives were controlled for, self–alcohol-related postings independently and positively predicted the number of drinks per week, alcohol-related problems, risk of alcohol use disorders, and alcohol cravings (all ps < .001). In contrast, friends’ alcohol-related postings only predicted the risk of alcohol use disorders (p < .05) and marginally predicted alcohol-related problems (p = .07).Conclusions:Posting alcohol-related content on social media platforms such as Facebook is associated with common motivations for drinking and is, in itself, a strong predictive indicator of drinking outcomes independent of drinking motives. Moreover, self-related posting activity appears to be more predictive than Facebook friends’ activity. These findings suggest that social media platforms may be a useful target for future preventative and intervention efforts.

Background: Children exposed to antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) in utero are at higher risk for congenital malformations. Less is known about the long-term association with neurocognition and behavior. Research into family factors related to long-term developmental outcomes of children of women with epilepsy is also rare. We present a protocol to investigate the neurocognitive and behavioral development in children of mothers with epilepsy from a family perspective. Methods: This is a prospective observational longitudinal study, of children exposed in utero to monotherapy carbamazepine, lamotrigine, valproate or levetiracetam whose mother were previously included in the European Registry of Antiepileptic Drugs and Pregnancy (EURAP-NL) database. Children are tested at age six or seven years (T1) and at eight or nine years (T2). Children, mothers and fathers are asked to undergo neuropsychological assessments and to complete questionnaires on behavioral functioning and distinct family factors. Discussion: This study contributes to future counseling of women with epilepsy who have children or wishes to start a family. Strengths are the inclusion of levetiracetam, the longitudinal design, and alongside neurocognition, the inclusion of differential behavioral and family outcome measures. Anticipated limitations are discussed.

Past research on the relation between hostility in intimate relationships and adiposity has yielded mixed findings. The present study investigated whether the association between relationship hostility and adiposity is moderated by people's biological reactions to couple conflict. Cohabiting adult couples (N = 117 couples) engaged in two conflict interactions, before and after which salivary cortisol levels were measured. Results revealed an association between relationship hostility and adiposity, but this association was concentrated among people with relatively low levels of cortisol reactivity to couple conflict. Results are interpreted in light of research demonstrating that cortisol reactivity can become blunted over time in response to repeated stressors. These results provide precision to etiological models of obesity by identifying cortisol reactivity as a factor that moderates the association between relationship hostility and adiposity. (PsycINFO Database Record

Over the past three decades, a growing body of environmental psychology research has demonstrated that interacting with natural environments – and especially greenspace – can have beneficial psychological effects on human individuals. One influential and widely-cited theoretical account to explain such effects is Attention Restoration Theory (ART). ART zooms in on the cognitive benefits nature can yield, and assumes that when an individual’s ability to concentrate or direct attention has become depleted, then nature is well-equipped to replenish this capacity. Nature’s restorative potential is thought to especially derive from its soft fascinating characteristics; these can put an individual in an effortless mode of attention, thereby giving directed attention a relative opportunity to rest and replenish itself. Although ART has been highly influential in the field of restoration studies and continues to inspire health promotion interventions, with the current paper we aim to show that the framework has important empirical and conceptual shortcomings. We specifically aim to show (a) that some of ART’s principal theoretical notions are vague (e.g., soft fascination), have remained underdeveloped, and lack a clear operationalization, (b) that the framework has failed to (adequately) test its main theoretical predictions (i.e., that nature effects are recovery effects), and (c) that there is currently little support for the ART-based assumption that restoration is – or derives from – an ancient evolved adaptive response. We conclude our paper with discussing four outstanding questions for ART, and make methodological suggestions that could potentially address some of ART’s current shortcomings.

