Associations Between Health Literacy and Health Behaviors Among Urban High School Students.

Background: Health literacy is crucial to develop health-related knowledge, adopt healthy lifestyles, and benefit from health care services. However, research on the association between health literacy and adolescent health outcomes, particularly on their prospective associations, is rare. We assessed health literacy using 3 validated measures, and examined cross-sectional and prospective associations between health literacy and adolescent health behaviors and outcomes.

Background lead and mercury exposures: Psychological and behavioral problems in children.

Background: The potential harm from exposure to nonessential metals, particularly mercury (Hg) and lead (Pb), has been the focus of research for years. Initial interest focused on relatively high exposures; however, recent evidence suggests that even background exposures might have adverse consequences for child development. Identifying the extent of these consequences is now a priority.

The Role of Agonistic Striving in the Association Between Cortisol and High Blood Pressure.

Objective: A social action theory of chronic stress proposes that agonistic striving (seeking to influence or control others) impairs cardiovascular health by magnifying the impact of high adversity-induced cortisol levels on blood pressure. We tested three predictions of social action theory: (1) the social action theory taxonomy of regulatory strivings characterizes young adults from high-adversity neighborhoods; (2) high cortisol levels predict high blood pressure more reliably in the subgroup with the agonistic striving profile than in subgroups with other profiles; (3) the association of higher cortisol and higher blood pressure with agonistic striving is not explained by negative affect (depressive symptoms/dysphoria, anger, hostility).

Methods: Participants were young adults (N = 198, mean [SD] age = 32 [3.

Gender Differences in Relations among Perceived Family Characteristics and Risky Health Behaviors in Urban Adolescents.

Background: Research regarding the role of gender in relations between family characteristics and health risk behaviors has been limited.

Purpose: This study aims to investigate gender differences in associations between family processes and risk-taking in adolescents.

Methods: Adolescents (N = 249; mean age = 14.

The interaction between the dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4) variable number tandem repeat polymorphism and perceived peer drinking norms in adolescent alcohol use and misuse.

Peer drinking norms are arguably one of the strongest correlates of adolescent drinking. Prospective studies indicate that adolescents tend to select peers based on drinking (peer selection) and their peers' drinking is associated with changes in adolescent drinking over time (peer socialization). The present study investigated whether the peer selection and socialization processes in adolescent drinking differed as a function of the dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4) variable number tandem repeat genotype in two independent prospective data sets.

Interaction effects between the 5-hydroxy tryptamine transporter-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) genotype and family conflict on adolescent alcohol use and misuse.

Aims: To investigate whether the effects of family conflict on adolescent drinking differed as a function of 5-hydroxy tryptamine transporter-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) genotype cross-sectionally and prospectively in two independent samples of adolescents.

Design: Path analysis and multi-group analysis of two prospective datasets were conducted.

Settings: United States and United Kingdom.

Can agonistic striving lead to unexplained illness? Implicit goals, pain tolerance, and somatic symptoms in adolescents and adults.

Objectives: We tested the social action theory hypotheses that (a) psychological stress induced by struggling to control others (agonistic striving) is associated with higher levels of subjective somatic symptoms than stress induced by struggling to control the self (transcendence striving); (b) the association between agonistic striving and symptoms is moderated by the ability to tolerate pain; and (c) associations among agonistic goals, pain tolerance, and subjective symptoms are not explained by personality and affective traits or negative emotional responses to personal stressors.

Methods: Implicit motives and negative emotional reactivity to recurring personal stressors were assessed by Social Competence Interview in 333 adolescents and adults who participated in longitudinal research on functional abdominal pain at a university medical center. Pain tolerance was assessed by graduated thermal pain protocol; subjective somatic symptoms, and personality/affective traits assessed by questionnaires.

How neighborhood disorder increases blood pressure in youth: agonistic striving and subordination.

Growing evidence links perceptions of neighborhood disorder to adverse health outcomes but little is known about psychological processes that may mediate this association. We tested the hypothesis that two psychological mechanisms-agonistic striving and subordination-mediate the link between perceived neighborhood disorder and hypertension risk in youth. Perceived neighborhood disorder, agonistic striving, subordination experiences, negative affect, obesity, and ambulatory blood pressure during daily activities (48 h) were assessed in a multiethnic sample of 167 low- to middle-income urban adolescents.

