Health Psychology最新文献

Objective: Life satisfaction has been linked to lower mortality risk, yet the extent to which this relationship varies across population subgroups remains poorly understood.

Method: We used a machine-learning-based causal survival forest to evaluate how the association between life satisfaction and all-cause mortality over an 8-year follow-up differed across individuals and to characterize those who appeared to benefit most from life satisfaction. We leveraged data from the Health and Retirement Study (N = 13,674), a national cohort study of U.S. adults aged 50 and older.

Results: On average, higher life satisfaction was linked to a 3.56-month increase in restricted mean survival time (95% confidence interval = [1.61, 5.52]). While we observed evidence of between-individual heterogeneity in this association, the estimated effect of life satisfaction appeared beneficial for most individuals in this study. Evidence of the protective effect of life satisfaction was more pronounced among those who identified as racial minorities and reported lower educational attainment, fewer economic resources, and poorer prebaseline health.

Conclusions: These findings indicate that population-level strategies to foster higher life satisfaction could improve the health of older adults on average, while decreasing existing disparities in longevity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: While nearly 60% of cancer survivors report a heightened fear of cancer recurrence (FCR), not all of them experience functional impairment and want professional psychological care. We applied the network approach to study how different components of FCR (symptoms, triggers, perceived risk, and coping strategies) are interconnected to both FCR severity and functional impairment to better understand which survivors are likely to require psychological care.

Method: We applied network analysis to cross-sectional data from 3,370 cancer survivors from nine different countries, spanning Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America, from the international Fear of Cancer Recurrence Inventory database. The shortest path analysis was applied to study what components were directly connected to both FCR severity and functional impairment.

Results: FCR severity was mainly connected to symptoms and triggers while functional impairment was mainly connected to coping strategies. The shortest paths indicated that worry and bodily triggers were directly connected to both higher FCR severity and more functional impairment.

Conclusion: Worry and bodily triggers appear to be core components of FCR that are experienced as impairing in daily life. Our findings suggest that assessing functional impairment, worry, and bodily triggers, in addition to FCR severity, could be valuable when screening for clinical levels of FCR. To further improve our conceptual understanding of FCR, future studies should apply intensive longitudinal designs to explore how these components interact over time and within the individual. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: This study aimed to examine the longitudinal connections between early observed parenting and coparenting relationship quality and children's later cardiometabolic health outcomes.

Method: Structural equation modeling was used to examine (a) the associations between fathers' and mothers' sensitive engagement with their children and competitive-withdrawn coparenting during infancy (10 months) and toddlerhood (24 months); (b) the extent to which these parenting and coparenting factors predicted four markers of children's cardiometabolic health in middle childhood (∼7 years); and (c) indirect pathways from parenting and coparenting at 10 months to cardiometabolic markers (C-reactive protein [CRP], interleukin-6, total cholesterol, and glycated hemoglobin [HbA1c]) at 7 years, via parenting and coparenting at 24 months, within a longitudinal, cross-lagged framework. The sample comprised 292 child-father-mother triads from a randomized trial of Family Foundations, a preventive intervention focused on enhancing coparenting interactions between first-time parents.

Results: Fathers' sensitive engagement at 10 months was negatively associated with their competitive-withdrawn coparenting at 24 months, which subsequently predicted lower levels of child CRP and HbA1c. Furthermore, fathers' competitive-withdrawn coparenting at 24 months explained the association between their sensitive engagement at 10 months and later child CRP and HbA1c. These associations were not significant in a parallel model for mothers.

Conclusion: These findings highlight the influence of child-father interactions and coparenting dynamics on long-term child health. Promoting supportive coparenting and positive paternal involvement may represent valuable preventive strategies for reducing child cardiometabolic risk. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: Cellular epigenetic aging has become an important marker of healthy or unhealthy aging. The current study examined whether lifelong cumulative stressors across multiple domains were linked with epigenetic age acceleration (EAA; i.e., epigenetic age greater than chronological age) and whether psychological factors moderated this association. Dimensions of psychological well-being were hypothesized as protective factors, while neuroticism was posited as a vulnerability factor.

