Psychological stress and blood glucose regulation in Type I diabetic patients.

Investigated whether psychological stress (PS) predicted blood glucose levels (BGLs), independent of self-management, in 15 Type I diabetic patients. Ss self-monitored daily mean BGLs, PS, diet, exercise, and insulin injections for 8 wks. Considerable individual variability in findings was evident, with PS predicting BGLs in a statistically significant manner in 7 Ss. PS had a significant effect on BGLs independent of the effects of diet, exercise, and insulin administration for the 7 Ss. Discussion focuses on the problems of measuring the key self-management behaviors influencing BGLs and on the possibility that a subgroup of diabetic patients may be BGL stress responders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship between psychological stress and insulin-dependent diabetic blood glucose control: Preliminary investigations.

Evaluated the effect of stress on blood glucose levels in 59 insulin-dependent diabetics (aged 18–78 yrs). In Exp I, there was a significant positive correlation between a hassles scale and hemoglobin A? levels (an index of blood glucose fluctuation). Social supports, Type A behavior, and reported therapeutic compliance neither correlated with hemoglobin A? nor influenced the hassles–hemoglobin A? relationship. In Exp II, 123 Ss generally perceived stress as a potent factor in blood glucose control. However, results suggest that different stressors may have differential effects for different diabetic patients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Abuse, health locus of control, and perceived health among HIV-positive women.

This study of 230 predominantly poor Hispanic and African American women aged 25 to 61 years living with HIV/AIDS in New York City revealed high levels of both sexual (39%) and physical (44%) trauma before the age of 16. Both types of early trauma were correlated with later trauma, and all forms of trauma were significantly associated with current perceived health. In multivariate analyses controlling for relevant covariates, the Powerful Others and Internal Control subscales of the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scales (K. A. Wallston, B. S. Wallston, & R. DeVellis, 1978) acted as independent predictors of perceived health rather than (as hypothesized) mediators of the association between trauma and perceived health. Findings underscore the importance of addressing trauma and perceptions of control over one's physical health in the provision of health services to HIV-positive women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Selective cardiovascular effects of stress and cigarette smoking in young women.

Used a 2?×?2 (smoke/no smoke?×?stress/no stress) factorial design to evaluate the impact of stress and smoking on the cardiovascular responses of 43 female undergraduates and college staff (mean age 20.7 yrs). The stressor was a video game. Results reveal that the combination of stress and cigarette smoking produced blood pressure and heart rate responses that were larger than the additive effects of smoking and stress taken separately. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fear of success and locus of control in young women.

Administered Rotter's Internal-External Control Scale and M. Horner's incomplete story lead designed to evoke achievement anxieties to 108 female undergraduates. The motive to avoid success was significantly positively associated with external control scores. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hardiness, Type A behavior, and the stress–illness relation in working women.

Hardiness has been proposed as a stress-resistance resource in maintaining health. This construct has been shown to act in conjunction with the Type A behavior pattern in affecting illness. In this study, we examined this relation in women (N?=?82) with the use of the Structured Interview and the Jenkins Activity Survey to assess Type A behavior. As expected, there was a strong stress–illness association. However, there were no hardiness main effects nor interactions between stress, Type A behavior, and hardiness. Hardiness was significantly associated with age, education level, and marital status. No differences in hardiness composition were found between high stress/high illness and high stress/low illness groups. Only the Powerlessness scale of hardiness was related to illness. These results are discussed in comparison with other hardiness studies. Particular attention is focused on possible sex differences, and implications for future research are suggested. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Deindividuation, self-awareness, and disinhibition.

Assessed whether lack of self-awareness and conscious planning, group unity, and disinhibited behavior occurred together in deindividuating settings as predicted by E. Diener's (1979) theory of deindividuation. The characteristics and effects of group-induced deindividuation with non-socially-induced non-self-awareness was also compared. The 3 conditions were deindividuated, non-self-aware, and self-aware. After the manipulations, 126 undergraduates chose inhibited vs disinhibited tasks in a supposed "creativity" session, followed by a variety of deindividuation measures. Results reveal that the deindividuation group surpassed the other 2 on the deindividuation factor and on most of the individual measures. For some of the variables, the deindividuation and non-self-aware groups differed significantly, suggesting that deindividuation may not be identical in every respect to lack of self-awareness induced in a non-social way. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of stress on perceived intoxication and the blood alcohol curve in men and women.

