Mastery, perceived stress and health-related behaviour in northeast Arnhem Land: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Indigenous peoples in Australia are disadvantaged on all markers of health and social status across the life course. Psychosocial factors are implicated in the aetiology of chronic diseases and in pathways underpinning social health disparities. Minimal research has investigated psychosocial factors and health in Indigenous peoples. This study evaluated associations between mastery, perceived stress, and health-related behaviour for a remote Indigenous population in Australia. METHODS: Complete data on mastery (the degree to which individuals feel in control of their lives), perceived stress, physical activity, and fruit and vegetable consumption were obtained for 177 participants in a community-based chronic disease risk factor survey. Psychosocial questionnaires were completed as an option during community screening (response rate = 61.9%). Extensive consultation facilitated the cross-cultural adaptation of measures. RESULTS: Mastery was inversely correlated with perceived stress measures (p < 0.009): recent stress, r = -0.47; chronic stress, r = -0.41; and youth stress, r = -0.30. Relationships between mastery and behaviour varied according to age group (<25 or ≥25 years) for physical activity (p = 0.001) and vegetable consumption (p = 0.005). Individuals aged ≥25 years engaging in ≤2 bouts of physical activity/week had lower mastery than individuals engaging in ≥3 bouts/week, with means (95% CI) of 14.8 (13.7–15.8) and 17.1 (15.3–19.0), respectively (p = 0.026). Individuals aged ≥25 years eating vegetables ≤3 times/week had lower mastery than those eating vegetables ≥4 times/week (p = 0.009) [means 14.7 (13.8–15.5) and 17.3 (15.5–19.1), respectively]. Individuals <25 years engaging in ≤2 bouts of physical activity/week had greater mastery than individuals engaging in ≥3 bouts/week (p = 0.022) [means 17.2 (15.2–19.2) and 13.8 (11.9–15.7), respectively]. For men ≥25 years and women ≥15 years, mastery was inversely related to age (p < 0.002). Men <25 years had less mastery than women of equivalent age (p = 0.001) [means 13.4 (12.1–14.7) and 17.5 (15.3–19.8), respectively]. CONCLUSION: Consistent with previous research, this study provides additional support for a link between mastery and health-related behaviour, and extends evidence of this association to a remote Indigenous population. Mastery's association with perceived stress, its age-specific association with health behaviour, and findings of low mastery amongst young men, highlights a need for life course research accounting for contextual factors affecting Indigenous peoples

Social Relationships and Mortality Risk: A Meta-analytic Review

In a meta-analysis, Julianne Holt-Lunstad and colleagues find that individuals' social relationships have as much influence on mortality risk as other well-established risk factors for mortality, such as smoking

Social support and physical activity as moderators of life stress in predicting baseline depression and change in depression over time in the Women’s Health Initiative

PURPOSE: To determine whether social support and/or physical activity buffer the association between stressors and increasing risk of depression symptoms at baseline and at 3 year follow-up. METHODS: This is a secondary analysis of data from the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study. 91,912 community-dwelling post-menopausal women participated in this prospective cohort study. Depression symptoms were measured at baseline and 3 years later; social support, physical activity, and stressors were measured at baseline. RESULTS: Stressors at baseline, including verbal abuse, physical abuse, caregiving, social strain, negative life events, financial stress, low income, acute pain, and a greater number of chronic medical conditions, were all associated with higher levels of depression symptoms at baseline and new onset elevated symptoms at three year follow-up. Social support and physical activity were associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms. Contrary to expectation, more social support at baseline strengthened the association between concurrent depression and physical abuse, social strain, caregiving, and low income. Similarly, more social support at baseline increased the association between financial stress, income, and pain on new-onset depression 3 years later. Physical activity similarly moderated the effect of caregiving, income, and pain on depression symptoms at baseline. CONCLUSION: Stressors, social support, and physical activity showed predicted main effect associations with depression. Multiplicative interactions were small in magnitude and in the opposite direction of what was expected