Increasing Older Adults' Social Connectedness: Development and Implementation of a Web-Assisted Acceptance and Commitment Therapy-Based Intervention.

In this article, we will provide a rationale for a web-assisted acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) approach to loneliness among older adults, drawing upon theories from the literature on adult development and aging, emotion regulation, and loneliness. The intervention program was developed using the principles of ACT, which is a cognitive behavioral approach and unified model of human behavior change and psychological growth. The ACT intervention focuses on developing nonjudgmental present-focused awareness of internal experiences (thoughts, emotions, and memories) through strategies such as acceptance and mindfulness rather than directly modifying or removing them per se.

Online acceptance and commitment therapy as treatment for loneliness among older adults: Report of a pilot study.

Background: Loneliness has been linked to cognitive decline, cardiovascular risk, and risk of mortality among older adults. Creative approaches are needed to increase access for older adults to evidence-based intervention programs. One possible approach is acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT).

Dealing with loss in the face of disasters and crises: Integrating interpersonal theories of couple adaptation and functioning.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the significant and varied losses that couples can experience during times of global and regional disasters and crises. What factors determine how couples navigate their close relationships during times of loss? In this paper, we elaborate and extend on one of the most influential frameworks in relationship science-the Vulnerability Stress Adaptation Model (VSAM, Karney and Bradbury, 1995)-to enhance the model's power to explain relationships during loss-themed disasters/crises. We do so by elaborating on attachment theory and integrating interdependence theory (emphasizing partner similarities and differences).

The effect of physical activity on the association between perceived racial discrimination and depression in African Americans.

Background: The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to examine the effect of physical activity (PA) on the relationship between perceived racial discrimination and major depressive disorder (MDD) in African Americans.

Methods: 645 African Americans (mean age 45 years) were interviewed on their perceived racial discrimination, PA, and past 12-month MDD. Participants were categorized into tertiles (lower, middle, upper) of racial discrimination as well as "active" or "inactive" groups based on the US PA guidelines.

The Impact of Distal Influences and Proximal Resources on the Mental Health of African American Older Adults: Findings From the Georgia Centenarian Study.

Background And Objectives: Over the years, a large amount of research has been devoted to the investigation of factors that led to mental health outcomes in older adults. For African American older adults, their lived experiences place them at high risk for mental health problems. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of early life influences (i.

Perceived relationship support moderates the association of contextual stress with inflammation among African Americans.

We followed 402 African American young adults from ages 24 to 29, a period of emerging committed relationships, to examine the association of contextual stress (CS), for example, experiences of financial strain, victimization, and racial discrimination, with inflammation, and to test predictions that greater perceived relationship warmth and support (PRWS) at age 29 would moderate the association between earlier CS and inflammation, using a multiplex assessment of cytokines to construct an index of the ratio between predominantly proinflammatory cytokines versus predominantly anti-inflammatory cytokines. CS experienced at age 24 was associated with greater inflammation at age 29 in the full sample (b = .112, p = .

Family health and income: A two-sample replication.

The current study examined psychological and family health predictors of change over time in household income, using data from longitudinal studies of African American ( = 889, 93.5% female) and Mexican origin ( = 674, 100% female) families. Participants self-reported their household income, as well as their emotional, personality, and cognitive resources.

Neighborhood racial discrimination and the development of major depression.

This study examined the impact of neighborhood racial discrimination on the development of major depressive disorder (MDD) in a sample of African American women. Participants were 499 women from Georgia and Iowa with no history of MDD who were followed for 9 to 11 years. Several neighborhood characteristics (community social disorder, community cohesion, and community racism) and individual characteristics (negative life events, financial strain, personal outlook, religious involvement, relationship quality, negative affectivity, and individual experiences of racism) were employed as predictors of whether or not the women met criteria for MDD during this period of time.

United and Divided by Stress: How Stressors Differentially Influence Social Support in African American Couples Over Time.

The factors that allow people to be good support providers in relationships are not fully understood. We examined how support providers' stressful experiences (financial strain and racial discrimination) differentially influence their supportiveness, using longitudinal data from two samples of African American couples. Among couples that provided observational data ( N = 163 couples), providers who experienced high chronic financial strain behaved less supportively toward their partners, while those who experienced frequent racial discrimination behaved more supportively over a 2-year period.

Autonomy promotion, responsiveness, and emotion regulation promote effective social support in times of stress.

Adult attachment theory provides guidance for providing optimal social support in intimate relationships. According to attachment theory, facilitating autonomy (secure base support) sometimes is more important than providing nurturance (safe haven support). In addition, it is important that couples celebrate one another's triumphs and successes (another form of secure base support).

Black Women's Recommendations for Developing Effective Type 2 Diabetes Programming.

The purpose of this study was to learn from 29 Black women how to develop effective Type 2 diabetes programming. Three focus groups were held in Des Moines, Iowa, during fall 2012. Results highlighted themes related to diabetes knowledge, diabetes management and prevention, physical activity, diet, and diabetes management programming.

Moderation of the effects of discrimination-induced affective responses on health outcomes.

Objective: The goal of the study was to examine differential mediation of long-term effects of discrimination on health behaviour and health status by internalising (anxiety and depression) and externalising (hostility and anger), and to explore moderation of these effects, specifically, by the presence of support networks and coping tendencies.

Design: The current analyses employed structural equation modelling of five waves of data from Black female participants of the Family and Community Health Study over 11 years (M age 37-48).

