16 research outputs found
Purpose in life predicts better emotional recovery from negative stimuli
Purpose in life predicts both health and longevity suggesting that the ability to find meaning from life’s experiences, especially when confronting life’s challenges, may be a mechanism underlying resilience. Having purpose in life may motivate reframing stressful situations to deal with them more productively, thereby facilitating recovery from stress and trauma. In turn, enhanced ability to recover from negative events may allow a person to achieve or maintain a feeling of greater purpose in life over time. In a large sample of adults (aged 36-84 years) from the MIDUS study (Midlife in the U.S., http://www.midus.wisc.edu/), we tested whether purpose in life was associated with better emotional recovery following exposure to negative picture stimuli indexed by the magnitude of the eyeblink startle reflex (EBR), a measure sensitive to emotional state. We differentiated between initial emotional reactivity (during stimulus presentation) and emotional recovery (occurring after stimulus offset). Greater purpose in life, assessed over two years prior, predicted better recovery from negative stimuli indexed by a smaller eyeblink after negative pictures offset, even after controlling for initial reactivity to the stimuli during the picture presentation, gender, age, trait affect, and other well-being dimensions. These data suggest a proximal mechanism by which purpose in life may afford protection from negative events and confer resilience is through enhanced automatic emotion regulation after negative emotional provocation
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Childhood Socioeconomic Disadvantage, Occupational, Leisure-Time, and Household Physical Activity, and Diabetes in Adulthood.
BACKGROUND:Regular physical activity is a key way to prevent disease. However, we have a limited understanding of the socioeconomic precursors and glucoregulatory sequelae of engaging in physical activity in different domains. METHODS:We examined the associations among life course socioeconomic disadvantage; meeting the physical activity guidelines with leisure-time physical activity, occupational physical activity, or household physical activity; and prediabetes and diabetes in the Midlife in the United States national study (N = 986). RESULTS:Childhood disadvantage was associated with lower odds of meeting the guidelines with leisure-time physical activity (odds ratio = 0.75; 95% confidence interval, 0.65-0.86). Adulthood disadvantage was associated with higher odds of meeting the guidelines with occupational physical activity (odds ratio = 1.94; 95% confidence interval, 1.49-2.53). Importantly, while meeting the guidelines with leisure-time physical activity was associated with lower odds of prediabetes and diabetes, we found no evidence for associations among occupational physical activity, household physical activity, and glucoregulation. CONCLUSION:Current US physical activity guidelines do not differentiate between physical activity for leisure or work, assuming that physical activity in any domain confers comparable health benefits. We documented important differences in the associations among lifetime socioeconomic disadvantage, physical activity domain, and diabetes, suggesting that physical activity domain potentially belongs in the guidelines, similar to other characteristics of activity (eg, type, intensity)
Current Directions in SES Disparities Research: Socio-emotional and Physiological Mechanisms
No abstract available
Zero order correlations between the individual dimensions of psychological well-being and EBR magnitude measures of emotional reactivity and recovery on negative picture trials.
<p>Note: Correlations with the r (p) values in bold indicate p<0.05.</p>*<p>The EBR recovery measure here reflects EBR magnitude at the recovery probe regressed on EBR magnitude at the reactivity probe, removing variation due to differences in reactivity. (EBR magnitude at the reactivity probe and the recovery probe are inversely correlated, r = –0.15, p = 0.02).</p
Purpose in life predicts smaller EBR indexing greater recovery after negative picture offset.
<p>Note: (1) EBR values are log-transformed and then z-scored within each participant. (2) The EBR recovery measure here reflects EBR magnitude at the recovery probe regressed on EBR magnitude at the reactivity probe, removing variation due to differences in reactivity. (3) The relation remains significant if the outlier is removed: Purpose in life x EBR negative magnitude residual at recovery r = –0.15, p = 0.03.</p