Search

Research on the psychology of eating behavior often treats vegetarians as a monolithic group. Yet, a considerable proportion of people (17% in Study 1) who self-identify as vegetarian are actually pescatarians—those who forgo all meats except fish. Research on the psychology of pescatarianism is profoundly lacking, which may hinder future interventionists' efforts to improve diet. Through two preregistered studies of adults from the United States recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk (total N = 490), we investigated pescatarianism with respect to dietary identity, motivation, and attitudes toward animals. Results suggest that future research may benefit from studying pescatarians as a distinct dietary group and paying greater attention to whether or not pescatarians self-identify as vegetarian. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: There has been a recent increase in enthusiasm for expansion of living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) programmes. Using all adults initially placed on the waiting list in the United States, we estimated the risk of overall mortality under national strategies which differed in their utilization of LDLT. We used a generalization of inverse probability weighting which can estimate the effect of interventions in the setting of finite resources. From 2005 to 2015, 93 812 eligible individuals were added to the waitlist: 51 322 received deceased donor grafts while 1970 underwent LDLT. Individuals who underwent LDLT had more favourable prognostic factors, including lower mean MELD score at transplant (14.6 vs. 20.5). The 1‐year, 5‐year and 10‐year cumulative incidence of death under the current level of LDLT utilization were 18.0% (95% CI: 17.8, 18.3%), 41.2% (95% CI: 40.8, 41.5%) and 57.4% (95% CI: 56.9, 57.9%) compared to 17.9% (95% CI: 17.7, 18.2%), 40.6% (95% CI: 40.2, 40.9%) and 56.4% (95% CI: 55.8, 56.9%) under a strategy which doubles LDLT utilization. Expansion of LDLT utilization would have a measurable, modest effect on the risk of mortality for the entire cohort of individuals who begin on the transplant waiting list. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Comfort eating is a prevalent behavior. Prior research shows that comfort eating is associated with reduced stress responses and increased metabolic risk across adolescence, young adulthood, and middle adulthood. The purpose of the current research was to test if comfort eating prospectively predicted all-cause mortality in older adulthood.Method: The US Health and Retirement Study is an ongoing, nationally representative, longitudinal study of older adults. The final sample for the present study (N = 1445) included participants randomly selected to report how often they comfort ate. Comfort eating data were collected in 2008 and all-cause mortality data were collected in 2014. Participants also reported how often they consumed high-fat/sugar food as well as their height and weight in 2008.Results: For each 1-unit increase in comfort eating, the expected odds of all-cause mortality (n = 255 deceased) decreased by 14%, OR = 0.86, p = 0.048, 95% CI [0.74, 0.99]. This analysis statistically accounted for other predictors of mortality in the sample including age, biological sex, race, highest educational degree attained, moderate and vigorous exercise, smoking, and cumulative illness. High-fat/sugar intake did not mediate (or diminish) the association but body mass index did.Conclusion: Comfort eating—irrespective of consuming high-fat/sugar food—may be associated with reduced mortality in older adults because it may promote greater body mass, and greater body mass is associated with lower risk of mortality in nationally representative samples. Interventionists might consider both beneficial and detrimental aspects of comfort eating across the lifespan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been linked to increased use of tobacco products later in life. However, studies to date have ignored smokeless tobacco products. To address this, data from the 2011 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, which interviewed adults 18 years and over (N = 102,716) were analyzed. Logistic regression models were fit to estimate odds ratios of ever smoking, current smoking and current smokeless tobacco use in relation to ACEs. Results showed that less than 4 % of respondents currently used smokeless tobacco products, while 44.95 and 18.57 % reported ever and current smoking, respectively. Physical abuse (OR 1.40; 95 % CI 1.14, 1.72), emotional abuse (OR 1.41; 95 % CI 1.19, 1.67), sexual abuse (OR 0.70; 95 % CI 0.51, 0.95), living with a drug user (OR 1.50; 95 % CI 1.17, 1.93), living with someone who was jailed (OR 1.50; 95 % CI 1.11, 2.02) and having parents who were separated or divorced (OR 1.31; 95 % CI 1.09, 1.57) were associated with smokeless tobacco use in unadjusted models. After accounting for confounders, physical abuse (OR 1.43; 95 % CI 1.16, 1.78), emotional abuse (OR 1.32; 95 % CI 1.10, 1.57), living with a problem drinker (OR 1.30; 95 % CI 1.08, 1.58), living with a drug user (OR 1.31; 95 % CI 1.00, 1.72) and living with adults who treated each other violently (OR 1.30; 95 % CI 1.05, 1.62) were associated with smokeless tobacco use. Living with someone who was mentally ill (OR 0.70; 95 % CI 0.53, 0.92) was associated with smokeless tobacco use after accounting for confounders and all ACEs. Results indicated that some childhood adversities are associated with use of smokeless tobacco products. Special