Effects of aging in Masters swimmers: 40-year review and suggestions for optimal health benefits.

The Masters Swimming Program is over 40 years old and has achieved international status, with thousands of participants competing in five-year age categories between 18 and 99. Early studies of Masters swimmers by age groups found an increase in times for most events of about 1% per year, and later studies showed a significant correlation with the age-associated decline in maximal oxygen uptake. As larger sample sizes have become available, the age-related decline in performance among national champion Masters swimmers, both men and women, and for both short and longer swims, has been shown to be linear at about 0.

Life meaning: an important correlate of health in the Hungarian population.

One of the 5 coping scales in Rahe's Brief Stress and Coping Inventory, entitled Life Meaning, was examined in relation to demographic characteristics, other coping measures, and health status in a sample of 12,640 Hungarian participants. Participants were selected to represent the country's population according to sex, age, and place of residence. The study also explored the contribution of life meaning to the explanation of variations of middle-aged (45-64 years) male and female mortality rates across 150 subregions in Hungary.

A novel stress and coping workplace program reduces illness and healthcare utilization.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine if a novel workplace stress management program, delivered either face-to-face or by self-help, would reduce illness and health services utilization among participants.

Methods: Five hundred one volunteers were randomly allocated to one of three groups: full intervention, which received assessment and personalized self-study feedback and was offered six face-to-face, small-group sessions; partial intervention, a self-help group that received assessment and personalized feedback by mail; and a wait-list control group. All participants completed questionnaires for stress, anxiety, and coping at the start of the study and 6 and 12 months later.

Development of a "Type C" inventory: cross-cultural applications.

The authors are preparing for cross-cultural studies of immunosuppressive behaviors and emotions, commonly called "Type C," in both healthy persons and in patients with cancer. To this end, validity and reliability of a Type C Personality Inventory were assessed in a sample of 128 healthy volunteers. Reliability of the instrument was supported by moderate to high Cronbach alpha coefficients.

Sympathetic activity in alexithymics with mother's low care.

This study examines the relationships between alexithymic characteristics and their psychological factors (i.e., maternal closeness) and the sympathetic system in a sample of male college students.

Life changes scaling for the 1990s.

Three decades ago, results from a proportionate scaling study of life change events was published in this journal. The events, listed by rank order of their mean life change values, comprised the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS). Ten years later, 42 of the 43 original events were rescaled.

Sleep characteristics of Japanese working men who score alexithymic on the Toronto Alexithymia Scale.

This study examined the relationship of sleep characteristics including insomnia with scores on alexithymia in a sample of 171 Japanese working men. Levels of nonrestorative sleep and daytime sleepiness reported on a sleep questionnaire were significantly associated with scores on Depression and Confusion on the Profile of Mood States for Japanese men who had a high mean score on the Toronto Alexithymia Scale.

Mothers' low care in the development of alexithymia: a preliminary study in Japanese college students.

We examined the influences of perceived parental bonding on scores on alexithymia in a sample of 232 college students. Ratings on mothers' care, a scale of the Parental Bonding Inventory were significantly and negatively correlated with scores on the Toronto Alexithymia Scale, and also with ratings on Difficulty Describing Feelings but not Difficulty Identifying Feelings and Externally Oriented Thinking. These results were replicated in another sample of 156 college students.

Relationship of alexithymia and poor social support to ulcerative changes on gastrofiberscopy.

The effects of psychosocial factors on peptic ulceration and/or erosions were examined in a sample of 189 volunteers. Analysis of variance found that the severity of gastrofiberscopic findings was related to two psychosocial factors-poor social support and degree of alexithymia- and that both psychosocial factors were significantly correlated with one another. Analysis of covariance indicated that gastrofiberscopic findings remained significantly related to poor social support when alexithymia was controlled for.

Are abnormal gastrofiberscopic findings related to hostility with poor social support or to negative responses to stress?

Recent studies have highlighted physiological effects of emotional stress presumably leading to gastrointestinal disease. This study examined the effects of stress (hostility) and coping (social support and negative responses to stress) on asymptomatic gastric diseases. We investigated whether gastrofiberscopic findings were related to stress and coping in 269 volunteers without gastrointestinal complaints.

Severity of alexithymia is related to psychosocial factors in patients with peritoneal dialysis.

We examined the relationship between alexithymia and psychosocial factors in 72 peritoneal dialysis patients. The 72 patients had significantly higher scores on alexithymia and anxiety than did 73 healthy volunteers. The alexithymia scores were significantly and positively correlated with anxiety scores, suggesting that alexithymia may be related to anxiety derived from the stress associated with dialysis therapy.

