Health behaviors at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence for indirect effects of subjective social status via psychological distress.

Subjective social status (SSS), the perception of one's social standing compared to others in society, and socioeconomic status (SES) are interconnected but distinct determinants of health. Intermediary factors such as distress and health behaviors can contribute to this relationship. This pre-registered study hypothesized that, in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, nonspecific psychological distress would indirectly link SSS and SES to perceived changes in three health behaviors: sleep quality, physical activity, and alcohol consumption.

Personality Science in the Digital Age: The Promises and Challenges of Psychological Targeting for Personalized Behavior-Change Interventions at Scale.

With the rapidly growing availability of scalable psychological assessments, personality science holds great promise for the scientific study and applied use of customized behavior-change interventions. To facilitate this development, we propose a classification system that divides psychological targeting into two approaches that differ in the process by which interventions are designed: audience-to-content matching or content-to-audience matching. This system is both integrative and generative: It allows us to (a) integrate existing research on personalized interventions from different psychological subdisciplines (e.

A Psychosocial Model of COVID-19 Vaccination: Antecedent and Concurrent Effects of Demographics, Traits, Political Beliefs, Vaccine Intention, Information Sources, Mandates, and Flu Vaccine History.

Background: To date, research investigating psychosocial correlates of COVID-19 vaccination has been cross-sectional, parochial, and/or reliant upon non-stratified international samples, resulting in difficulty in clarifying the contributions of various vaccination-related influences.

Purpose: The present study tested a novel integration of prospective and concurrent associations of demographic and dispositional tendencies, intervening illness and preventive beliefs, vaccine intention, illness experiences, and concurrent contextual vaccine-related influences with subsequent COVID-19 vaccination.

Methods: The preregistered study used a stratified online U.

COVID-19 vaccine intention: Prospective and concurrent tests of a disposition-belief-motivation framework.

Objective: The present study tested a novel integration of prospective and concurrent associations of demographic factors, traits, political orientation, coping strategies, infection and preventive beliefs, preventive behaviors, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) symptoms, exposure, and viral testing with COVID-19 vaccine intention.

Method: The preregistered study used a stratified online U.S.

Spring 2020 COVID-19 Surge: Prospective Relations between Demographic Factors, Personality Traits, Social Cognitions and Guideline Adherence, Mask Wearing, and Symptoms in a U.S. Sample.

Background: To date, much of the research on individual difference correlates of coronavirus guideline adherence is cross-sectional, leaving prospective associations between these factors unaddressed. Additionally, investigations of prospective predictors of mask-wearing, COVID-19 symptoms, and viral testing remain wanting.

Purpose: The present study examined prospective relations between demographic factors, personality traits, social cognitions and guideline adherence, mask-wearing, symptoms, and viral testing in a U.

Demographic, personality, and social cognition correlates of coronavirus guideline adherence in a U.S. sample.

Objective: The present study examined patterns and psychosocial correlates of coronavirus guideline adherence in a U.S. sample (N = 500) during the initial 15-day period advocated by the White House Coronavirus Task Force.

Resting-state functional brain connectivity in a predominantly African-American sample of older adults: exploring links among personality traits, cognitive performance, and the default mode network.

The personality traits of neuroticism, openness, and conscientiousness are relevant factors for cognitive aging outcomes. The present study examined how these traits were associated with cognitive abilities and corresponding resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) of the default mode network (DMN) in an older and predominantly minority sample. A sample of 58 cognitively unimpaired, largely African-American, older adults ( age = 68.

Personality Traits, Coping, Health-related Behaviors, and Cumulative Physiological Health in a National Sample: 10 Year Prospective Effects of Conscientiousness via Perceptions of Activity on Allostatic Load.

Background: Personality traits, coping styles, and health-related behaviors show associations with various aspects of health. However, integrative life-course investigations of pathways by which these factors might affect later cumulative physiological health risk remain sparse.

Purpose: To investigate prospective associations of personality traits via coping styles and health-related behaviors on allostatic load in a national sample.

Lower Trait Stability, Stronger Normative Beliefs, Habitual Phone Use, and Unimpeded Phone Access Predict Distracted College Student Messaging in Social, Academic, and Driving Contexts.

The goal of the present study was to test two models of phone messaging behaviors among college students-a sociocognitive connection model and a cybernetic personality system model-across three contexts, where messaging behaviors represented disengagement from the primary context: a meal time with friends, attending class, and driving. Using a sample of university students ( = 634), path analyses with boot-strapping procedures were used to model direct and indirect effects of behavioral, social cognition, and personality trait predictors of primary context disengagement via message checking, message reading, and message sending behaviors. Internal and comparative model fit information showed the cybernetic personality system model represented the data well across all three contexts.

Testing a brief motivational-interviewing educational commitment module for at-risk college drinkers: A randomized trial.

Background: The goal of the present study was to test the drink and harm reduction effects of a novel educational commitment (EC) module as a complement to a standard brief MI protocol (i.e., the Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students; BASICS, Dimeff, Baer, Kivlahan, & Marlatt, 1999).

Functional independence after acquired brain injury: Prospective effects of health self-efficacy and cognitive impairment.

