Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Openness, Neuroticism, Conscientiousness, And Family Health And Aging Concerns Interact In The Prediction Of Health-Related Internet Searches In A Representative U.S. Sample, Tim Bogg, Phuong T. Vo

Psychology Faculty Research Publications

Recent estimates suggest 60 % of the U.S. adult population uses the Internet to find health-related information. The goal of the present study was to model health-related Internet searches as a function of an interdependent system of personality adaptation in the context of recent health and aging-related concerns. Assessments of background factors, Big Five personality traits, past-month health and aging-related concerns, and the frequency of past-month health-related Internet searches (via Google, Yahoo, AOL, Bing, or some other search engine) were obtained from a representative U.S. sample (N = 1,015). Controlling for background factors, regression analyses showed more frequent health-related …

Comparing The Characteristics Of Homeless Adults In Poland And The United States, Paul A. Toro, Karen Hobden, Kathleen Wyszacki Durham, Marta Oko-Riebau, Anna Bokszczanin

Psychology Faculty Research Publications

This study compared the characteristics of probability samples of homeless adults in Poland (N = 200 from two cities) and the United States (N = 219 from one city), using measures with established reliability and validity in homeless populations. The same measures were used across nations and a systemic translation procedure assured comparability of measurement. The two samples were similar on some measures: In both nations, most homeless adults were male, many reported having dependent children and experiencing out-of-home placements when they themselves were children, and high levels of physical health problems were observed. Significant national differences were …

Change In Coping And Defense Mechanisms Across Adulthood: Longitudinal Findings In A European-American Sample, Manfred Diehl, Helena Chui, Elizabeth L. Hay, Mark A. Lumley, Daniel Grühn, Gisela Labouvie-Vief

Psychology Faculty Research Publications

This study examined longitudinal changes in coping and defense mechanisms in an age- and gender- stratified sample of 392 European-American adults. Nonlinear age-related changes were found for the coping mechanisms of sublimation and suppression and the defense mechanisms of intellectualization, doubt, displacement, and regression. The change trajectories for sublimation and suppression showed that their use increased from adolescence to late middle age and early old age, and remained mostly stable into late old age. The change trajectory for intellectualization showed that the use of this defense mechanism increased from adolescence to middle age, remained stable until late midlife, and started …

Effects Of Anger Awareness And Expression Training Versus Relaxation Training On Headaches: A Randomized Trial, Olga Slavin-Spenny, Mark A. Lumley, Elyse R. Thakur, Dana C. Nevedal, Alaa M Hijazi

Psychology Faculty Research Publications

Background and purpose: Stress contributes to headaches, and effective interventions for headaches routinely include relaxation training (RT) to directly reduce negative emotions and arousal. Yet, suppressing negative emotions, particularly anger, appears to augment pain, and experimental studies suggest that expressing anger may reduce pain. Therefore, we developed and tested anger awareness and expression training (AAET) on people with headaches.

Methods: Young adults with headaches (N = 147) were randomized to AAET, RT, or a wait-list control. We assessed affect during sessions, and process and outcome variables at baseline and 4 weeks after treatment.

Results: On process measures, …

Parenting And Attachment Among Low-Income African-American And Caucasian Preschoolers, Casey A. Dexter, Kristyn Wong, Ann M. Stacks, Marjorie Beeghly, Douglas Barnett

Psychology Faculty Research Publications

Despite a plethora of research on parenting and infant attachment, much less is known about the contributions of parenting to preschool attachment, particularly within different racial groups. This study seeks to build on the extant literature by evaluating whether similar associations between parenting and attachment can be observed in African American and Caucasian families, and whether race moderates them. Seventy-four primary caregivers and their preschool children (51% African American, 49% Caucasian, 46% male) from similar urban, low income backgrounds participated in two visits four weeks apart when children were between four and five years of age. Attachment was scored from …

Duel Or Diversion? Conscientiousness And Executive Function In The Prediction Of Health And Longevity, Tim Bogg, Brent W. Roberts

Psychology Faculty Research Publications

Response to Hall and Fong Letter to the Editor in Annals of Behavioral Medicine 45(3).

The Case For Conscientiousness: Evidence And Implications For A Personality Trait Marker Of Health And Longevity, Tim Bogg, Brent W. Roberts

Psychology Faculty Research Publications

Purpose Recent initiatives by major funding agencies have emphasized translational and personalized approaches (e.g., genetic testing) to health research and health management. While such directives are appropriate, and will likely produce tangible health benefits, we seek to highlight a confluence of several lines of research showing relations between the personality dimension of conscientiousness and a variety of health-related outcomes.

Methods Using a modified health process model, we review the compelling evidence linking conscientiousness to health and disease processes, including longevity, diseases, morbidity-related risk factors, health-related psycho-physiological mechanisms, health-related behaviors, and social environmental factors related to health.

Conclusion We argue the …

Vascular Depression: An Early Warning Sign Of Frailty, Daniel Paulson, Peter A. Lichtenberg

Psychology Faculty Research Publications

Objectives: Frailty is a common geriatric disorder associated with ADL impairment, hospitalization, and death. Phenomenological evidence suggests that late-life depression (Katz, 2004), particularly vascular depression, may be a risk factor for frailty. This study tests that hypothesis.

Methods: We identified a sample of stroke-free women over the age of 80 from the Health and Retirement Survey. The sample included 984 respondents in 2000 (incidence sample). Of these, 459 were non-frail at baseline and still alive in 2004 (prevalence sample). Frail respondents experienced at least three of the following: wasting, exhaustion, weakness, slowness, and falls. Vascular depression was represented using two …

Spousal Congruence On Disability, Pain, And Spouse Responses To Pain, Annmarie Cano, Ayna B. Johansen, Michael Geisser

Psychology Faculty Research Publications

We examined congruence between chronic pain patients and their spouses on their reports of patient pain severity, patient disability, and spouse responses to pain. Patients reported that they were more physically and psychosocially disabled than their spouses reported them to be. However, spouses reported that the patients’ pain was more severe than patients reported. Depressive disorders in the patient and gender interacted with patient–spouse ratings. For physical and psychosocial disability, depressed patient couples reported significantly larger differences in disability ratings than nondepressed patient couples. In addition, female patients’ disability was rated as more severe by the female patients than by …

Marital Functioning, Chronic Pain, And Psychological Distress, Annmarie Cano, Mazy Gillis, Wanda Heinz, Michael Geisser, Heather Foran

Psychology Faculty Research Publications

This study examined whether marital functioning variables related uniquely to psychological distress and diagnoses of depressive disorder independent of pain severity and physical disability. Participants were 110 chronic musculoskeletal pain patients. Hierarchical regression results showed that marital variables (i.e. marital satisfaction, negative spouse responses to pain) contributed significantly to depressive and anxiety symptoms over and above the effects of pain severity and physical disability. In contrast, marital variables were not significantly related to diagnoses of depressive disorder (i.e. major depression, dysthymia, or both) after controlling for pain variables. In multivariate analyses, physical disability and marital satisfaction were uniquely related to …