Mediators of a Mindfulness-Based Intervention for Younger Breast Cancer Survivors: Effects on Depressive Symptoms
Depression is associated with poor outcomes in breast cancer patients, with higher prevalence among younger women. Although mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have demonstrated therapeutic effects, the mechanisms of intervention effects are poorly understood. We investigated whether rumination, self-kindness, intrusive thoughts about cancer, cancer-related worry, or a sense of meaning and peace mediated the intervention effects of an MBI, Mindful Awareness Practices (MAPs), on depressive symptoms. Additionally, we explored the same variables as mediators of a psychoeducation program, Survivorship Education (SE).
Stressors and Subjective Cognition in Daily Life: Tests of Physical Activity and Age as Moderators
Growing research indicates that daily stress is associated with poorer same-day cognitive performance, for example, memory and attention. However, it is unclear whether this relationship holds across diverse ages and engagement in physical activity (PA), or whether these factors might buffer the relationship between daily stress and subjective cognitive function.
Sleep Duration, Insomnia, and Associated Factors Among Ukrainians 1 Year After Russia's Full-Scale Invasion
We aimed to investigate the prevalence of sleep disturbances and associated factors among Ukrainians 1 year after Russia's full-scale invasion.
Socioeconomic Disadvantage, Neighborhood Belonging, and Inflammation Among Adolescents
Childhood socioeconomic disadvantage is associated with a host of adverse health outcomes across the lifespan. However, there is increasing interest in identifying factors that may promote resilience to disadvantage's effects on health. One promising candidate in this regard is a sense of neighborhood belonging, which could offset health risks by providing a sense of connection to others, as well as a sense of belonging to a community larger than oneself.
Depressive and Anxious Symptoms, Experimentally Manipulated Acute Social-Evaluative Threat, and Cortisol Reactivity
Exposure to social-evaluative threat (SET) can elicit greater physiological responses, including cortisol, compared to non-SET stressors. An individual's level of depressive and anxious symptoms predicts variability in cortisol responses to stressors, and other research suggests that these individual differences may predict vulnerability to social evaluation. The current study integrates both lines of research, testing if there are different relationships between depressive and/or anxious symptoms and cortisol reactivity in the presence or absence of SET.
Neonatal Hair Cortisol and Birth Outcomes: An Empirical Study and Meta-Analysis
Prenatal stress physiology is often posited as a predictor of birth outcomes, including gestational age at birth and birthweight. However, research has predominantly relied on indicators in the maternal system, with few studies examining hormones of the fetal system. The current study focuses on fetal cortisol in the third trimester, as measured in neonatal hair, as a biological factor that might be associated with birth outcomes (gestational age at birth and birthweight). We report findings from two studies: a longitudinal cohort (Study 1), and a meta-analysis of the existing literature (Study 2).
Habitual Caffeine Use Is Associated With Heightened Cortisol Reactivity to Lab-Based Stress in Two Samples
Habitual caffeine consumption protects against depression but through unclear mechanisms. Although habitual caffeine use predicts cortisol release in response to other acute stressors (e.g., exercise), this is less examined with lab-based psychosocial stress in healthy adults. Furthermore, caffeine-induced cortisol increases may mask theory-predicted cortisol blunting to robust stress in people with elevated depression risk. In two samples, we tested whether acute (same-day) and habitual caffeine use would predict greater cortisol reactivity to lab-based stress, and whether caffeine would "mask" the effect of a depression risk factor, trait rumination, on blunted cortisol reactivity.
Associations Between Early-Pregnancy Vitamin D Status and Postpartum Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms
Maternal postpartum depressive and anxiety symptoms are risk factors for subsequent maternal and child mental health problems. Little is known about the potential role of antepartum vitamin D and C-reactive protein (CRP) in the etiology of maternal postpartum affective symptoms. We investigated associations between antepartum vitamin D status and postpartum depressive and anxiety symptoms and whether antepartum CRP mediated these associations.
Conclusions Regarding the Role of Expectations in Placebo Analgesia Studies May Depend on How We Investigate It: A Meta-Analysis, Systematic Review, and Proposal for Methodological Discussions
Expectations are highlighted as a key component in placebo effects. However, there are different approaches to whether and how placebo studies should account for expectations, and the direct contribution has yet to be estimated in meta-analyses. Using different methodological approaches, this meta-analysis and systematic review examines the extent to which expectations contribute to pain in placebo studies.
Anger Expression Styles, Cynical Hostility, and the Risk for the Development of Type 2 Diabetes or Diabetes-Related Heart Complications: Secondary Analysis of the Health and Retirement Study
Limited research has examined associations between trait anger and hostility and incident type 2 diabetes (T2D) and diabetes-related heart complications. However, anger expression styles (i.e., anger-in, anger-out) have not been examined. The present study used secondary data to examine the associations between anger expression styles, cynical hostility, and the risk of developing T2D (objective 1) or diabetes-related heart complications (objective 2).
Associations Between Sexual Orientation Dimensions and Cardiometabolic Diseases: Data From the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions-III (NESARC-III)
Sexual orientation can be measured across identity, attraction, and behavior. Sexual minorities are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and diabetes; however, it is not known whether cardiometabolic disease risk varies across these dimensions.
Differences in Emotion Expression, Suppression, and Cardiovascular Consequences Between Black and White Americans in the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) Study
Recent theoretical work suggests that the expression of emotions may differ among Black and White Americans, such that Black Americans engage more frequently in expressive suppression to regulate emotions and avoid conflict. Prior work has linked expressive suppression usage with increases in cardiovascular disease risk, suggesting that racialized differences in expressive suppression usage may be one mechanism by which racism "gets under the skin" and creates health disparities.
Learned Symptom-Specific Fear Toward a Visceral Sensation and Its Impact on Perceptual Habituation
Impaired habituation of bodily sensations has been suggested as a contributing factor to chronic pain. We examined in healthy volunteers the influence of fear learning toward a nonpainful sensation in the esophagus on the perceptual habituation of this sensation.
Psychological Factors Modulate Quantitative Sensory Testing Measures in Fibromyalgia Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Regression Analysis
Considering the growing evidence that psychological variables might contribute to fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS), our study aims to understand the impact of psychological factors in quantitative sensory testing (QST) in FMS patients by performing a systematic review with meta-analysis.
Correlates and Predictors of Symptom Severity Over Time in People Under Investigation for Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome
Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) is a poorly understood chronic disorder characterized by an unexplained excessive increase in heartbeat upon standing. The aim of this study was to investigate psychosocial and physiological correlates and predictors of symptom severity over time in patients presenting with POTS-like symptoms.
Ecologically Assessed Sleep Duration and Arterial Stiffness in Healthy Men and Women
Among younger adults, to determine the associations of actigraph- and self-reported sleep duration with arterial stiffness (AS) assessed in clinic and in ecologically valid contexts, and to examine sex-specific associations.