Objective: To examine how health self-efficacy and cognitive impairment severity relate to functional independence after acquired brain injury (ABI).

Design: Observational.

Setting: Outpatient rehabilitation hospital.

Decisions to Attend and Drink at Party Events: The Effects of Incentives and Disincentives and Lifetime Alcohol and Antisocial Problems.

Background: Alcohol use disorders are associated with patterns of impulsive/risky decision making on behavioral economic decision tasks, but little is known about the factors affecting drinking-related decisions.

Methods: The effects of incentives and disincentives to attend and drink at hypothetical alcohol-related party events as a function of lifetime (LT) alcohol and antisocial problems were examined in a sample of 434 young adults who varied widely in LT alcohol and antisocial problems.

Results: Moderate and high disincentives substantially discouraged decisions to attend the party events and were associated with decisions to drink less at the party events.

Social Media Membership, Browsing, and Profile Updating in a Representative U.S. Sample: Independent and Interdependent Effects of Big Five Traits and Aging and Social Factors.

Guided by cybernetic perspectives on personality, the present work used a representative sample of U.S. adults ( = 992) to examine Big Five personality traits and social and aging factors as predictors of social media network membership and past-month browsing/searching and profile updating among members.

School Investment, Drinking Motives, and High-Risk, High-Reward Partying Decisions Mediate the Relationship Between Trait Self-Control and Alcohol Consumption Among College Drinkers.

Objective: Research has shown trait self-control, neuroticism, and coping and enhancement drinking motives to be predictors of alcohol consumption among college students. Recent research also provides evidence for the effects of role investment and role-based alcohol consumption-decision making (i.e.

Testing Theory of Planned Behavior and Neo-Socioanalytic Theory models of trait activity, industriousness, exercise social cognitions, exercise intentions, and physical activity in a representative U.S. sample.

Prior research identified assorted relations between trait and social cognition models of personality and engagement in physical activity. Using a representative U.S.

Activity mediates conscientiousness' relationship to diurnal cortisol slope in a national sample.

Objective: The present study explored pathways from the personality traits of neuroticism and conscientiousness through health-related behaviors to diurnal patterns of the stress hormone cortisol using data from a large national study.

Method: Using prospective data from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS II) study and the National Study of Daily Experiences (NSDE II, a MIDUS substudy), hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) and Monte Carlo estimation for multilevel model mediation were used to test direct and indirect effects (via general activity level, moderate and vigorous physical activity, lifetime history of regular smoking, and alcohol consumption) of neuroticism and conscientiousness on cortisol at wakeup, diurnal cortisol slope, and cortisol awakening response (N = 960).

Results: Initial HLM models showed greater levels of conscientiousness were associated with steeper (i.

Reliable gains? Evidence for substantially underpowered designs in studies of working memory training transfer to fluid intelligence.

In recent years, cognitive scientists and commercial interests (e.g., Fit Brains, Lumosity) have focused research attention and financial resources on cognitive tasks, especially working memory tasks, to explore and exploit possible transfer effects to general cognitive abilities, such as fluid intelligence.

Openness, neuroticism, conscientiousness, and family health and aging concerns interact in the prediction of health-related Internet searches in a representative U.S. sample.

Recent estimates suggest 60% of the U.S. adult population uses the Internet to find health-related information.

A Year in the College Life: Evidence for the Social Investment Hypothesis via Trait Self-Control and Alcohol Consumption.

The present study examined 12-month prospective relations among trait self-control, subjective role investment, and alcohol consumption in a sample of university students (N = 129). Using neo-socioanalytic theory and the social investment hypothesis as guiding frameworks, it was expected that greater initial role investment would predict greater self-control and less alcohol consumption at follow-up. Path analyses showed higher initial levels of subjective college student role investment predicted greater subsequent self-control and lower drinking amounts, controlling for initial standing on self-control and alcohol consumption.

The case for conscientiousness: evidence and implications for a personality trait marker of health and longevity.

Purpose: Recent initiatives by major funding agencies have emphasized translational and personalized approaches (e.g., genetic testing) to health research and health management.

Decisions during negatively-framed messages yield smaller risk-aversion-related brain activation in substance-dependent individuals.

A sizable segment of addiction research investigates the effects of persuasive message appeals on risky and deleterious behaviors. However, to date, little research has examined how various forms of message framing and corresponding behavioral choices might by mediated by risk-related brain regions. Using event-related functional MRI, we investigated brain regions hypothesized to mediate the influence of message appeals on decision making in substance-dependent (SD) compared with nonsubstance-dependent (non-SD) individuals.

Decision making in the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART): anterior cingulate cortex signals loss aversion but not the infrequency of risky choices.

The inferior frontal gyrus/anterior insula (IFG/AI) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) are key regions involved in risk appraisal during decision making, but accounts of how these regions contribute to decision making under risk remain contested. To help clarify the roles of these and other related regions, we used a modified version of the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (Lejuez et al., Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 8, 75-84, 2002) to distinguish between decision-making and feedback-related processes when participants decided to pursue a gain as the probability of loss increased parametrically.