Method: Data from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) Genomics Project (N = 1,006) were used, which include deoxyribonucleic acid methylation data from a subset of participants in MIDUS Core Wave 2 and MIDUS Refresher Wave 1. Epigenetic aging values were calculated using the deoxyribonucleic acid methylation profiles at cytosine-phosphate-guanine sites. Cumulative stressors and psychological factors were assessed using the survey data at MIDUS Core Wave 2 and MIDUS Refresher Wave 1.

Results: The results revealed that cumulative stressors were not directly associated with EAA but were contingent on the levels of psychological well-being and neuroticism. Specifically, higher levels of cumulative stressors were significantly linked to EAA, measured by GrimAge2, among those who had lower levels of psychological well-being (β = -.23 to -.36, SE = .12 to .13, p = .04 to < .01) or higher neuroticism (β = .26, SE = .12, p = .03). Conversely, EAA in individuals who had higher levels of psychological well-being or lower neuroticism was not impacted by the levels of cumulative stressors.

Conclusions: The findings underscore the importance of considering individual psychological assets and vulnerabilities in the pathways linking cumulative stressors to epigenetic aging. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: This study explores the impact of iAmHealthy, a rurally focused pediatric obesity intervention, on mental health outcomes and examines how baseline mental health affects body mass index (BMI) outcomes for child-parent dyads in rural communities.

Method: Eighteen schools were randomly assigned to iAmHealthy or the Newsletter Control group. iAmHealthy consists of health coaching and group sessions via televideo. Child and parent height and weight, child depression, child quality of life, and parent distress were assessed at baseline, posttreatment (8 months), and follow-up (20 months) from October 2017 to December 2021. Multilevel modeling assessed treatment effects on mental health and baseline mental health on change in BMI outcomes.

Results: In total, 148 dyads were randomized to iAmHealthy (n = 64) or control (n = 84). Dyads broadly reported minimal parent distress, child depressive symptoms, and high child quality of life. While there was no treatment group by time interactions, the iAmHealthy group had significant decreases in child depression at posttreatment and follow-up and significant decreases in parent distress at follow-up. Control participants had no significant changes in child depression, quality of life, or parent distress at any time point. Significant interactions between treatment group and baseline mental health predicted child body mass index z score/parent BMI change.

Conclusions: Parents experiencing baseline distress particularly benefited from the support of iAmHealthy, but unsustained effects at follow-up suggest that long-term support may be beneficial to these families. Future studies examining populations with heightened mental health challenges may provide deeper insights into how pediatric obesity interventions affect mental well-being within families from rural communities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: No previous research has examined both clinical and psychological predictors of quality of life (QoL) in atrial fibrillation (AF) patients over time. Theoretically informed by the common-sense model, this study aimed to examine how beliefs about illness and treatment, cognitive and behavior responses (CBR) to symptoms, and AF-related interventional procedures predicted QoL over 12 months.

Method: AF patients (N = 188) recruited from outpatient clinics, and because of undergo catheter ablation or cardioversion, completed questionnaires assessing social and clinical demographics, illness representations, treatment beliefs, CBR to AF, and QoL at baseline, 3, 6, and 12 months. Mixed effects linear regression models examined QoL predictors over 12 months.

Results: Restoration of sinus rhythm, greater beliefs about personal control, and lower scores on timeline beliefs (beliefs that AF is an acute condition) were statistically significantly associated with greater QoL over 12 months. Patients with a profile of procedural treatment success and improved positive illness representations (timeline, illness triggers, personal control) had significantly greater QoL compared with those who had only successful treatment, or positive illness representations, alone.

Conclusion: Successful procedural treatment and helpful illness representations are both important predictors of QoL in AF. Alongside clinical procedural treatments, future interventions aimed at improving QoL should therefore incorporate techniques to address self-efficacy around AF self-management and reduce beliefs that AF is long-term/incurable and that symptoms can be triggered by wide-ranging sources (particularly relating to health behaviors and comorbidities). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: Sleep and health are both related and tied to race and ethnicity. Discrimination is a potent stressor among people of color that may impair sleep, whereas psychosocial resources are potentially modifiable and may improve sleep. The Reserve Capacity Model posits that psychosocial resources promote health and can buffer the negative impacts of stress. This study is the first to apply the Reserve Capacity Model to discrimination and multiple self-reported sleep outcomes.