Aims: We tested whether reducing the standard serving size of alcoholic beverages would reduce voluntary alcohol consumption in a laboratory (study 1) and a real-world drinking environment (study 2). Additionally, we modelled the potential public health benefit of reducing the standard serving size of on-trade alcoholic beverages in the UK.Design: Studies 1 and 2 were cluster-randomised experiments. In study 1, participants were randomly assigned to receive standard or reduced serving sizes (by 25%) of alcohol during a laboratory drinking session. In study 2, customers at a bar were served alcohol in either standard or reduced serving sizes (by 28.6% – 33.3%). Finally, we used the Sheffield Alcohol Policy Model to estimate the number of deaths and hospital admissions that would be averted per year in the UK if a policy that reduces alcohol serving sizes in the on-trade was introduced.Setting: A semi-naturalistic laboratory (study 1), a bar in Liverpool, UK (study 2).Participants: Students and university staff members (study 1: N = 114, mean age 24.8 years, 74.6% female), residents from local community (study 2: N = 164, mean age 34.9 years, 57.3% female).Measurements: Outcome measures were units of alcohol consumed within one hour (study 1) and up to three hours (study 2). Serving size condition was the primary predictor. Findings: In study 1, a 25% reduction in alcohol serving size led to a 20.7% - 22.3% reduction in alcohol consumption. In study 2, a 28.6% - 33.3% reduction in alcohol serving size led to a 32.4% - 39.6% reduction in alcohol consumption. Modelling results indicated that decreasing the serving size of on-trade alcoholic beverages by 25% could reduce the number of alcohol-related hospital admissions and deaths per year in the UK by 4.4% - 10.5% and 5.6% - 13.2%, respectively. Conclusions: Reducing the serving size of alcoholic beverages leads to a reduction in alcohol consumption within a single drinking occasion. Reducing the standard serving sizes of alcoholic beverages may reduce alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm at the population level.

Background: High rates of inadequate health literacy (HL) are associated with maladaptive health outcomes in chronic disease including increased mortality and morbidity rates, poor treatment adherence, and poor health. Adequate HL may be an important factor in the effective treatment and management of Familial Hypercholesterolemia (FH), and may also be implicated in genetic screening for FH among index cases. The present study examined the prevalence and predictors of HL in FH patients attending clinics in seven countries. Design: Cross-sectional survey. Methods: Consecutive FH patients attending clinics in Australia, Brazil, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Taiwan, and the UK completed measures of demographic variables (age, gender, household income, and highest education level) and a brief three-item HL scale. Results: Rates of inadequate HL were lowest in the UK (7.0%), Australia (10.0%), Hong Kong (15.7%), and Taiwan (18.0%) samples, with higher rates in the Brazil (22.0%), Malaysia (25.0%), and China (37.0%) samples. Income was an independent predictor of HL levels, accounting for effects of age. HL was also independently related to China national group membership. Conclusions: Findings indicate non-trivial levels of inadequate HL in samples of FH patients. Consistent with previous research in chronic illness, inadequate HL is related to income as an index of health disparities. Chinese FH patients are more likely to have high rates of inadequate HL independent of income. Current findings highlight the imperative of education interventions targeting FH patients with inadequate HL.

Motivation is a proximal determinant of behaviour, and increasing motivation is central to most health behaviour change interventions. This systematic review and meta-analysis sought to identify features of physical activity interventions associated with favourable changes in three prominent motivational constructs: intention, stage of change and autonomous motivation. A systematic literature search identified 89 intervention studies (k = 200; N = 19,212) which assessed changes in these motivational constructs for physical activity. Intervention descriptions were coded for potential moderators, including behaviour change techniques (BCTs), modes of delivery and theory use. Random effects comparative subgroup analyses identified 18 BCTs and 10 modes of delivery independently associated with changes in at least one motivational outcome (effect sizes ranged from d = 0.12 to d = 0.74). Interventions delivered face-to-face or in gym settings, or which included the BCTs 'behavioural goal setting', 'self-monitoring (behaviour)' or 'behavioural practice/rehearsal', or which combined self-monitoring (behaviour) with any other BCT derived from control theory, were all associated with beneficial changes in multiple motivational constructs (effect sizes ranged from d = 0.12 to d = 0.46). Meta-regression analyses indicated that increases in intention and stage of change, but not autonomous motivation, were significantly related to increases in physical activity. The intervention characteristics associated with changes in motivation seemed to form clusters related to behavioural experience and self-regulation, which have previously been linked to changes in physical activity behaviour. These BCTs and modes of delivery merit further systematic study, and can be used as a foundation for improving interventions targeting increases in motivation for physical activity.