How implicit motives and everyday self-regulatory abilities shape cardiovascular risk in youth.

Background And Purpose: Tested hypotheses from social action theory that (a) implicit and explicit measures of agonistic (social control) motives and transcendence (self-control) motives differentially predict cardiovascular risk; and (b) implicit motives interact with everyday self-regulation behaviors to magnify risk.

Methods: Implicit/explicit agonistic/transcendence motives were assessed in a multi-ethnic sample of 64 high school students with the Social Competence Interview (SCI). Everyday self-regulation was assessed with teacher ratings of internalizing, externalizing, and self-control behaviors.

Do agonistic motives matter more than anger? Three studies of cardiovascular risk in adolescents.

Objectives: Three motivational profiles have been associated with recurring psychological stress in low-income youth and young adults: Striving to control others (agonistic striving), striving to control the self (transcendence striving), and not asserting control (dissipated striving). Agonistic striving has been associated with elevated ambulatory blood pressure during daily activities. Three studies tested the hypotheses that: (1) agonistic striving is associated with poor anger regulation, and (2) agonistic striving and poor anger regulation interactively elevate blood pressure.

Application of the social action theory to understand factors associated with risky sexual behavior among individuals in residential substance abuse treatment.

Risky sexual behavior (RSB) is a leading cause of HIV/AIDS, particularly among urban substance users. Using the social action theory, an integrative systems model of sociocognitive, motivational, and environmental influences, as a guiding framework, the current study examined (1) environmental influences, (2) psychopathology and affect, (3) HIV-related attitudes and knowledge, and (4) self-regulatory skills/deficits as factors associated with event-level condom use (CU) among a sample of 156 substance users residing at a residential substance abuse treatment center (M age = 41.85; SD = 8.

Use of the social competence interview and the anger transcendence challenge in individuals with alcohol use disorder.

Interpersonal stress is a significant determinant of relapse following treatment for Alcohol Use Disorders (AUDs), but there remains little specific information about the mechanisms underlying the relationship between interpersonal stress and AUD relapse. Application of Social Action Theory provides one new approach to advancing knowledge about the interpersonal stress-relapse relationship. Especially relevant are the Social Action Theory construct of social-emotional competence, with its accompanying measurement procedures of the Social Competence Interview and the Anger Transcendence Challenge.

Urban stress and health in developing countries: development and validation of a neighborhood stress index for India.

Stress caused by chronic difficulties encountered by people residing in poor urban neighborhoods is associated with health problems and disease in developed countries, but the relationship between neighborhood stress and health in developing nations, such as India, has not been assessed. In this study, the authors administered the City Stress Inventory, a self-report measure assessing stress experienced as a function of environmental conditions unique to living in large cities that was validated in the United States, to 163 high school students in New Delhi, India. Components of urban stress in India, with some modifications, appear to be similar to components of urban stress reported by adolescents in the United States.

Assessing cardiovascular reactivity in working women with the social competence interview.

The Social Competence Interview (SCI), an interview to induce cardiovascular reactivity through recounting a stressful life experience, was used with a sample of 120 working women employed as childcare providers. Women recounted their most stressful work factor while cardiovascular reactions were monitored at 2-minute intervals (data points included 4 baseline, 6 SCI, and 3 recovery). Increases were found when comparing mean baseline and SCI measures: systolic blood pressure (SBP) increased 10.

Early antecedents of adult work stress: social-emotional competence and anger in adolescence.

We hypothesized that youth with elevated coronary heart disease (CHD) risk who exhibit diminished social-emotional competence and frequent anger in adolescence experience increased occupational stress after becoming adults. Perceived job control and support from coworkers in 57 young Black and White men and women were regressed on measures of social problem-solving skill (SPS) and anger arousal (AR) obtained 5 years earlier when participants were in high school. In models controlling for grade point average (GPA), SPS and GPA independently predicted coworker support in adulthood; anger in high school predicted diminished job control.

Sociotropic cognition moderates stress-induced cardiovascular responsiveness in women through effects on total peripheral resistance, but not cardiac output.