Main Outcomes Measures: The main outcome variables were health status and alcohol use (frequency and problematic consumption).

An index of the ratio of inflammatory to antiviral cell types mediates the effects of social adversity and age on chronic illness.

Background: It is assumed that both social stress and chronological age increase the risk of chronic illness, in part, through their effect on systemic inflammation. Unfortunately, observational studies usually employ single-marker measures of inflammation (e.g.

Anxiety Mediates Perceived Discrimination and Health in African-American Women.

Objective: We examined the mediational role of symptoms of anxiety in accounting for the association of discrimination and chronic health conditions among African-American women.

Methods: Participants were 646 African-American women who completed self-report measures of perceived racial discrimination, symptoms of anxiety, and diagnosed chronic health problems.

Results: We examined the mediation hypothesis using a path analytic procedure.

Methylation of the oxytocin receptor gene mediates the effect of adversity on negative schemas and depression.

Building upon various lines of research, we posited that methylation of the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) would mediate the effect of adult adversity on increased commitment to negative schemas and in turn the development of depression. We tested our model using structural equation modeling and longitudinal data from a sample of 100 middle-aged, African American women. The results provided strong support for the model.

Economic hardship and biological weathering: The epigenetics of aging in a U.S. sample of black women.

Background: Past research has linked low socio-economic status (SES) to inflammation, metabolic dysregulation, and various chronic and age-related diseases such as type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, and dementia. These studies suggest that the challenges and adversities associated with low SES may result in premature aging and increased risk of morbidity and mortality.

Objective: Building upon this research, the present study investigates various avenues whereby low income might accelerate biological aging.

Methylomic Aging as a Window onto the Influence of Lifestyle: Tobacco and Alcohol Use Alter the Rate of Biological Aging.

Objectives: To examine the effect of the relationship between alcohol and cigarette consumption on biological aging using deoxyribonucleic acid methylation-based indices.

Design: Hierarchical linear regression modeling followed by fitting of higher-order effects.

Setting: Longitudinal studies of aging and the effect of psychosocial stress.

Ethnicity and Smoking-Associated DNA Methylation Changes at HIV Co-Receptor GPR15.

Smoking is associated with poorer health outcomes for both African and European Americans. In order to better understand whether ethnic-specific genetic variation may underlie some of these differences, we compared the smoking-associated genome-wide methylation signatures of African Americans with those of European Americans, and followed up this analysis with a focused examination of the most ethnically divergent locus, cg19859270, at the GPR15 gene. We examined the association of methylation at this locus to the rs2230344 SNP and GPR15 gene and protein expression.

Stress, relationship satisfaction, and health among African American women: Genetic moderation of effects.

We examined whether romantic relationship satisfaction would serve as a link between early and later stressors which in turn would influence the thyroid function index (TFI), an indicator of physiological stress response. Using the framework of genetic susceptibility theory combined with hypotheses derived from the vulnerability-stress-adaptation and stress-generation models, we tested whether the hypothesized mediational model would be conditioned by 5-HTTLPR genotype, with greater effects and stronger evidence of mediation among carriers of the "s" allele. In a sample of African American women in romantic relationships (n = 270), we found that 5-HTTLPR moderated each stage of the hypothesized mediational model in a "for better or for worse" manner.

Financial strain, inflammatory factors, and haemoglobin A1c levels in African American women.

Objective: Type 2 diabetes disproportionately affects African American women, a population exposed to high levels of stress, including financial strain (Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, 2011, http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pubs/pdf/ndfs_2011.

The effect of neighborhood disadvantage, social ties, and genetic variation on the antisocial behavior of African American women: a multilevel analysis.

Social disorganization theory posits that individuals who live in disadvantaged neighborhoods are more likely to engage in antisocial behavior than are those who live in advantaged neighborhoods and that neighborhood disadvantage asserts this effect through its disruptive impact on social ties. Past research on this framework has been limited in two respects. First, most studies have concentrated on adolescent males.

The effect of smoking on DNA methylation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from African American women.

Background: Regular smoking is associated with a wide variety of syndromes with prominent inflammatory components such as cancer, obesity and type 2 diabetes. Heavy regular smoking is also associated with changes in the DNA methylation of peripheral mononuclear cells. However, in younger smokers, inflammatory epigenetic findings are largely absent which suggests the inflammatory response(s) to smoking may be dose dependent.

The Effects of General Social Support and Social Support for Racial Discrimination on African American Women's Well-Being.

The present longitudinal study examined the role of general and tailored social support in mitigating the deleterious impact of racial discrimination on depressive symptoms and optimism in a large sample of African American women. Participants were 590 African American women who completed measures assessing racial discrimination, general social support, tailored social support for racial discrimination, depressive symptoms, and optimism at two time points (2001-2002 and 2003-2004). Our results indicated that higher levels of general and tailored social support predicted optimism one year later; changes in both types of support also predicted changes in optimism over time.

Effects of perceived racial discrimination on health status and health behavior: a differential mediation hypothesis.

Objective: Prospective data tested a "differential mediation" hypothesis: The relations (found in previous research) between perceived racial discrimination and physical health status versus health-impairing behavior (problematic substance use) are mediated by two different types of affective reactions, internalizing and externalizing.

Method: The sample included 680 African American women from the Family and Community Health Study (M age = 37 years at Time 1; 45 years at Time 4). Four waves of data were analyzed.