Investing in the future - identifying participants in an educational program for middle-aged and older adults

With the aging of societies, gerontological issues have become increasingly relevant. Within health education research, however, issues related to aging remain underrepresented. It is not yet understood whether and by what means people prepare for their aging. This article seeks to identify those who invest in the future by examining the reach of the educational program ‘In anticipation of the golden years’. We studied what motivated participants to enroll, and collected demographic, psychological and social network characteristics from the 158 individuals (mean age 61.5 years) who had signed up for the program. These data were compared with data from large-scale surveys of the aging population in order to examine the representativeness of program participants. The majority of participants' motives corresponded very well with the aims of the program. Comparison of demographic, psychological and social characteristics revealed that, in general, participants enjoyed greater psychological resources than in the population, while they were less advantaged with respect to their personal situation (predominantly household composition and subjective health) and social relationships. Our findings suggest that future investment in relation to aging is a well-accepted idea that appeals to individuals who exhibit a specific combination of resources and risk factors

“Четвертий поділ” Польщі і встановлення радянського тоталітарного режиму в Західній Україні

The present article was based on the unknown documents of the Branch state archive of Security service of Ukraine and showed the first phase so called “sovietizashion” (establishment of Soviet regim) of Western Ukraine after being joined to the USSR in the September 1939. The author investigeted the measures used to arrange the 800-meter borderland between the USSR and Third Reich

Snacking for a reason: detangling effects of socio-economic position and stress on snacking behaviour

Background: As snacking can be considered a cornerstone of an unhealthy diet, investigating psychological drivers of snacking behaviour is urgent, and therefore the purpose of this study. Socio-economic position (SEP) and stress are known to affect many behaviours and outcomes, and were therefore focal points in the study. Methods: In a cross-sectional survey study, we examined whether Socio-economic position (SEP) would amplify associations between heightened stress levels and self-reported negative-affect related reasons for snacking. Next, we investigated whether Socio-economic position (SEP) predicted frequency of snacking behaviour, and how stress and other reasons for snacking could explain this association. Outcome measures were reasons people indicated for snacking, and frequency of snacking behaviour. Results: Analyses revealed that people seem to find more reasons to snack when they are stressed, and that this association was more pronounced for people with a high compared to low socio-economic position. Furthermore, a higher socio-economic position was associated with a higher frequency of snacking, and both snacking to reward oneself and snacking because of the opportunity to do so remained significant mediators. Conclusion: Whereas low socio-economic position was associated with higher stress levels, this did not translate into increased snacking. Contrarily, those with higher socio-economic position could be more prone to using ‘reasons to snack’, which may result in justification of unhealthy snacking behaviour

Justified indulgence: self-licensing effects on caloric consumption

Objective: Research on self-licensing, i.e. employing justifications to give into temptation, largely consists of studies examining dichotomous food choices (healthy vs. unhealthy), while evidence for its effects on how much (unhealthy) food is consumed remains scarce. The present studies aimed to demonstrate self-licensing effects on caloric consumption in both lab (Study 1 & 2) and field setting (Study 3). Design: In all studies, female student samples were recruited. They either received a justification cue (license condition) or not (control condition), after which they could eat freely from unhealthy snacks (Study 1, N = 85 and Study 2, N = 95) or choose a snack for direct consumption at a take-out lunch place (Study 3, N = 110). Main outcome measures: Caloric value of consumed snacks (Study 1 and 2) and chosen snack (Study 3). Results: In all studies, caloric consumption was higher in the license condition compared to the control condition: Participants ate more of the provided unhealthy snacks (Study 1 and 2) and chose a snack of higher caloric value (Study 3). Conclusions: The present research corroborates self-licensing as an important factor in the consumption of unhealthy foods by employing more ecologically valid outcomes

Justified indulgence: self-licensing effects on caloric consumption

Objective: Research on self-licensing, i.e. employing justifications to give into temptation, largely consists of studies examining dichotomous food choices (healthy vs. unhealthy), while evidence for its effects on how much (unhealthy) food is consumed remains scarce. The present studies aimed to demonstrate self-licensing effects on caloric consumption in both lab (Study 1 & 2) and field setting (Study 3). Design: In all studies, female student samples were recruited. They either received a justification cue (license condition) or not (control condition), after which they could eat freely from unhealthy snacks (Study 1, N = 85 and Study 2, N = 95) or choose a snack for direct consumption at a take-out lunch place (Study 3, N = 110). Main outcome measures: Caloric value of consumed snacks (Study 1 and 2) and chosen snack (Study 3). Results: In all studies, caloric consumption was higher in the license condition compared to the control condition: Participants ate more of the provided unhealthy snacks (Study 1 and 2) and chose a snack of higher caloric value (Study 3). Conclusions: The present research corroborates self-licensing as an important factor in the consumption of unhealthy foods by employing more ecologically valid outcomes

