Health Psychology最新文献

Objective: Social norms predict flu vaccination uptake. Social norms are also a shared reality phenomenon that may have epistemic underpinnings, although this possibility has not yet been tested. We examined whether the relationship between perceived social circle vaccine coverage and own vaccination behavior depends on one's need for closure (NFC), or discomfort with uncertainty.

Method: We recruited a national sample of 300 participants to complete a pair of brief online surveys, the first of which was administered in September 2021 (Wave 1) and the second of which was administered in November 2021 (Wave 2). Participants estimated their social circle's vaccination behavior for the 2020-2021 flu season and reported their own vaccination behavior for the 2021-2022 flu season. Participants also completed a measure of dispositional NFC, along with other measures.

Results: Social circle vaccine coverage reported at Wave 1 predicted participants' vaccination behavior reported at Wave 2, and this relationship was moderated by the NFC. As hypothesized, participants with a high NFC were more likely to adhere to their social circles' vaccination norms, as compared to participants with a moderate or low NFC. Additional analyses were conducted to explore other relevant associations.

Conclusion: Our findings suggest that people's perception of their social circle's vaccination history interacts with their own desire for certainty in the process they use to make vaccination decisions. This raises the possibility that interventions should promote positive social norms and induce epistemic motivations in tandem to promote vaccine uptake. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: Emotion dysregulation disrupts normal biological function by increasing inflammation, thus putting people at risk for long-term health issues. These risks are amplified through aging, and accelerated biological aging poses a significant threat to longevity. This pilot study examined several emotion regulation skills, as well as emotion dysregulation broadly, and their relationship with inflammation among physically healthy adults.

Method: Community members (N = 79, _Mage = 30.88, SD = 11.4) completed a laboratory visit where they had their blood drawn to test for inflammation (interleukin-6 [IL-6] and tumor necrosis factor-alpha). They also completed self-report questionnaires assessing mindfulness, emotion dysregulation, and rumination.

Results: All models adjusted for body mass index, medication use, gender, and race. Among middle-aged participants, greater mindfulness was related to lower IL-6 (b = -0.01, SE = 0.002, p = .03). Conversely, greater rumination corresponded to higher IL-6 (b = 0.03, SE = 0.02, p = .03). Emotion dysregulation was related to higher IL-6 (b = 0.004, SE = 0.002, p = .02). Across each of these models, the simple slopes for the younger participants were not significant (ps > .29), highlighting that relationships between emotion regulation and inflammation were only robust for middle-aged, but not young adult, participants. Age did not moderate the relationship between emotion regulation and tumor necrosis factor-alpha.

Conclusion: These data highlight how emotion regulation strategies, both adaptive and maladaptive, might influence inflammation. Given how inflammation increases with age, using these strategies may be protective against accelerated biological aging and promote greater overall wellness throughout adulthood. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: Breast cancer patients suffer from depressive symptoms during treatments and may show different trajectories of depressive symptoms. The health ecology model provides an integrated perspective for explaining the factors influencing depressive symptoms. This study aimed to (a) analyze the trajectories of depressive symptoms that may occur in breast cancer patients and (b) explore their influencing factors by the health ecology model.

Method: A total of 236 participants (Mdn_age = 55 years) finally completed three valid surveys. The patients answered a personal information sheet, the Self-rating Depression Scale, the Family Environment Scale, the Satisfaction With Life Scale, and the Fear of Progression Questionnaire-Short Form. Data were collected after surgery, 3 months after surgery, and 6 months after surgery. Latent Growth Mixture Modeling was used to identify distinct trajectories of depressive symptoms in patients. Influencing factors of trajectory memberships were identified using multinomial logistic regression.

Results: Three distinct trajectory groups ("slowly rising"; n = 210, 89%, "persistently low"; n = 13, 5.5%, and "fluctuating"; n = 13, 5.5%) were revealed for depressive symptoms. Life satisfaction, family environment, and fear of progression were associated with an increasing trend of depressive symptoms, and family environment was associated with a fluctuating trend.

Conclusion: Our findings demonstrated the diversity of depressive symptoms changes, along with the impact of factors in psychological behaviors layer and interpersonal networks layer. It helps to identify breast cancer patients at higher risk of increasing or fluctuating depressive symptoms, thereby allowing for relevant psychological interventions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: Given the high prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection and the established effectiveness of H. pylori prevention in reducing gastric cancer risk, efforts generally focus on promoting H. pylori screening and risk-reducing dining customs. This study aimed to identify effective fear appeal public service announcements (PSAs) capable of promoting intentions for H. pylori prevention.