attention is needed to prevent tobacco use of different types among those experiencing ACEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: One of the largest health disparities in the USA is in obesity rates between Black and White females. Purpose: The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that the stress-obesity link is stronger in Black females than in White females aged 10-19. Methods: Multilevel modeling captured the dynamic of acute (1 month) and chronic (10 years) stress and body mass index (BMI; weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared) change in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Growth and Health Study, which consists of 2,379 Black and White girls across a span of socioeconomic status. The girls were assessed longitudinally from ages 10 to 19. Results: Higher levels of stress during the 10 years predicted significantly greater increases in BMI over time compared to lower levels of stress. This relationship was significantly stronger for Black compared to White girls. Conclusion: Psychological stress is a modifiable risk factor that may moderate early racial disparities in BMI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vaccinating the public against COVID-19 is critical for pandemic recovery, yet a large proportion of people remain unwilling to get vaccinated. Beyond known factors like perceived vaccine safety or COVID-19 risk, an overlooked sentiment contributing to vaccine hesitancy may rest in moral cognition. Specifically, we theorize that a factor fueling hesitancy is perceived moral reproach : the feeling, among unvaccinated people, that vaccinated people are judging them as immoral. Through a highly powered, preregistered study of unvaccinated U.S. adults (N = 832), we found that greater perceived moral reproach independently predicted stronger refusal to get vaccinated against COVID-19, over and above other relevant variables. Of 18 predictors tested, perceived moral reproach was the fifth strongest—stronger than perceived risk of COVID-19, underlying health conditions status, and trust in scientists. These findings suggest that considering the intersections of morality and upward social comparison may help to explain vaccine hesitancy. • Many unvaccinated people perceive moral reproach from vaccinated people. • Greater perceived moral reproach predicts more refusal to get vaccinated. • Moral psychology may support vaccine uptake efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the second stage of natural second language attrition in the first language environment as observed in a Japanese male returnee child. The second stage is the second part of a longitudinal study encompassing a total of 33 months of observation. The first stage, which is reported elsewhere (Tomiyama 1999), commences with month 2 of his return and continues until month 19. The second stage comprises month 20 through month 33. The stages are so labeled retrospectively because of a natural division in the qualitative changes observed in the subject's production data rather than because of absolute chronological periods. The subject, who spent seven years in the United States, was 8;0 at the time of his return. The overall baseline data shows that he was highly proficient in English. The second stage is characterized as a period of change in syntax and morphology yet stability in lexicon and fluency. A structural change in the modification of nouns, from post-nominal to pre-nominal, is noted. The reason for the structural change is attributed in part to syntactic reduction and in part to interlingual transfer to cope with the deficiency in L2. Some attrition in morphology, plural and past irregular morphemes, in particular, is also observed. On the other hand, no substantial amount of loss in productive vocabulary is observed; there is even recovery of some items. Also it is noted that the level of fluency at the beginning of the second stage remains constant throughout this stage. Overall, the study reveals the differential attrition pattern in the subject's linguistic subsystems and fluctuation in the subject's performance. It also illustrates the value and relevance of examining data over a long span of time to capture a macroscopic view of language behavior patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study aimed to examine the association between body mass index (BMI; weight [kilogram]/height2 [meter]) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) among the largest three largest racial/ethnic groups in the United States. We compiled 10 waves of the continuous National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1999–2000 through 2017–2018. Participants (N = 45,514) were those who had data on BMI, HbA 1c , and demographics. We estimated associations between BMI and prediabetes/T2DM odds for Black, Latine, and White participants. BMI was associated with 10% higher odds of prediabetes/T2DM vs. having normal HbA 1c levels (odds ratio = 1.10, 95% confidence interval = 1.10–1.11) for Latine and White individuals. However, the association between BMI and prediabetes/T2DM was significantly weaker among Black individuals. When focusing on T2DM prevalence, the association with BMI for Black participants was even weaker (odds ratio = 0.97, 95% confidence interval = 0.95–0.98). The unstable associations between BMI and T2DM across race indicate that BMI has received unwarranted focus as a prime predictor of T2DM. Relying on BMI introduces bias in T2DM risk estimations especially in Black