Do distant foods decrease intake? The effect of food accessibility on consumption

Objective: Two studies examined the hypothesis that making snacks less accessible contributes to the regulation of food intake. Study 1 examined whether decreasing the accessibility of snacks reduces probability and amount of snack intake. The aim of Study 2 was to replicate the results and explore the underlying mechanism in terms of perceived effort to obtain the snack and perceived salience of the snack.Methods: In Study 1 (N = 77) and Study 2 (N = 54) distance to a bowl of snacks was randomly varied at 20, 70 or 140 cm in an experimental between-subjects design. Main outcome measures were the number of people who ate any snacks (probability of snack intake), the amount of snacks consumed and risk of compensatory behaviour as measured by food craving. In Study 2, self-report ratings of salience and effort were examined to explore potential underlying mechanisms.Results: Study 1 showed lower probability and amount of intake in either of more distant conditions (70 and 140 cm) compared to the proximal condition (20 cm), with no unintended effects in terms of increased craving. Study 2 replicated the results of Study 1 and showed that distance affected perceived effort but not salience.Conclusions: Making snacks less accessible by putting them further away is a potentially effective strategy to decrease snack intake, without risk of compensatory behaviour.</p

Minority talks: The influence of descriptive social norms on fruit intake

Previous research established that norms describing the behaviour of a majority (e.g. 'many people consume too much alcohol') can have ironic and unwanted effects on health behaviour. To date, no research has addressed the effects of minority descriptive norms (e.g. 'only few people use sunscreen'), while such minority norms are frequently communicated to the public. The current studies investigate the effects of minority and majority norms on intended and actual fruit intake. University students received either minority or majority normative information describing fruit intake behaviour of a referent group. Identification strength with this referent group was measured (Study 1) or manipulated (Study 2). Results showed that, compared to majority norms, minority norms negatively affected fruit intake when participants strongly identify with the referent group. Moreover, absolute negative (minority norm) and positive (majority norm) effects of one-third portion of fruit were found compared to a no-norm condition. Since minority norms are often communicated with the intention of alarming people regarding their low engagement in health protective behaviour, the potential ironic effects of these minority norms should be taken into account when presenting such information to the public.</p

" I should remember I don't want to become fat" : Adolescents' views on self-regulatory strategies for healthy eating

Few studies have investigated the strategies adolescents identify to self-regulate eating behavior. Aiming to address this gap in the literature, the current article describes a bottom-up investigation of strategies adolescents identify for the successful self-regulation of eating behavior. Sixty-two adolescents generated statements about self-regulation strategies for eating and rated the utility of each statement. From an initial pool of 357 statements, thirteen overarching self-regulatory strategies were distilled (e.g. preparation; stimulus control). Significant differences were found between the strategies with regard to perceived utility. Findings indicate that, in apparent contradiction to growing obesity rates, adolescents have knowledge of various self-regulatory strategies. Possible explanations for this contradiction are discussed.</p

Too depleted to turn in : The relevance of end-of-the-day resource depletion for reducing bedtime procrastination

Bedtime procrastination is an important predictor of sleep insufficiency in the general population (Kroese et al., 2014b), but little is known about the determinants of this self-undermining behavior. As the phenomenon has been conceptualized in the literature as a form of self-regulation failure (Kroese et al., 2014a), we hypothesized that people's self-regulatory resources in the evening would be predictive of going to bed later than they intended. Specifically, we examined whether the cumulative effect of resisting desires, a measure of self-regulatory resource depletion (Hofmann et al., 2012b), relates to bedtime procrastination. Participants (N = 218) reported how many desires they had tried to resist during the previous day and the extent of their bedtime procrastination. Results show that people who attempted to resist more desires were more likely to engage in bedtime procrastination, suggesting that people may be less likely to stick to their intended bedtime after a particularly taxing day. Implications for intervention strategies are discussed