Loneliness and preferences for palatable foods: The role of coping

Loneliness is an important public health issue with consequences for health-related outcomes. Health-related behaviors is a proposed explanatory pathway. There is some evidence that loneliness influences eating behaviors, although the reasons for this have not been fully examined. In addition, how eating behaviors are conceptualised and the subsequent findings are often inconsistent. Across two studies, we aimed to address these issues by investigating whether loneliness is associated with preferences for palatable over healthy foods, and two possible explanatory pathways: negative affect and using palatable foods as a coping strategy. Study 1 (N = 361) used a within-subjects design to test whether chronic loneliness influenced palatable food preferences in a healthy versus palatable food choice task, and if negative affect and using palatable food to cope explained this preference. Study 2 (N = 163) aimed to replicate the dispositional-correlational associations from Study 1 and experimentally test whether situational loneliness influenced food preferences. In Study 1, the indirect effects of chronic loneliness on preferences for palatable foods was significant for coping motives, ab = 0.0923, SE = 0.0324, 95% CI = [0.0417, 0.1732], but not for negative affect, ab = 0.0035, SE = 0.0486, 95% CI = [-0.0928, 0.0986]. Findings from Study 2 mirrored those from Study 1 with significant indirect effects of loneliness on preferences for palatable foods through coping motives, ab = 0.1831, SE = 0.1027, 95% CI = [0.0338, 0.4680], but not depressive symptoms, ab = -0.1046, SE = 0.2438, 95% CI = [-0.5576, 0.4092]. The loneliness manipulation did not increase state loneliness. Together these findings make important and novel contributions to our understanding of the strategies that lonely people use to cope with the distress they experience, and further highlights susceptibility to eating palatable foods as a potential behavioral pathway linking loneliness to poor health outcomes

A meta‐analysis of coping strategies and psychological distress in rheumatoid arthritis

Purpose: Theory and research indicate that coping plays a central role in the experience of psychological distress in people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). This study meta‐analysed the associations of adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies with psychological distress in people with RA to quantify and better understand the proposed differential relationships, as well as the factors that might influence these links. Methods: Searches of four databases identified eligible studies according to a pre‐registered protocol. Two random effects meta‐analyses examined the direction and magnitude of the links between adaptive coping (problem‐focused and emotional approach coping) and maladaptive coping (emotional avoidance and pre‐occupation coping) and psychological distress (stress, anxiety, and depression). Study quality was evaluated using a bespoke tool. Moderator analyses for sample characteristics and distress type were conducted. Results: Searches identified 16 eligible studies with 46 effects. Meta‐analysis of maladaptive coping and distress yielded a significant, medium sized association, k = 12, r = .347, 95% CIs [.23, .46]. Moderator analyses were significant only for type of distress, with effects for depression being larger than that for combined distress. Effects did not vary as a function of age, participant sex, or disease duration. Meta‐analysis for adaptive coping was not significant, k = 10, r = −.155, 95% CIs [−.31, .01]. Conclusions: Findings from this first meta‐analysis of coping and distress in RA indicate that maladaptive but not adaptive coping is associated with greater distress. Further research is needed to grow the evidence base to verify the current findings especially with respect to adaptive coping

Self-Compassion and Adherence in Five Medical Samples: the Role of Stress

Emerging evidence indicates self-compassion can be beneficial for medical populations and for medical adherence; yet, research to date has not fully examined the reasons for this association. This study examined the association of dispositional self-compassion to adherence across five medical samples and tested the extent to which perceived stress accounted for this association. Five medical samples (total N = 709), including fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and cancer patients, recruited from various sources, completed online surveys. Self-compassion was positively associated with adherence in all five samples. A meta-analysis of the associations revealed a small average effect size (average r = .22, [0.15, 0.29]) of self-compassion and adherence and non-significant heterogeneity among the effects (Q (4) = 3.15, p = .532). A meta-analysis of the kappa2 values from the indirect effects of self-compassion on adherence revealed that, on average, 11% of the variance in medical adherence that was explained by self-compassion could be attributed to lower perceived stress. Overall, findings demonstrate that dispositional self-compassion is associated with better medical adherence among people with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and cancer, due in part to lower stress. This research contributes to a growing evidence base indicating the value of self-compassion for health-related behaviours in a variety of medical populations

Self-Compassion and Adherence in Five Medical Samples: the Role of Stress

Emerging evidence indicates self-compassion can be beneficial for medical populations and for medical adherence; yet, research to date has not fully examined the reasons for this association. This study examined the association of dispositional self-compassion to adherence across five medical samples and tested the extent to which perceived stress accounted for this association. Five medical samples (total N = 709), including fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and cancer patients, recruited from various sources, completed online surveys. Self-compassion was positively associated with adherence in all five samples. A meta-analysis of the associations revealed a small average effect size (average r = .22, [0.15, 0.29]) of self-compassion and adherence and non-significant heterogeneity among the effects (Q (4) = 3.15, p = .532). A meta-analysis of the kappa2 values from the indirect effects of self-compassion on adherence revealed that, on average, 11% of the variance in medical adherence that was explained by self-compassion could be attributed to lower perceived stress. Overall, findings demonstrate that dispositional self-compassion is associated with better medical adherence among people with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and cancer, due in part to lower stress. This research contributes to a growing evidence base indicating the value of self-compassion for health-related behaviours in a variety of medical populations