Validity and reliability of the Japanese version of the Stress and Coping Inventory.

We examined the validity and reliability of the Japanese version of the Stress and Coping Inventory (SCI) among 170 Japanese college students and 234 healthy subjects. The validity and reliability of this version of the SCI in the college student group were supported by significant test-retest correlations, relatively high internal consistency coefficients, and adequate correlations with the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS). AS for the healthy subject group, the reliability was supported by relatively high internal consistency coefficients, although further analyses, such as test-retest, are required.

Alexithymia and coping with stress in healthy persons: alexithymia as a personality trait is associated with low social support and poor responses to stress.

We examined the relationship between alexithymia and coping with stress among 179 Japanese healthy volunteers. Two correlational analyses indicated that persons scored as alexithymic were more likely to indicate lower social support and poorer responses to stress. Multiple regression analysis also indicated that these lowered coping responses were fully explained by alexithymia scores.

Acute versus chronic post-traumatic stress disorder.

A photographic lens and filter model is presented which outlines six steps between a person's perception of stressful life events and their possible eventual development of an illness. Persons developing acute post-traumatic stress disorder differ markedly in their processing of early steps in the model compared to those who go on to suffer from chronic post-traumatic stress disorder. Persons with the acute disorder, with high likelihood of recovery, generally have had enriching early life experiences, use psychological defenses to a moderate degree, and demonstrate ample coping capabilities.

Van Gogh and the life chart.

Adolf Meyer originally devised the life chart in order to chronologically document a person's major life events and significant illness experiences over his or her life span. It is the purpose of this report to update Meyer's life chart through the presentation of the life events and illnesses of the famous artist Vincent Van Gogh. Van Gogh's life illustrates significant early (predisposing) life stresses, as well as clusterings of stressful (precipitating) life events occurring proximal to the occurrence of his several illnesses.

Using family life drawings in medical student education.

A life drawing technique was used to educate third-year medical students in a diagnostic and therapeutic approach to young children. Students were asked to produce their own early family life drawings. A sample of 48 drawings were collected.

Recent life change and large bowel cancer. Data from the Melbourne Colorectal Cancer Study.

In a large, population based, epidemiological study of colorectal cancer, The Melbourne Colorectal Cancer Study, several etiological factors were investigated. Persons' recent life changes, as well as the degree of upset they experienced as a result of these changes, were included. Interviews with 715 histologically confirmed new cases of colorectal cancer occurring over a 12-month period in Melbourne, Australia, and with 727 age and sex matched community controls were conducted.

Psychosocial stressors and adjustment disorder: van Gogh's life chart illustrates stress and disease.

The life of Vincent van Gogh is illustrative of the natural history of psychosocial stressors and their relationship to a person's states of health and disease. In the author's opinion, there is a lack of such understanding in the current, established criteria for psychosocial stressors in the diagnosis of adjustment disorder. By use of a life chart, which chronologically documents a person's major life events and concomitant health status over his or her life span, a fuller understanding can be reached regarding why an individual becomes ill at a particular time.

Life change, stress responsivity, and captivity research.

One purpose of a presidential address is to allow the speaker to identify seminal studies in their area of research which are generally unknown and likely were published before the advent of computerized searches of the scientific literature. Particularly in life change research, many important papers are obscurely placed and because of their early dates of origin are out of the computer's reach. Therefore, for this talk I will present some of this formative, but cloistered, material.

Psychological and physiological assessments on American hostages freed from captivity in Iran.

Medical evaluations of 52 Americans held hostage in Iran for 444 days included psychological testing and physiological measurements. Psychological testing utilized the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and the 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire (16-PF) and focused on the stress management capabilities of the group upon their arrival at Wiesbaden, West Germany. Physiological testing utilized plasma and urinary cortisol along with plasma and urinary catecholamine levels to help document former hostages' stress responses following their release from captivity.

Anxiety and coronary heart disease in midlife.

The effects of anxiety on cardiovascular functioning are primarily beneficial. A well-known relationship exists between anxiety and performance. Up to a certain level, the higher the anxiety, the better the performance.

Anxiety and physical illness.

The subjective experience of anxiety frequently signals a person's unfulfilled attempts to manage recent environmental or internal challenges. The consequences of stress-related anxiety can be found in most of the body systems: cardiovascular disorders, gastrointestinal ailments, problems with the reproductive system, dermatologic disorders, and autoimmune disturbances--all have been shown to be greatly influenced by anxiety. In addition, studies of hostages and prisoners of war indicate that a person's reactions to extreme stress are predictive of his or her future physical and mental health.