We reanalyze Eichstaedt et al.’s (2015a) claim to have shown that language patterns among Twitter users, aggregated at the level of U.S. counties, predicted county-level mortality rates from atherosclerotic heart disease (AHD), with “negative” language being associated with higher rates of death from AHD and “positive” language associated with lower rates. First, we examine some of Eichstaedt et al.’s apparent assumptions about the nature of AHD, as well as some issues related to the secondary analysis of online data and to considering counties as communities. Next, using the data files supplied by Eichstaedt et al., we reanalyze their numerical results, including testing their model with mortality from an alternative cause of death, namely suicide. We identify numerous conceptual and methodological limitations that call into question the robustness and generalizability of Eichstaedt et al.’s claims. In particular, we find that the purported associations between “negative” and “positive” language and mortality are reversed, and even became stronger in some cases, when suicide is used as the outcome variable. We conclude that there is no evidence that analyzing Twitter data in bulk in this way can add anything useful to our ability to understand geographical variation in AHD mortality rates.

We present evidence for the strengths of the intellectual virtues that philosophers and behavioral scientists characterize as key cognitive elements of wisdom. Wisdom has been of centuries-long interest for philosophical scholarship, but relative to intelligence largely neglected in public discourse on educational science, public policy, and societal well-being. Wise reasoning characteristics include intellectual humility, recognition of uncertainty, consideration of diverse viewpoints, and an attempt to integrate these viewpoints. Emerging scholarship on these features of wisdom suggest that they uniquely contribute to societal well-being, improve leadership, shed light on societal inequality, promote cooperation in Public Goods Games and reduce political polarization and intergroup-hostility. We review empirical evidence about macro-cultural, ecological, situational, and person-level processes facilitating and inhibiting wisdom in daily life. Based on this evidence, we speculate about ways to foster wisdom in education, organizations, and institutions.

According to the theory of intra-sexual competition for mates, androphilic individuals (i.e., sexually interested in men) are expected to emphasize their physical appearance, and be less satisfied with their bodies, compared to gynephilic individuals (i.e., sexually interested in women). To test this theory against the objectification theory and the minority stress theory of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating, we measured body dissatisfaction, disordered eating, and body mass index (BMI) in both androphilic and gynephilic men and women in a large population-based sample ( N = 8007). Compared to gynephilic men, androphilic men were more likely to be dissatisfied with their bodies and display disordered eating. Gynephilic women were more dissatisfied with their bodies compared to androphilic women. Women were, on average, more likely to be dissatisfied with their bodies and display disordered eating compared to men. Theoretical implications of the findings were discussed.

It has been demonstrated that nurturing and affiliative touch is essential for human emotional and physical well-being throughout our entire life. Within the last 30 years a system of low-threshold mechanosensitive C fibers innervating the hairy skin was discovered and described; this system is hypothesized to represent the neurobiological substrate for the affective and rewarding properties of touch. This discovery opens new perspectives for multidisciplinary research of the role of affiliative social touch in health and disease, and calls for establishing novel psychometric tools assessing individual differences in the domain of affective touch. The main objective of the study was to construct and validate a Russian version of the Touch Experiences and Attitudes Questionnaire (TEAQ), a self-report measure developed to quantifyindividual experience and attitude to social and affective touch. A pool of 117 items was translated into Russian and all the items were assessed for appropriateness for Russian culture (232 participants). After exploring the factor structure (468 participants), we composed a 37-item questionnaire (TEAQ-37 Rus) characterized by good reliability and a clear 5-factor structure, covering the aspects of attitude to intimate touch, attitude to friendly touch, attitude to self-care, current intimate touch experiences, and childhood touch experiences. Confirmatory factor analysis (563 participants) has demonstrated good consistency and reliability of the 5-factor structure of the TEAQ-37 Rus. Cross-validation research demonstrated moderate positive correlations between predisposition to social touch and emotional intelligence; positive correlations with extraversion and openness facets of the Big Five personality model were also found. As predicted, participants with higher TEAQ scores rated all observed kinds of touch as more pleasant, with a particular preference for slow touch.We anticipate that this questionnaire will be a valuable tool for researchers of social touch, touch perception abnormalities, and the importance of touch experiences for emotional and mental health.

Background Emerging evidence indicates that holding particular stress mindsets has favorable implications for peoples’ health and performance under stress. Purpose The aim of the current study was to examine the processes by which implicit and explicit stress mindsets relate to health- and performance-related outcomes. Specifically, we propose a stress beliefs model in which somatic responses to stress and coping behaviors mediate the effect of stress mindsets on outcomes. Methods Undergraduate university students (N = 218, n = 144 females) aged 17– 25 years completed measures of stress mindset, physical and psychological wellbeing, perceived stress, perceived somatic responses to stress, proactive behaviors under stress, and an implicit association test assessing an implicit stress mindset. At the end of the semester, students’ academic performance was collected from university records. Results Path analysis indicated significant indirect effects of stress mindset on psychological wellbeing and perceived stress through proactive coping behaviors and perceived somatic symptoms. Stress mindset directly predicted perceived stress and physical wellbeing, and physical wellbeing and academic performance were predicted by stress mindset through perceived somatic symptoms. Implicit stress mindset did not predict proactive behavior as anticipated. Conclusions Current findings indicate that behaviors with the goal of proactively meeting demands under stress and perceived somatic symptoms are important mediators of the effect of stress mindset on health- and performance-related outcomes. The findings from this study provide formative data that can inform the development of future interventions aiming to encourage more adaptive responses to stress. peerReviewed