To determine the influence of stress on intoxication and blood alcohol concentration (BAC) 60 healthy male and female volunteers were exposed to a cold pressor test, distressing film, or control condition after consuming a moderate dose of alcohol. Two measures of perceived intoxication suggested a sobering effect of acute stressors. In addition, Ss viewing the distressing film showed longer latency to peak BAC than Ss in the control condition. As BAC began to fall, the cold pressor test initially increased rate of alcohol elimination. These stress-induced changes in intoxication and the BAC curve support a biobehavioral model in which stress may increase alcohol use partly because it attenuates alcohol's psychopharmacological impact. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dietary calcium, protein, and phosphorus are related to bone mineral density and content in young women

In aggressive interactions, animals often use a discrete set of signals, while the properties being signalled are likely to be continuous, for example fighting ability or value of victory. Here we investigate a particular model of fighting that allows for conventional signalling of subjective resource value to occur. Perfect signalling and no signalling are not evolutionarily stable strategies (ESSs) in the model. Instead, we find ESSs in which partial information is communicated, with discrete displays signalling a range of values rather than a precise one. The result also indicates that communication should be more precise in conflicts over small resources. Signalling strategies can exist in fighting because of the common interest in avoiding injuries, but communication is likely to be limited because of the fundamental conflict over the resource. Our results reflect a compromise between these two factors. Data allowing for a thorough test of the model are lacking; however, existing data seem consistent with the obtained theoretical results. Copyright 1998 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.     

Blood glucose monitoring by diabetic adolescents: Compliance and metabolic control.

Evaluated a behavioral contract for self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) compliance among diabetic adolescents, using reflectance meters with memory to assess the target behavior. 30 patients were randomized to either meter-alone or meter?+?contract (MPC) conditions; an additional 12 patients served in a conventional-therapy control group. Compliance for the meter-alone group declined sharply during the 16-wk intervention, but remained at or above baseline levels for the MPC group. Despite the large between-group differences in SMBG frequency, both groups showed moderate improvement in measures of diabetic control, suggesting that SMBG frequency had little impact on health status. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Understanding, prediction, and control as moderators of the relationships between perceived stress, satisfaction, and psychological well-being.

This study provides a preliminary test of a model proposed by Sutton and Kahn (1986). In the model, the ability to understand, predict, and control events in the work environment can reduce the potential adverse effects generally associated with certain work conditions. Using a sample of physicians, dentists, and nurses (N?=?206) from a large naval medical hospital, the present study examined the moderating effects of understandable, predictable, and controllable work situations on the relationship between perceived role stress, satisfaction, and psychological well-being. Understanding and control were found to have moderating effects on the relationship between perceived stress and satisfaction. Understanding, prediction, and control were found to have direct relationships with perceived stress, but only control had a significant direct relationship with satisfaction. None of these variables were found to have significant direct relationships with psychological well-being. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social density and perceived control as mediators of crowding stress in high-density residential neighborhoods.

In this study we examined the relation of social density and perceptions of control with stress symptomology in high-density urban environments. We hypothesized that social density and perceived control would account for much of the stress associated with densely populated urban environments. Fifty-seven residents of an urban community participated in this field study. Differences in social density were obtained by comparing residents of blocks with commercial establishments with residents of blocks with no commercial establishments. Questionnaires were used to measure perceived control and neighborhood characteristics including social density. We used a multidimensional stress-measurement strategy that included self-report, behavioral, and biochemical indices. Relative to residents on blocks without stores, residents of blocks with stores reported more crowding, less ability to regulate social interactions, and lower perceptions of control. In addition, they evidenced higher stress levels across domains of measurement, including more somatic and emotional distress and less persistence on a behavioral task, and they showed elevations in urinary catecholamines. Social density and perceived control accounted for a significant amount of the variance in each stress measure. These findings underscore the important role of psychological factors, particularly perceived control, in mediating stress associated with high-density environments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotion communication skills in young, middle-aged, and older women.