Although cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the leading cause of mortality in women, few studies have examined the role of psychosocial factors in its development. This study examined the moderating effects of sociotropic cognition (SC), a need for social acceptance and approval, on psychosocial stress-induced cardiovascular responsiveness (CVR) and affect reactivity in women. Sixty-eight normotensive, college-aged females were randomly assigned to a low or high social threat condition.

Anger cognitions and cardiovascular recovery following provocation.

The current study describes the creation and validation of the Anger Cognitions Inventory (ACI) to assess the cognitive appraisals associated with resentful and reflective anger. The ACI was created based on a content analysis of self-reports of participants' thoughts and feelings following anger provocation in the laboratory. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses on two separate college student samples (N = 267 and N = 276, respectively) revealed five subscales which could validly be grouped into resentful and reflective anger.

Vigilance to a persisting personal threat: unmasking cardiovascular consequences in adolescents with the Social Competence Interview.

We report the first systematic study of hemodynamic responses to the Social Competence Interview, using the original Ewart protocol, which focuses attention on a persisting personal threat. Physiologic changes in 212 African American and Caucasian urban adolescents during the Social Competence Interview, mirror tracing, and reaction time tasks showed that the Social Competence Interview elicits a pronounced vasoconstrictive response pattern, with diminished cardiac activity, that is more typical of alert mental vigilance than of active coping. This pattern was observed in all race and gender subgroups.

Agonistic interpersonal striving: social-cognitive mechanism of cardiovascular risk in youth?

The social competence model (SCM) of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk identifies combinations of goal-oriented strivings, expressive behaviors, and social skill deficits that contribute to persisting interpersonal difficulties and chronic health-damaging stress in youth. SCM hypotheses were tested on 187 Black and White adolescents who completed the Social Competence Interview (SCI) and later underwent ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) monitoring. Cluster analyses of stress narratives assessed via SCI identified 3 predicted stress profiles: agonistic (interpersonally focused), transcendent (self-development focused), and avoidant.

Development and testing of the Cholesterol-Lowering Diet Self-Efficacy Scale.

A cornerstone of treatment for hypercholesterolemia is dietary therapy. However, maintaining adherence to the therapeutic diet has been difficult for patients. There is evidence that self-efficacy is a predictor of positive behavior change like that involved in or necessary for initiating or maintaining recommended diet therapy for cholesterol reduction.

Anger in young black and white workers: effects of job control, dissatisfaction, and support.

This cross-sectional study tested the hypothesis that characteristics of work that contribute to job strain also increase anger in young service-sector workers. A new measure of anger directed at coworkers, supervisors, and customers was regressed on job strain indices (job control, coworker and supervisor support, dissatisfaction) in models that controlled for dispositional negative affect and work status. Results in a sample of 230 young Black and White men and women revealed that low levels of job control and social support, and high levels of job dissatisfaction, were independently associated with increased work-related anger.

Measuring stress resilience and coping in vulnerable youth: the Social Competence Interview.

A brief interview to measure stress coping capabilities was developed and tested in 4 samples of African American and White adolescents in low-income neighborhoods of 2 large U.S. cities.

Discovering how urban poverty and violence affect health: development and validation of a Neighborhood Stress Index.

Health problems of the urban poor have been attributed to psychosocial effects of environmental stress. Testing such models requires an ability to measure neighborhood characteristics that make life stressful. The City Stress Inventory (CSI) uses self-report to assess perceived neighborhood disorder and exposure to violence.

Cardiovascular reactivity during social and nonsocial stressors: do children's personal goals and expressive skills matter?

The relationships between social competence and cardiovascular reactivity were evaluated in 180 children (ages 8-17; 52% female; 53% Caucasian). Participants performed a social task (Social Competence Interview [SCI]) and 2 nonsocial tasks while reactivity measures were obtained. Social competence was coded from SCI audiotapes.

Hypertension Intervention Pooling Project.

Data from 12 independently designed and conducted randomized trials of behavioral interventions for hypertension, consisting principally of variants of relaxation and biofeedback therapies, were aggregated to assess current progress of research in this area. Meta-analytical methods revealed a statistically significant decrease in diastolic blood pressure for nonmedicated patients at the end of intervention. No significant improvement was detected in medicated patients, but potential differential effectiveness of prescribed medications and differences in compliance among patients prohibits separation of changes due to behavioral treatments alone.