individuals. Focusing on BMI places the onus on individuals to change and increases weight stigma, which can worsen health outcomes. Instead, policymakers should focus on social determinants of T2DM and its concomitant racial/ethnic disparities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We examined vegetarians (meatless eaters) and flexitarians (low-meat eaters). • Flexitarians see their diets as less central to their identity than vegetarians do. • Flexitarians are substantially less morally motivated than vegetarians are. • Social identity expression predicted flexitarians' openness to going vegetarian. • Gender predicted flexitarians' openness to going vegetarian. The dichotomous divide between vegetarians and omnivores seems clear: Omnivores eat meat, whereas vegetarians do not. Yet classifying people dichotomously as vegetarian or omnivorous overlooks a distinct group of people who limit their meat intake but still include some meat in their diets: a group of "mostly vegetarian" dieters called flexitarians (a term combining the words, "flexible" and "vegetarian"). Despite the estimated prevalence of flexitarianism in the United States hovering at approximately 20% to 30% of the population, we have little knowledge about how flexitarians construe their food choices. Through a preregistered study (N = 718), we identified psychological differences between flexitarians and full vegetarians as well as predictors of flexitarians' openness to going fully vegetarian. Across all tests, social identity aspects of meat avoidance emerged as significant factors, over and above what motivations participants reported for avoiding meat. Findings suggest that social identity phenomena offer insights into how meat-avoiders construe not only their current, but also their prospective, food choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men in the United States. Several novel therapeutic agents have been developed for castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), but the prognosis for patients with CRPC remains poor. The identification of novel therapeutic targets for CRPC is an urgent issue. Exosomes are small vesicles secreted by a variety of cells, and exosomes derived from cancer cells have been reported to circulate in the patient's bodily fluids, promoting metastasis and invasion. We aimed to identify novel therapeutic targets for CRPC by proteomic analysis of serum exosomes. Exosomes were isolated by ultracentrifugation of sera from 36 men with metastatic prostate cancer: untreated (n = 8), well-controlled with primary androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) (n = 8), and CRPC (n = 20). We identified 823 proteins in the serum exosomes. Six proteins were increased in CRPC patients compared with untreated patients. In contrast, only ACTN4 was increased in the CRPC patients compared to the ADT patients. We focused on ACTN4 as a candidate for targeted therapeutics. ACTN4 was highly expressed in the prostate cancer cell line DU145 as well as exosomes from this line. RNA interference-mediated downregulation of ACTN4 significantly attenuated cell proliferation and invasion in DU145 cells. ACTN4 could be a potential therapeutic target for CRPC. • Proteomic analysis of serum exosomes from patients with metastatic prostate cancer was performed. • ACTN4 was highly expressed in serum exosomes of castration-resistant prostate cancer patients. • Knockdown of ACTN4 attenuated proliferation and invasion of prostate cancer cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the association between objective markers of low socioeconomic status (SES) and poor health is well established, one underexamined possibility is that over and above objective SES, social class stigma—experiences and anticipation of discrimination based on social class—might undermine people's ability to engage in healthy behaviors. Participants (N = 2022) were recruited between December 2019 and January 2020 via a national Qualtrics panel that was census-matched to the U.S. population in age, gender, income, race/ethnicity, and census region. Participants completed measures of class stigma, alcohol use, disordered eating, comfort eating, sleep disturbance, physical activity, and demographics. Controlling for objective SES and demographics, generalized linear regression models indicated that class stigma was associated with significantly greater alcohol use, disordered eating, greater comfort eating, and sleep disturbance but not less physical activity. Class stigma was not associated with health behaviors after full adjustment for weight/racial discrimination and psychological factors. Results from this investigation suggest that beyond one's objective SES, the stigma associated with having low class may also contribute to poorer health behaviors. • Social class stigma may contribute to poorer health behaviors in addition to SES. • Regression models tested for an association between class stigma and health behaviors. • Focal models controlled for objective indicators of SES and demographics. • Class stigma was uniquely associated with poorer health behaviors in the focal model. • Class stigma was not associated with health behaviors in fully adjusted models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Importance: Low childhood socioeconomic status (SES) is a social hallmark of aging that contributes to adult health disparities and earlier morbidity and mortality. Childhood perceptions of stress are associated with child health outcomes and may contribute to premature