A self-regulation resource model of self-compassion and health behavior intentions in emerging adults

Objective. This study tested a self-regulation resource model (SRRM) of self-compassion and health-promoting behavior intentions in emerging adults. The SRRM posits that positive and negative affect in conjunction with health self-efficacy serve as valuable self-regulation resources to promote health behaviors. Methods. An online survey was completed by 403 emerging adults recruited from the community and a Canadian University in late 2008. Multiple meditation analyses with bootstrapping controlling for demographics and current health behaviors tested the proposed explanatory role of the self-regulation resource variables (affect and self-efficacy) in linking self-compassion to health behavior intentions. Results. Self-compassion was positively associated with intentions to engage in health-promoting behaviors. The multiple mediation model explained 23% of the variance in health behavior intentions, with significant indirect effects through health self-efficacy and low negative affect. Conclusion. Interventions aimed at increasing self-compassion in emerging adults may help promote positive health behaviors, perhaps through increasing self-regulation resources

Emotional adaptation to relationship dissolution in parents and non-parents: A new conceptual model and measure

Relationship dissolution can cause declines in emotional well-being, particularly if there are children involved. Individuals’ capacity to cope with the pragmatics of the situation, such as agreeing childcare arrangements, can be impaired. Before now, there has been no psychometric test to evaluate individuals’ emotional readiness to cope with these demands. This paper presents a model of emotional adaptation in the context of relationship dissolution and its key assumptions, and validates the Emotional Adaptation to Relationship Dissolution Assessment (EARDA). In Study 1 (Sample 1, n = 573 separated parents, Sample 2, n = 199 mix of parents and non-parents), factor analyses support the EARDA as a unidimensional scale with good reliability. In Study 2 (using Sample 1, and Sample 3, n = 156 separated parents) the convergent, discriminant, concurrent criterion-related, and incremental validity of the EARDA were supported by tests of association with stress, distress, attachment style, and co-parenting communication and conflict. In Study 3, the nomological network of emotional adaptation to relationship dissolution was explored in Sample 2 using cluster analysis and multi-dimensional scaling (MDS). Emotional adaptation clustered with positive traits and an outward focus, and was negatively associated with negative traits and an inward focus. Emotional adaptation was conceptually located in close proximity to active and adaptive coping, and furthest away from maladaptive coping. In Study 4 (n = 30 separated parents embarking on mediation), high, medium, and low emotional adaptation to relationship dissolution categories correlated highly with mediators’ professional judgement, offering triangulated face validity. Finally, in Study 5, EARDA scores were found to mediate between separation characteristics (time since break up, whether it was a shock, and who initiated the break up) and co-parenting conflict in Sample 1, supporting the proposed model. The theoretical innovation of this work is the introduction of a new construct that bridges the gap between relationship dissolution and co-parenting. Practical implications include the use of the measure proposed to triage levels of support in a family law setting

Big Five traits, affect balance and health behaviors: A self-regulation resource perspective

Despite the relatively consistent finding that Conscientiousness, Agreeableness and low Neuroticism are associated with the practice of health-promoting behaviors, the reasons for these linkages are not well understood. This prospective study addressed this gap by taking a self-regulation resource perspective on why these traits relate to health-promoting behaviors by examining the role of higher positive relative to negative state affect. Students completed baseline (N = 330), and two week follow-up (N = 195) surveys. Bootstrapping analyses of the indirect effects of each of the three traits on Time 2 health behaviors were significant in the expected directions, with Kappa squares ranging from .11 to .13. In the full longitudinal analyses controlling for Time 1 health behaviors, the indirect effects of Conscientiousness and Agreeableness through affect balance on Time 2 health behaviors were positive and significant, whereas the indirect effects through Neuroticism were negative and significant after accounting for the Time 1 practice of health behaviors. These findings provide a process-oriented understanding of how Big Five traits are linked to health-promoting behaviors and extend previous research supporting a self-regulation resource perspective on personality and health behaviors

Psychological Flexibility Is Key for Reducing the Severity and Impact of Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia has a significant impact on the lives of patients; symptoms are influenced by psychological factors, such as psychological flexibility and catastrophizing. The objective of this study was to determine the importance of these variables in moderating the association between the severity and impact of fibromyalgia symptoms. A total of 187 patients from a general hospital population were evaluated using the Combined Index of Severity of Fibromyalgia (ICAF), the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ), the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II (AAQ-II), and the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS). A series of multiple regression analyses were carried out using the PROCESS macro and decision tree analysis. The results show that psychological flexibility modulates the relation between severity and the impact of fibromyalgia symptoms. Catastrophism has residual importance and depends on the interaction with psychological flexibility. Interaction occurs if the severity of the disease is in transition from a mild to a moderate level and accounts for 40.1% of the variance in the sample. These aspects should be considered for evaluation and early intervention in fibromyalgia patients