Method: Participants (N = 261, 35.3% people of color) were from the North Dakota State University National COVID Study, an ongoing study of psychosocial factors, sleep, and well-being launched in April 2020. Cross-sectional analyses are from Wave 3 (Summer 2020), approximately 3 months into the pandemic and after racialized sociocultural events transpired in the United States. Nested multiple regressions were used to assess the independent, additive, and interactive effects of discrimination and psychosocial resources (a composite of perceived control, loneliness, optimism, meaning and purpose, and positive affect) on multiple self-reported sleep measures.

Results: Both discrimination and psychosocial resources were independently associated with sleep. However, once considered jointly, psychosocial resources were stronger predictors of sleep health and insomnia symptoms, whereas discrimination was a stronger predictor of daytime sleepiness. There was no statistically significant interaction of psychosocial resources and discrimination.

Conclusion: Our study applied the Reserve Capacity Model to sleep and found additive (but not interactive) effects for discrimination and psychosocial resources. Future research focusing on sleep and inequities therein should consider the role of psychosocial resources in promoting sleep health in diverse populations, even in stressful contexts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic revealed substantial differences in engagement with recommended protective behaviors and mental health between individuals with and without disabilities. We compare mental health and physical distancing among people with disabilities and the general population in the context of the U.K. policy of "living with the virus."

Method: Data were collected via online questionnaire from July 4 to July 7, 2022 (N = 1,445, of which 590 people with disabilities). We measured anxiety and depression symptoms, engagement with physical distancing, tendency to avoid social gatherings, with additional measures from the theories of conservation resources, health beliefs, and protection motivation.

Results: People with disabilities perceived themselves to be lower in social support and self-efficacy than individuals without disabilities. People with disabilities also reported less coronavirus-specific distress and less belief in the efficacy of physical distancing as a preventative measure. People with disabilities were more likely to show symptoms of depression and more likely to avoid social gatherings than members of the U.K. general population without disabilities. People with disabilities were, however, likely to consider themselves more resilient than individuals without disabilities.

Conclusions: People with disabilities report greater depression, even 2 years into the pandemic, and were more likely to avoid social interactions with others. This study suggests it is important not to give up vigilance against the virus, and to pay special attention to the mental health and welfare of vulnerable populations, including people with disabilities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: Endometriosis is a chronic gynecological condition often characterized by severe menstrual pain. It takes 7 years on average to diagnose endometriosis, with menstrual stigma being an estimated factor for this delay.

Method: In this preregistered study, both the Theory of Planned Behavior and Stigma Theory are included in an online survey to understand conversation intentions about menstrual symptoms and the impact of menstrual stigma in daily life. With a partial least squares structural equation model including 776 participants, the research investigates the facilitators and barriers influencing participants' intentions to seek advice for severe menstrual discomfort across different social contexts, including conversations with friends, medical experts, and coworkers.

Results: The results highlight that the perceived public stigma surrounding menstruation is associated with higher self-stigmatization, decreased attitudes, and decreased perceived behavioral control, which in turn significantly decreases conversation intentions.

Conclusions: The study's results inform targeted interventions to promote open dialogue about menstrual health and reduce stigma. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: Regular physical activity (PA) is associated with many health benefits; however, up to 94% of postpartum individuals do not meet PA guidelines. Understanding mediators of postpartum PA behavior change interventions is essential to increase PA participation following childbirth. The purpose of this review was to identify putative mediators of postpartum PA interventions.

Method: Six databases were searched for primary or gray literature from inception until December 2023. Intervention studies of any language were included if they contained (a) individuals ≤ 12 months postpartum, (b) a PA intervention, (c) a no exercise or different exercise comparator, and (d) a change in PA and putative mediator outcome that could be classified with the theoretical domains framework (TDF). Results were categorized by mediation path, mediator TDF domain, and PA outcome.

Results: Twenty-eight articles (3,328 participants) were eligible, and summary effects for Paths AB, A, B, and C were calculated from two, 19, two, and 18 unique studies, respectively. For the mediation Path AB, we found very small effects from the domains of beliefs about capabilities (r = .08), beliefs about consequences (r = .02), environmental context and resources (r = .01), and social influences (r = .08). We found a small total effect (Path C, r = .12) of postpartum PA interventions on PA.

Conclusion: Future postpartum PA interventions should integrate components that increase outcomes under the domains of beliefs about capabilities, beliefs about consequences, environmental context and resources, and social influences. Further research that tests nonconscious mediators (e.g., PA habit, identity) is needed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).