Method: The participants in our experiments were recruited from an online survey platform in China. Experiment 1 employed a 2 (self-oriented threat: present vs. absent) × 2 (other-oriented threat: present vs. absent) × 2 (personal efficacy: present vs. absent) design to assess H. pylori screening intentions. A total of 312 participants were randomly assigned to eight conditions. Experiment 2 utilized a 2 (self-oriented threat: present vs. absent) × 2 (other-oriented threat: present vs. absent) × 2 (efficacy types: personal vs. collective) design to evaluate intentions to use separate serving chopsticks as the risk-reducing dining custom, with 293 participants randomly assigned to eight conditions.

Results: In Experiment 1, positive effects were observed for self-oriented threat, other-oriented threat, and personal efficacy in fear appeal PSAs on H. pylori screening intention. The three-way interaction effect revealed that the effects of fear appeal PSAs on H. pylori screening intentions depended on the presence of other-oriented threat. In Experiment 2, fear appeal PSAs with a collective efficacy message elicited higher intentions to use separate serving chopsticks than PSAs with a self-efficacy message.

Conclusions: Fear appeal PSAs aimed at promoting H. pylori prevention could highlight other-oriented threat and collective efficacy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: The study aims to investigate the influence of time frame and perceived stress on the relationship between intention, planning, and physical activity (PA) within the health action process approach framework.

Method: Following a baseline assessment of 177 participants (64.4% female, M_age = 21.1 years), which measured perceived stress from the previous week and intentions to do PA, action planning, and coping planning for the following week, a 21-day daily survey was conducted, recording participants' moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) levels each day and their daily intention to do PA, as well as daily action and coping planning for the next day. Multilevel modeling was used to analyze the daily dynamics in the intention-planning-MVPA link, and mediation was used to analyze how predictors influenced MVPA levels over 1 week after the baseline assessment. Moderated mediation models were tested to examine the moderating role of perceived stress.

Results: The study found that action planning had a more immediate impact on daily MVPA while coping planning played a more significant role in mediating the relationship between intention and MVPA on a weekly basis. Perceived stress did not significantly moderate the intention-planning-behavior link in either time frame.

Conclusion: These findings suggest that planning strategies may be tailored to specific time frames, with action planning having a larger impact on daily intentions while coping planning better supports weekly intentions. This research contributes to our understanding of health behavior and offers insights for interventions to promote PA. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: Social undermining of dietary and physical activity behavior may impact one's ability to lose or maintain weight. This review aims to identify how social undermining of dietary and physical activity behavior has been conceptualized and measured in the existing literature, and what is known about its effects on weight management.

Method: Studies were retrieved from three electronic databases and were included if they focused on examining the social undermining of dietary and physical activity behavior in adults. Two coders independently evaluated the eligibility criteria of each study and extracted data.

Results: Thirty-three studies were identified. Populations included individuals enrolled in weight loss programs (k = 11) and non-treatment-seeking populations (k = 22). Many study participants were White, but 11 studies sampled non-White populations exclusively. Multiple measures have been used to assess the social undermining of dietary and physical activity behavior, many having limited evidence of reliability and validity. Although studies on prevalence are limited, undermining has been reported to occur in 28% of individuals, and family has been identified as a primary source of undermining. Studies aiming to link undermining with actual eating and physical activity behaviors and weight outcomes are limited, and these links have been supported in some studies. Few studies examined the undermining intentionality, defined undermining, or tested individual characteristics associated with undermining.

Conclusion: Future research should seek to improve the measurement of undermining and use a variety of additional research methods to move the field toward better understanding and ability to address social undermining of weight behaviors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: Among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men, intrusive sexual thoughts/behaviors (i.e., distress about one's sexual urges or behaviors) are associated with depression and engagement in behavior that increases the risk for sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The present study examines the association between internalized homonegativity and intrusive sexual thoughts/behaviors, the intervening effect of depression symptoms, and the potential buffering effect of social support. Furthermore, we establish the subsequent link with physical health outcomes by examining the association between intrusive sexual thoughts/behaviors and recent bacterial STI diagnosis.

Method: Using participant data (n = 1,046) from three time points, we conducted a moderated mediation analysis and logistic regression.

Results: Higher internalized homonegativity scores conditionally predicted greater intrusive sexual thoughts/behaviors 1 year later: participants with higher internalized homonegativity scores reported more severe intrusive sexual thoughts/behaviors if they also had lower social support, β = .08, SE = 0.02, p < .001, 95% confidence interval (CI) [0.04, 0.13]. More severe depression symptoms were also directly associated with greater intrusive sexual thoughts/behaviors (β = .02, SE = 0.01, p = .011, 95% CI [0.01, 0.03]). Finally, there was a significant association between intrusive sexual thoughts/behaviors and recent bacterial STI diagnosis (OR = 1.68, p < .001, 95% CI [1.30, 2.16]).

