Psychology

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12503/21696

Browse

Recent Submissions

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Cognitive Bias to Unhealthy Food is Related to Coping and Family History of Anxiety in Adults
    (2017-03-14) Franks, Susan; Tiu, Cindy; Lee, Michelle; Fulda, Kimberly; Mandy, Fanni
    Purpose: Stress has shown an influence on food intake, especially for women who are emotional eaters under stressful conditions and use eating as a coping mechanism. Recent studies have aimed to determine the role of cognitive bias (CB) as a neurocognitive process of selective attention to unhealthy foods. However, food-related CB is not yet well-characterized. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explore relationships between stress (STR), emotional eating (EE), coping (COP), anxiety (ANX), and CB toward unhealthy foods. Additionally, it was hypothesized that CB would differ between men and women and between normal-weight and overweight subjects. Methods: Participants included adult men and women (n = 59) with an average age of 31.38 years (sd = 12.24) and an average BMI of 24.60 kg/m2 (sd = 5.44). Self-report surveys included demographics, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory to measure state ANX, and the Eating and Appraisal Due to Emotions and Stress to measure STR, EE, and COP. A computerized Stroop Task measured response time (RT) to healthy and unhealthy food words as compared to neutral words. CB scores to unhealthy foods were calculated (unhealthy RT–healthy RT), and subjects were categorized into higher or lower CB based on the direction of CB from zero. CB across weight class, gender, and family histories (FH) of obesity and anxiety were analyzed using chi-square tests. EE, STR, COP, and ANX were analyzed between high and low CB with Mann-Whitney U and t-tests. Results: A higher CB to unhealthy food cues was greater among subjects without a FH of anxiety (n = 21, 58.3%) as compared to subjects with a FH of anxiety (n = 7, 33.3%). This difference approached significance (p = .069). COP was significantly lower for a higher CB to unhealthy food cues (mean = 79.68) as compared to a lower CB (mean = 83.97), (p = .031). Other comparisons were non-significant. Conclusions: An inadequate ability to cope with stress may promote a propensity to selectively attend to unhealthy foods. A family history of anxiety may be a moderating factor for developing cognitive bias toward unhealthy foods. This study reiterates the multi-factorial complexity of cognitive bias to food cues and reinforces the need for additional research. Acknowledgments: Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Heart, Lung, And Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R25HL125447 to Dr. J.K. Vishwanatha. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Personal, Psychological, and Family History Risk Factors for Emotional Eating Related to Obesity (2017)
    (2017-03-14) Franks, Susan; Mandy, Fanni; Lee, Michelle; Fulda, Kimberly; Tiu, Cindy
    Background: The concept that emotion strongly influences eating, referred to as “emotional eating” (EE), recently gained considerable interest in research. Previous evidence suggested that overeating by overweight individuals reduces anxiety and drives hyperphagia leading to obesity. The obesity literature indicated EE significantly differentiates obese from normal weight women. However, little is known about what other factors may contribute to EE. This exploratory study aims to better understand personal, psychological, and family history factors that might be associated with EE. Factors explored included gender, weight class, coping (COP), anxiety (ANX), stress (STR), and family histories (FH) of obesity and anxiety. Methods: Participants included adult men and women (n=59) with an average age of 31.38 years (sd=12.24) and an average BMI of 24.60 kg/m2 (sd=5.44). Self-report surveys included demographics, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory to measure state ANX and the Eating and Appraisal Due to Emotions and Stress to measure STR, EE, and COP. Subjects were categorized into high and low EE based on standard error distance from the median. Chi square analyses were used to compare high and low EE with gender, weight class, FH of obesity, and FH of anxiety. T-tests were used to analyze differences between high and low EE for COP and STR. Results: EE was greater among women (n=14, 70.0%) than men (n=3, 21.4%), p=005. EE was greater with a FH of obesity (n=7, 77.8%) as compared to subjects without a FH (n=9, 37.5%), (p=.039). EE was greater among subjects with a FH of anxiety (n=10, 71.4%) as compared to subjects without a FH (n=7, 36.8%), p=.049. Coping was lower for subjects with higher EE (mean=80.00) as compared to subjects with lower EE (mean=84.94), p=.050. Anxiety was higher for subjects with higher EE (mean=36.13) as compared to subjects with lower EE (mean=29.06), p=.027. There were no differences in EE for weight class or recent stress. Conclusions: Women appear to be more at risk for EE than men. EE is also more likely with higher anxiety and poor coping skills. Additionally a FH of obesity or anxiety appears to put individuals at risk for EE. Clinicians should be aware of the factors related to EE in order to identify patients who are at risk and provide targeted interventions in order to prevent obesity and promote weight loss. Acknowledgement: Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Heart, Lung, And Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R25HL125447 to Dr. J.K. Vishwanatha. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Is Alcohol Use Related to Depression in Young Adult Males?
    (2017-03-14) Wier, Amy; Hagen, Michelle; Lorenz, Grace; Hartos, Jessica; Courvoisier, Madeleine
    Introduction: Depression and alcohol use have been linked in previous research, but these studies did not focus on a specific population or gender. The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between depression and alcohol use in young adult males. Methods: This cross-sectional analysis used 2014 BRFSS data for young adult males ages 18-44 from Oregon, Maine, Oklahoma, and West Virginia. Multiple logistic regression analysis assessed the relationship between depression and alcohol use while controlling for age, marital status, employment status, income level, weight status, sleep, and tobacco use. Results: Few young adult male participants reported ever being diagnosed with depression (15-19%) and the majority reported alcohol use in the last 30 days (52-69%). After controlling for social behaviors and demographic factors, depression was not significantly related to alcohol use in any of the four states. However, depression was inversely related to employment status (moderate effect sizes) and income level (large effect sizes) in two out of four and three out of four states, respectively. Conclusions: Overall, alcohol use was not related to depression in general population samples of young adult males. Income level was significantly related to depression in three states and employment status in two states. However, this study was cross-sectional, therefore, provided no history about the participants’ previous use of alcohol or experience with depression over time. Although an association was not determined between depression and alcohol use, it is recommended that primary care practitioners assess for alcohol use in young adult males due to the high prevalence in this population and assess for depression only if there are associated symptoms.