biological aging into adulthood., Objective: To describe the association of childhood SES and perceived stress with midlife insulin resistance and epigenetic age and to explore whether late adolescent adiposity mediates the observed associations., Design, Setting, and Participants: The longitudinal cohort National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Growth and Health Study enrolled girls aged 10 years from January 1987 to May 1988, and followed them up to 19 years of age. Participants from Richmond, California, were recruited again at midlife in 2016 to assess insulin resistance and epigenetic age. Analyses were conducted from August 2, 2023, to March 18, 2024. A total of 433 participants were eligible and included in the analyses (specific sample sizes ranged across analyses from 303 to 391)., Exposures: Childhood levels of SES at 10 years of age (parental educational level and income) and perceived stress at 11 years of age., Main Outcomes and Measures: The hypotheses tested were formulated after data collection. Outcomes included the homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and the GrimAge and DunedinPACE epigenetic clocks. Waist circumference in late adolescence was tested as a mediator., Results: Among the 433 participants, the mean (SD) age was 39.4 (1.2) years; 218 (50.3%) were Black and 215 (49.7%) were White; and 135 (31.2%) had parents with a college degree or higher. Higher parental educational level was associated with lower HOMA-IR (B = -0.22 [95% CI, -0.41 to -0.02]; P = .03), lower midlife GrimAge (B = -1.76 [95% CI, -2.85 to -0.66] years; P = .002), and slower midlife DunedinPACE (B = -0.03 [95% CI, -6.29 to -0.002]; P = .04). Childhood perceived stress was indirectly associated through late adolescent adiposity with midlife HOMA-IR (B = 0.01 [95% CI, 0.001-0.01]; P = .02) and midlife GrimAge (B = 0.02 [95% CI, 0.003-0.04] years; P = .01)., Conclusions and Relevance: In this longitudinal cohort study of midlife health and aging, childhood social hallmarks of aging were associated with midlife insulin resistance and epigenetic age (GrimAge and DunedinPACE). Future studies should identify malleable factors that may slow the impact of social hallmarks of aging.

Abstract: The American Psychosomatic Society (APS) is an international professional society that aims to advance the scientific study of biological, behavioral, and social factors in health among educators, clinicians, and researchers. In pledging to be an antiracist organization in 2020, APS formed the Antiracism Task Force to identify different manifestations of systemic racism within the society and to make recommendations for building a more inclusive and equitable professional organization. The goal of this paper was to be maximally transparent to membership about our activities and lessons learned, as well as offer a case study to other organizations striving toward antiracism. We describe the inaugural year of activities of the APS Antiracism Task Force, which included proposing amendments to the society's bylaws, collecting data on member attitudes toward diversity, and consulting on other member efforts to implement antiracism activities (e.g., increasing access to early career awards). In addition to reflecting on task force and society-specific factors that were facilitative in our first year, we describe future plans and potential challenges we may face as we support sustained commitment to APS's antiracism efforts., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the American Psychosomatic Society.)

Background: Weight stigma is pervasive across the U.S. and is associated with poor health outcomes including all-cause mortality. One potential reason that weight stigma may be detrimental to health is that it begets poorer health behaviors. Therefore, the present study tested for associations between weight stigma and four health behaviors (i.e., eating behavior, alcohol use, sleep disturbance, and physical activity), while controlling for BMI and other potential confounds., Subjects/methods: Participants (N = 2022) in the U.S. were recruited for the Eating in America Study using a Qualtrics panel between December 2019 and January 2020 and were census-matched according to national quotas for age, gender, income, race/ethnicity, and census region. Participants completed questionnaires about weight stigma, health behaviors, demographics, and anthropometric measurements. The current study employed a two-stage investigation: exploratory analyses were first performed on a random sample of the dataset (n = 438), then the remaining unexamined data were used to conduct confirmatory analyses that were preregistered on the Open Science Framework., Results: Controlling for BMI, weight stigma was significantly associated with greater disordered eating (b = 0.34, 95% CI [0.31, 0.38], p < 0.001), comfort eating (b = 0.32, 95% CI [0.25, 0.39], p < 0.001), sleep disturbance (b = 0.27, 95% CI [0.20, 0.33], p < 0.001), and alcohol use (b = 0.30, 95% CI [0.11, 0.49], p = 0.002), but not lower physical activity (b = -0.04, 95% CI [-0.13, 0.05], p = 0.402) for individuals across the weight spectrum. BMI and perceived weight status significantly moderated the effects of weight stigma on disordered eating and alcohol use. No gender differences were found. These confirmatory analyses partially replicated the exploratory stage 1 findings., Conclusions: This study provides preliminary evidence that weight stigma is linked to several poor health behaviors, which may impact physical health.