Conclusion: Given that social support mitigated the impact of internalized homonegativity on intrusive sexual thoughts/behaviors, ultimately indirectly reducing the occurrence of bacterial STIs in this population, these findings demonstrate the utility of psychosocial factors as potential intervention targets for improving the health of gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: Literature suggests that higher positive psychological well-being (PPWB) is associated with reduced risk of cardiometabolic disease. However, PPWB is multidimensional. Most models do not distinguish between dimensions of PPWB in relation to cardiometabolic disease. This study demonstrated how specification curve analysis can be used to explore if the association between PPWB and incident cardiometabolic disease is influenced by the dimension of PPWB, cardiometabolic disease, and covariates under investigation.

Method: Data came from the Midlife in the United States study (n = 2,895). Nine dimensions of PPWB and covariates were measured at baseline (2004-2005) and five cardiometabolic diseases were self-reported at follow-up (2013-2014). One hundred eighty model specifications, each containing one dimension of PPWB, one cardiometabolic disease, and one set of covariates, were generated. Standardized odds ratios from corresponding logistic regression models, in which PPWB predicted incident cardiometabolic disease, were then plotted on a specification curve.

Results: The median standardized odds ratio across models was 0.94. PPWB was inversely associated with incident cardiometabolic disease in 18% of models. Significant associations depended upon the dimension of PPWB, the outcome, and covariates.

Conclusion: Researcher decisions about the dimension of PPWB, cardiometabolic disease outcome, and covariates under investigation appear to be consequential. Specification curve analysis can be used to develop an evidence base that starts to distinguish between dimensions of PPWB in relation to cardiometabolic disease. Thinking carefully about if and how specific dimensions of PPWB are associated with particular health outcomes is an avenue for theory refinement. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: Health information avoidance is a critical barrier to reaching people with health messaging and, ultimately, decreases population-level uptake of life-saving prevention behaviors such as colorectal cancer (CRC) screening. We conducted a preregistered double-blinded experiment testing the efficacy of brief narrative video interventions designed to promote CRC screening by mitigating either of two known causes of health information avoidance: low self-efficacy and low perceived control over health outcomes.

Method: Participants (N = 776, 45-75 years, not adherent to CRC screening, no history of CRC) recruited from Prolific, an online participant pool, were randomly assigned to view an intervention video (perceived control promoting colonoscopy, self-efficacy promoting colonoscopy, self-efficacy promoting fecal immunochemical test) or control video (food safety attentional control video, CRC informational video). Afterward, participants completed assessments of CRC information seeking, screening attitudes, and screening intentions.

Results: Compared to an attentional control video, all three intervention videos improved all four outcomes; they were effective for people high in CRC information avoidance and those who were not. Effects for self-efficacy videos were mediated through increased self-efficacy. Effects for perceived control videos were not mediated through increased health locus of control. Interactions between video condition and avoidance were not significant. Intervention videos were not more effective than the informational CRC video.

Conclusions: Only 58% of the U.S. adult population is CRC screening adherent, and the rate is lower for people who avoid CRC information. By increasing CRC information seeking, positive CRC screening attitudes, and CRC screening intentions, these publicly available videos could have widespread public health impact. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Objectives: We tested whether an intervention's dosage influences health behavior change. Intervention dosage was indexed by the duration of the intervention, the number of sessions, and total contact time in treatment arms of trials to promote physical activity.

Method: The research comprised two studies. In Study 1, we synthesized 161 meta-analyses of physical activity interventions to examine the relationship between intervention dosage and intervention impact on physical activity. Study 2 comprised a reanalysis of primary studies.

Results: The relationship between the indices of dosage and intervention effect sizes was assessed in 23.6% of meta-analyses, and associations did not differ from zero in 70%-85% of tests (Study 1). In Study 2, we retrieved 838 tests for duration, 370 tests for the number of sessions, and 167 tests for contact time. Duration had a very small negative association with effect sizes (b = -.002, 95% confidence interval [-.003, -.001]); number of sessions and contact time were not related to intervention effectiveness. An exploratory study (N = 50) indicated that health psychology researchers overestimated the association between dosage and effect sizes (r_estimates > .25).

Conclusions: Although physical activity interventions with a higher dosage are expected to be more effective, the findings showed no relationship between dosage and intervention impact. Intervention dosage may moderate the influence of intervention content rather than directly determine physical activity change. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).