Increasing evidence suggests that eveningness is associated with increased risk for depression. Eveningness, however, is also associated with poor sleep quality and the unique role of eveningness in depressive symptomatology remains to be elucidated. The goal of the current study, therefore, was to examine the inter-relationships between eveningness, subjective sleep quality and depressive symptoms in healthy participants free of current or previous depression and sleep disorder. Here, 167 healthy participants (mean age 24.16, 129/38 females/males) completed the reduced Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (rMEQ), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Bootstrap mediation analysis for a simple mediation model including rMEQ, PSQI and CES-D was applied. Eveningness was associated with increased depressive symptoms and mediation analysis showed that this relationship was partly mediated by sleep quality. Our results suggest that indicators of depression observed in evening-type individuals cannot be attributed exclusively to disturbed sleep. We suggest that interventions that target both sleep quality and dysfunctionl cognitive styles would be optimal to promote well-being in evening-type individuals.

The pain of Black Americans is systematically underdiagnosed and undertreated, compared to the pain of their White counterparts. Extensive research has examined the psychological factors that might account for such biases, including status judgments, racial prejudice, and stereotypes about biological differences between Blacks and Whites. Across seven experiments, we accumulated evidence that lower-level perceptual processes also uniquely contribute to downstream racial biases in pain recognition. We repeatedly observed that White participants showed more stringent thresholds for perceiving pain on Black faces, compared to White faces. A tendency to see painful expressions on Black faces less readily arose, in part, from a disruption in configural processing associated with other-race faces. Subsequent analyses revealed that this racial bias in pain perception could not be easily attributed to stimulus features (e.g., color, luminance, or contrast), subjective evaluations related to pain tolerance and experience (e.g., masculinity, dominance, etc.), or objective differences in face structure and expression intensity between Black and White faces. Finally, we observed that racial biases in perception facilitated biases in pain treatment decisions, and that this relationship existed over and above biased judgments of status and strength, explicit racial bias, and endorsement of false beliefs regarding biological differences. A meta-analysis across 9 total experiments (N = 1,289) confirmed the robustness and size of these effects. This research establishes a subtle, albeit influential, perceptual pathway to intergroup bias in pain care and treatment. Implications for racial bias, face perception, and medical treatment are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Objectives:\ud \ud Suicide is a global health issue. Dysregulated hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity, as measured by cortisol levels, has been identified as one potential risk factor for suicide. Recent evidence has indicated that blunted cortisol reactivity to stress is associated with suicidal behavior. The current study investigated whether childhood trauma was associated with blunted cortisol reactivity to a laboratory stressor and resting cortisol levels in suicide attempters and ideators.\ud \ud Methods:\ud \ud 160 participants were recruited and grouped according to history of previous suicidal attempt, suicidal ideation or as control participants. Participants completed background questionnaires, including the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, before completing a laboratory stress task. Cortisol levels were assessed at rest and during the stress task.\ud \ud Results:\ud \ud The highest levels of childhood trauma were reported in those who had attempted suicide (78.7%), followed by those who thought about suicide (37.7%) and then those with no suicidal history (17.8%). Moreover, regression analyses showed that childhood trauma was a significant predictor of blunted cortisol reactivity to stress and resting cortisol levels, such that higher levels of trauma were associated with lower cortisol levels in those with a suicidal history. Family history of suicide did not interact with the effects of childhood trauma on cortisol levels.\ud \ud Conclusions:\ud \ud These results indicate that childhood trauma is associated with blunted HPA axis activity in vulnerable populations. The challenge for researchers is to elucidate the precise causal mechanisms linking trauma, cortisol and suicide risk and to investigate whether the effects of childhood trauma on cortisol levels are amendable to psychological intervention.

