The income-happiness nexus: uncovering the importance of social comparison processes in subjective wellbeing.

Introduction: Previous research has established a positive correlation between income and subjective wellbeing (SWB). This correlation is attributed to income's ability to provide material circumstances and influence one's perceived socioeconomic rank in society, known as subjective socioeconomic status (SES).

Objective: This study sought to examine whether social comparison processes could mediate the relationship between income and SWB.

Exploring the relationship between multiple dimensions of subjective socioeconomic status and self-reported physical and mental health: the mediating role of affect.

Introduction: This study aimed to investigate the predictive effects of two types of subjective socioeconomic status on self-reported physical and mental health. Specifically, we examined the MacArthur Scale (MacArthur) which measures perceived socioeconomic rank in the society and a novel scale called ComSim, which assessed how participants compared themselves socioeconomically to others coming from a similar socioeconomic background. We also considered the influence of income, education, and personal relative deprivation (PRD) in these analyses.

Running to get "lost"? Two types of escapism in recreational running and their relations to exercise dependence and subjective well-being.

Escapism is a fundamental motivation in many forms of activity engagements. At its core, is "a habitual diversion of the mind … as an escape from reality or routine". Accordingly, escapism may entail many adaptive and maladaptive psychological antecedents, covariates, and outcomes.

Subjective Socioeconomic Status, Cognitive Abilities, and Personal Control: Associations With Health Behaviours.

Objective: To examine subjective and objective socioeconomic status (SSES and OSES, respectively) as predictors, cognitive abilities as confounders, and personal control perceptions as mediators of health behaviours.

Design: A cross-sectional study including 197 participants aged 30-50 years, recruited from the crowd-working platform, Prolific.

Main Outcome Measure: The Good Health Practices Scale, a 16-item inventory of health behaviours.

Explaining socioeconomic disparities in health behaviours: A review of biopsychological pathways involving stress and inflammation.

The purpose of this article was to explore how individuals' position in a socioeconomic hierarchy is related to health behaviours that are related to socioeconomic disparities in health. We identified research which shows that: (a) low socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with living in harsh environments, (b) harsh environments are related to increased levels of stress and inflammation, (c) stress and inflammation impact neural systems involved in self-control by sensitising the impulsive system and desensitising the reflective system, (d) the effects are inflated valuations of small immediate rewards and deflated valuations of larger delayed rewards, (e) these effects are observed as increased delay discounting, and (f) delay discounting is positively associated with practicing more unhealthy behaviours. The results are discussed within an adaptive evolutionary framework which lays out how the stress response system, and its interaction with the immune system and brain systems for decision-making and behaviours, provides the biopsychological mechanisms and regulatory shifts that make widespread conditional adaptability possible.

Are unpopular children more likely to get sick? Longitudinal links between popularity and infectious diseases in early childhood.

Social stress and inflammatory processes are strong regulators of one another. Considerable evidence shows that social threats trigger inflammatory responses that increase infection susceptibility in both humans and animals, while infectious disease triggers inflammation that in turn regulates social behaviours. However, no previous study has examined whether young children's popularity and their rate of infectious disease are associated.

A web-based intervention trial for depressive symptoms and subjective well-being in patients with chronic HIV infection.

The current study examined the efficacy of a web-based intervention (WBI; Avanti) on symptoms of depression and well-being for patients diagnosed with HIV. A two-armed randomized trial recruited patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART) at an outpatient clinic. Thirty-six patients were allocated to Avanti and 31 patients to a control group.

Fear appeals in advanced tobacco control environments: the impact of a national mass media campaign in Norway.

Norway has one of the most comprehensive infrastructures for tobacco control in the world and has launched several media campaigns recent years. Can yet another anti-smoking campaign, using fear appeal messages, have an immediate impact on smoking behavior, motivation to quit and health beliefs? A sample of smokers (N = 2543) completed a survey before and after a 7-week national media campaign. Individual exposure to campaign (unaided recall) was used as predictor of change.

A longitudinal study of postpartum depressive symptoms: multilevel growth curve analyses of emotion regulation strategies, breastfeeding self-efficacy, and social support.

Postpartum depression is a serious health issue affecting as many as 10-15 % of postpartum women. This longitudinal study aimed to explore how psychological variables such as cognitive emotion regulation strategies, breastfeeding self-efficacy (BSE), and dimensions of social support predicted postpartum depressive symptoms (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale). The data were collected with web-based survey questionnaires between May 2008 and December 2009, in a sample of 737 new mothers.

A qualitative study of depressive symptoms and well-being among first-time mothers.

Background And Aim: Ten to 15% of women experience postpartum depression. First-time mothers are particularly at risk. The present qualitative study aimed to gain insight in terms of why some women find the transition of becoming a mother to be so emotionally taxing that they feel some level of depressed mood, while others feel mostly content after having a baby.

A digital smoking cessation program delivered through internet and cell phone without nicotine replacement (happy ending): randomized controlled trial.

Background: Happy Ending (HE) is an intense 1-year smoking cessation program delivered via the Internet and cell phone. HE consists of more than 400 contacts by email, Web pages, interactive voice response, and short message service technology. HE includes a craving helpline and a relapse prevention system, providing just-in-time therapy.

Happy ending: a randomized controlled trial of a digital multi-media smoking cessation intervention.

Aims: To assess the long-term efficacy of a fully automated digital multi-media smoking cessation intervention.

Design: Two-arm randomized control trial (RCT). Setting World Wide Web (WWW) study based in Norway.

Does socio-economic status and health consciousness influence how women respond to health related messages in media?

During the past few decades, people have been increasingly exposed to health-related messages in the mass media, conveying recommendations for healthy lifestyles. The present study investigates whether these messages represent a stressor, and whether coping responses increase levels of motivation or levels of negative affect. A sample of 403 women aged 45 years were surveyed twice, at an interval of 4 weeks.

Perceived difficulty in the theory of planned behaviour: perceived behavioural control or affective attitude?

A study was conducted to explore (a) the dimensional structure of perceived behavioural control (PBC), (b) the conceptual basis of perceived difficulty items, and (c) how PBC components and instrumental and affective attitudes, respectively, relate to intention and behaviour. The material stemmed from a two-wave study of Norwegian graduate students (N = 227 for the prediction of intention and N = 110 for the prediction of behaviour). Data were analysed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and multiple regression by the application of structural equation modelling (SEM).

Control constructs: Do they mediate the relation between educational attainment and health behaviour?

Health promoting behaviours seem to be more prevalent among people with higher socio-economic status (SES). The main purpose of this article was to study (a) the relationship between education (as a dimension of SES) and intention and health behaviour (fruit/vegetable consumption), (b) the relationship between education and control conceptualizations (health locus of control (HLC), response-efficacy and self-efficacy) and (c) to what extent the relationship between education and intention/health behaviour (fruit/vegetable consumption) was mediated through different control beliefs. The results showed that women with higher education had higher intentions to consume fruit/vegetables and consumed fruit/vegetables more frequently.

Expanding the theory of planned behaviour: the role of social norms and group identification.

The purposes of the study were twofold. First, to explore the predictive power of the descriptive and group norms, when the effect of subjective norm had already been accounted for. Second, to investigate to what extent perceived group norm of a behaviourally relevant reference group would predict the intention to use contraception among those who identified strongly with the relevant reference group.