Objective: The media often contain weight-stigmatizing material. However, little is known about pregnant and postpartum women's experiences with media-based weight stigma., Methods: Two studies investigated weight stigma in the media from multiple perspectives. Study 1 analyzed open-response examples of weight-stigmatizing experiences coming from the media, broadly defined, from 123 pregnant and postpartum women (from a larger sample of 501). Study 2 identified online news-media articles about pregnancy and weight published during the study 1 data collection period (August to November 2017)., Results: Study 1 revealed that weight stigma was common and frequent in media, manifesting across three themes: (1) ideal appearance of pregnant bodies, (2) pressure to quickly "bounce back" after birth to a prepregnancy appearance, and (3) media praising celebrities for achieving either of the previous themes. Study 2 identified 33 articles. A content analysis revealed that women with overweight or obesity were rarely portrayed in images. Additionally, discussion of weight was often negative, focusing on adverse maternal-child health consequences. Finally, media-communicated ideals for weight and weight loss were often unrealistic and did not reference medical guidelines., Conclusions: This work is the first to document that online news media are a pervasive and potentially distressing source of pregnancy-related weight stigma, suggesting much-needed reform in media guidelines., (© 2020 The Obesity Society.)

Purpose: Weight stigma is implicated in disordered eating, but much of this research focuses on forms of stigma such as weight-based teasing., Methods: In a large cohort of adolescent girls (N = 2,036), we tested the hypothesis that being labeled as "too fat" by others predicts subsequent greater disordered eating cognitions and behaviors., Results: Compared with girls who did not report weight labeling, girls who were labeled at age 14 showed an increase in unhealthy weight control behaviors and disordered eating cognitions over the subsequent 5 years. These effects were independent of objective body mass index, race, parental income and education, and initial levels of disordered eating., Conclusions: Exploratory analyses suggest that weight labeling from family members is more strongly associated with disordered eating than labeling from nonfamily members. This study highlights how the long-term consequences of weight stigma can potentially begin when one is labeled as "too fat.", (Copyright © 2018 The Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

In the battle to combat obesity rates in the United States, several misconceptions have dominated policy initiatives. We address those misconceptions, including the notion that restrictive diets lead to long-term weight loss, that stigmatizing obesity is an effective strategy for promoting weight reduction, and that weight and physical health should be considered synonymous with one another. In offering correctives to each of these points, we draw on psychological science to suggest new policies that could be enacted at both the local and national levels. Instead of policies that rely solely on individual willpower, which is susceptible to failure, we recommend those that make use of environmental changes to reduce the amount of willpower necessary to achieve healthy behavior. Ultimately, the most effective policies will promote health rather than any arbitrary level of weight., (© The Author(s) 2015.)

Objective: The authors evaluated the validity of familial enmeshment (extreme proximity in family relationships) as a risk factor for eating disorders across cultural value orientations. They tested the hypothesis that although familial enmeshment may be a risk factor for eating disorder pathology for (1) participants of non-Asian descent or (2) culturally independent participants, enmeshment will not be a risk factor for (1) participants of Asian descent or (2) culturally interdependent participants., Participants: 255 undergraduate women participated., Methods: Participants completed questionnaires on cultural value orientations, enmeshment, and eating disorder pathology., Results: As hypothesized, enmeshment was related to eating disorder pathology in non-Asian American and culturally independent participants, but not in Asian American and culturally interdependent participants., Conclusions: Depending on cultural values, enmeshment may or may not be a risk factor for eating disorders. This study highlights the importance of examining risk factors in the appropriate cultural framework when considering college student mental health.

The prevalence of obesity and its associated health problems have increased sharply in the past 2 decades. New revisions to Medicare policy will allow funding for obesity treatments of proven efficacy. The authors review studies of the long-term outcomes of calorie-restricting diets to assess whether dieting is an effective treatment for obesity. These studies show that one third to two thirds of dieters regain more weight than they lost on their diets, and these studies likely underestimate the extent to which dieting is counterproductive because of several methodological problems, all of which bias the studies toward showing successful weight loss maintenance. In addition, the studies do not provide consistent evidence that dieting results in significant health improvements, regardless of weight change. In sum, there is little support for the notion that diets lead to lasting weight loss or health benefits., (((c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved).)