A recent preprint by Brown and Coyne titled, "No Evidence That Twitter Language Reliably Predicts Heart Disease: A Reanalysis of Eichstaedt et al." asserts to re-analyze our 2015 article published in Psychological Science, “Twitter Language Predicts Heart Disease Mortality”, disputing its primary findings. While we welcome scrutiny of the study, Brown and Coyne’s paper does not in fact report on a reanalysis, but rather presents a new analysis relating Twitter language to suicide instead of heart disease mortality. In our original article, we showed that Twitter language, fed into standard machine learning algorithms, was able to predict (i.e., estimate cross-sectionally) the out-of-sample heart disease rates of U.S. counties. Further, in a separate analysis, we found that the dictionaries and topics (i.e., sets of related words) which best predicted county atherosclerotic heart disease mortality rates included language related to education and income (e.g., “management,” “ideas,” “conference”) as well as negative social relationships (“hate”, “alone,” “jealous”), disengagement (“tired, “bored,” “sleepy”), negative emotions (“sorry,” “mad,” “sad”) as well as positive emotions (“great,” “happy,” “cool”) and psychological engagement (“learn,” “interesting,” “awake”). Beyond conducting a new analysis (correlating Twitter language with suicide rates), Brown and Coyne also detail a number of methodological limitations of group-level and social media-based studies. We discussed most of these limitations in our original article, but welcome this opportunity to emphasize some of the key aspects and qualifiers of our findings, considering each of their critiques and how they relate to our findings. Of particular note, even though we discuss our findings in the context of what is known about the etiology of heart disease at the individual level, we reiterate here a point made in our original paper: that individual-level causal inferences cannot be made from the cross-sectional and group-level analyses we presented. Our findings are intended to provide a new epidemiological tool to take advantage of large amounts of public data, and to complement, not replace, definitive health data collected through other means.We offer preliminary comments on the suicide language correlations: Previous studies have suggested that county-level suicides are relatively strongly associated with living in rural areas (Hirsch et al., 2006; Searles et al., 2014) and with county elevation (Kim et al., 2011; Brenner et al., 2011). When we control for these two confounds, we find the dictionary associations reported by Brown and Coyne are no longer significant. We conclude that their analysis is largely unrelated to our study and does not invalidate the findings of our original paper. In addition, we offer a replication of our original findings across more years, with a larger Twitter data set. We find that (a) Twitter language still predicts county atherosclerotic heart disease mortality with the same accuracy, and (b) the specific dictionary correlations we reported are largely unchanged on the new data set. To facilitate the reproduction by other researchers of our original work, we also re-release the data and code with which to reproduce our original findings, making it more user-friendly. We will do the same for this replication upon publication.

Recently, there has been an increase in the number of human neuroimaging studies seeking to predict behavior above and beyond traditional measurements such as self-report. This trend has been particularly notable in the area of food consumption, as the percentage of people categorized as overweight or obese continues to rise. In this review, we argue that there is considerable utility in this form of health neuroscience, modeling the neural bases of eating behavior and dietary change in healthy, community populations. Further, we propose a model and accompanying evidence indicating that several basic processes underlying eating behavior, particularly reactivity, regulation, and valuation, can be predictive of behavior change. We also discuss future directions for this work.

Body dissatisfaction is becoming increasingly pervasive in the developing non-Western countries such as Iran; however, there exists a lack of research investigating the factors associated with these problems. The current study examined body dissatisfaction, social pressure, and weight loss behaviors and the relationships between these variables. Our data collected from 711 women; elite athletes (non-lean sport) (N = 211), non-elite athletes (N= 93) and non-athletes (N = 407) in Iran by employing a Photographic Figure Rating Scale (PFRS) and a questionnaire of pathogenic weight loss behaviors. Non-athletes reported greater body dissatisfaction, social pressure to change weight and pathogenic weight loss behaviors than the other groups. Body dissatisfaction was predicted by pressure from family and friends to change weight and followed by BMI in 3 groups. Body dissatisfaction was also positively correlated with pathogenic weight loss behaviors. Our results showed that non-athletes women experience greater body dissatisfaction, social pressure than elite athletes and non-elite athletes.

This is a Dutch text with an accessible introduction to the dynamics of behavior change, originally written for MAMDT students of the Hogeschool Zuyd for their Party Panel project.

Noise related stress and its consequences affect people regardless of age and is a problem that increases constantly. Among different treatments, music appears to be a common feature with a clear dominance of tonal genre among the receptive methods. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether negative emotions and negative cognitive assessments elicited by stimulus atonal music can be positively affected through organized selective attention directed towards individual sound elements. To confirm that atonal music can be understood as a synonym for the noise of an average listener, and because of a lack of relevant research, a pilot study was carried out with 30 participants. The main study included data collection from another 37 participants. Repeated measurements were collected over the Internet as self-reported studies and analysed using analysis of variance (mixed-ANOVA) and t-tests. Results have shown that it is possible, with the aid of selective attention, to affect and reduce negative emotions and cognitions induced by atonal music. It is suggested that both conventional opinions about atonal music and its sound characteristics create the opportunity to use this form of art to promote successful stress management during exposure to auditory stimuli.

A growing number of studies on psychological phenomena employ the Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) method for obtaining intensive longitudinal data in daily life. Whereas cyclic processes may underlie different psychological and physiological outcomes, the cyclic model that describes such processes is rarely used for fitting EMA data. The aim of this paper is to introduce the cyclic model to researchers, and to demonstrate its use in an empirical data set. It is shown how the cyclic terms can be incorporated in multilevel models. Based on secondary analyses on an existing EMA data set, it can be concluded that adding cyclic terms in EMA analyses may improve model fit and may help understanding the dynamic processes.

Objective: The Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) is a social-cognitive model specifying motivational and volitional determinants of health behavior. A meta-analysis of studies applying the HAPA in health behavior contexts was conducted to estimate the size and variability of correlations among model constructs, test model predictions, and test effects of past behavior and moderators (behavior type, sample type, measurement lag, study quality) on model relations.Methods: A literature search identified 95 studies meeting inclusion criteria with 108 independent samples. Averaged corrected correlations among HAPA constructs and multivariate tests of model predictions were computed using conventional meta-analysis and meta-analytic structural equation modeling, with separate models estimated in each moderator group.Results: Action and maintenance self-efficacy and outcome expectancies had small-to-medium sized effects on health behavior, with effects of outcome expectancies and action self-efficacy mediated by intentions, and action and coping planning. Effects of risk perceptions and recovery self-efficacy were small by comparison. Past behavior attenuated the intention-behavior relationship. Few variations in model effects were observed across moderator groups. Effects of action self-efficacy on intentions and behavior were larger in studies on physical activity compared to studies on dietary behaviors, whereas effects of volitional self-efficacy on behavior were larger in studies on dietary behaviors.Conclusions: Findings highlight the importance of self-efficacy in predicting health behavior in motivational and volitional action phases. The analysis is expected to catalyze future research including experimental studies targeting change in individual HAPA constructs, and longitudinal research to examine change and reciprocal effects among constructs in the model.

This study examined the Big Five personality traits as predictors of mortality risk, and smoking as a mediator of that association. Replication was built into the fabric of our design: we used a Coordinated Analysis with 15 international datasets, representing 44,094 participants. We found that high neuroticism and low conscientiousness, extraversion, and agreeableness were consistent predictors of mortality across studies. Smoking had a small mediating effect for neuroticism. Country and baseline age explained variation in effects: studies with older baseline age showed a pattern of protective effects (HR

Objective: Interpersonal relationships are important predictors of health outcomes, and interpersonal influences on behaviours may be key mechanisms underlying such effects. Most health behaviour theories focus on intrapersonal factors and may not adequately account for interpersonal influences. We evaluate a dyadic extension of the Theory of Planned Behaviour by examining whether parent and adolescent characteristics (attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, intentions) are associated with not only their own, but also each other’s intentions/behaviours. Design: Using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model, we analyse responses from 1,717 parent-adolescent dyads from the Family Life, Activity, Sun, Health, and Eating study. Main Outcome Measures: Adolescents/parents completed self-reports of their fruit and vegetable consumption, junk food and sugary drinks consumption, engagement in physical activity, and engagement in screen time sedentary behaviours. Results: Parent/adolescent characteristics are associated with each other’s health-relevant intentions/behaviours above the effects of individuals’ own characteristics on their own behaviours. Parent/adolescent characteristics covary with each other’s outcomes with similar strength, but parent characteristics more strongly relate to adolescent intentions, whereas adolescent characteristics more strongly relate to parent behaviours. Conclusions: Parents and adolescents may bidirectionally influence each other’s health intentions/behaviours. This highlights the importance of dyadic models of health behaviour and suggests intervention targets.