We assessed the effectiveness of an emotion induction procedure for the study of emotional communication in adults; we also gathered preliminary age-comparative data on the expressive and receptive capacities of a sample of adult women. Young, middle-aged, and older women (encoders) related emotional experiences following mood induction and then assessed the intensity of their affective experiences. Videotapes of these sessions (facial expressions only) were shown to young, middle-aged, and older female judges (decoders), who rated the encoders for emotional intensity as well as for type of affect being communicated. Validity and reliability issues with respect to the procedure's usefulness are discussed. Decoding accuracy was found to vary with age congruence between encoder and decoder, suggesting a decoding advantage accruing through social contact with like-aged peers. Older decoders did most poorly, but a differential warm-up effect was evident, suggesting that the performance of older subjects might be enhanced with practice. There were also trends suggesting that the affective expressions of older subjects may be harder to decode owing to age-related structural changes in the face. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Smoking expectancies as mediators between dietary restraint and disinhibition and smoking in college women.

Women's beliefs about the appetite and weight control properties of cigarette smoking, dietary restraint and disinhibition, and smoking status were examined. As hypothesized, dietary restraint and disinhibition predicted appetite and weight control expectancies and smoking rate, such that women higher in dietary restraint and disinhibition reported stronger beliefs in the appetite and weight control properties of cigarettes and were more likely to be smoking than those lower in dietary restraint and disinhibition. Consistent with previous research, smoking expectancies for appetite and weight control predicted smoking status and smoking rate. Smoking expectancies for appetite and weight control were found to mediate the relationship between dietary restraint and smoking, and between disinhibition and smoking. This relationship between smoking and dietary constructs should be considered in smoking cessation and dietary interventions with young women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality, personal model beliefs, and self-care in adolescents and young adults with Type 1 diabetes.

This study compared 3 models of association between personality, personal model beliefs, and self-care in a cross-sectional design. These models were as follows: (a) Emotional stability determines self-care indirectly through personal model beliefs, and conscientiousness is a direct predictor of self-care; (b) emotional stability determines self-care indirectly through personal model beliefs, and conscientiousness moderates the association between beliefs and self-care; (c) both emotional stability and conscientiousness determine self-care indirectly through personal model beliefs. Participants (N=358, aged 12-30 years) with Type 1 diabetes completed measures of personality, personal model beliefs, and self-care. Structural equation modeling indicated that Model C was the best fit to the data. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parenting stress, perceived parenting behaviors, and adolescent self-concept in European American families.

This study assesses whether the stresses associated with parenting a child are indirectly related to adolescent self-concept through parenting behaviors. We examined longitudinal associations among mothers' and fathers' parenting stress at age 10, children's perceptions of parenting at age 10, and adolescents' self-concept at age 14 in 120 European American families. Mothers' and fathers' parenting stress was related to children's perceptions of acceptance and psychologically controlling behavior, and psychologically controlling behavior (and lax control for fathers) was related to adolescent self-concept. We further examined which domains of parenting stress and perceived parenting behaviors were associated with adolescents' scholastic competence, social acceptance, physical appearance, and behavioral conduct. Parenting stress was related to specific parenting behaviors, which were, in turn, related to specific domains of self-concept in adolescence. Parenting stress appears to exert its effects on early adolescent self-concept indirectly through perceived parenting behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Life experiences, coping, and weight preoccupation in young adult women.

Relationships among stress, 3 different styles of coping (task-, emotion-, or avoidance-oriented) and weight preoccupation were examined in 206 female college students (aged 19–55 yrs). The relationships among these variables were examined using the Life Experiences Survey (I. G. Sarason et al, 1978), the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (N. S. Endler and J. D. A. Parker, 1999), and the Eating Disorder Inventory (D. M. Garner and M. P. Olmsted, 1984). A hierarchical regression analysis was used to examine whether coping styles and life stress would predict weight preoccupation in this nonclinical sample of university women. Results showed that emotion-oriented coping predicted weight preoccupation regardless of stress. These findings suggest that how one copes with stress is associated with weight preoccupation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Non-invasive continuous glucose monitoring in Type I diabetic patients with optical glucose sensors. Non-Invasive Task Force (NITF)

Glucose intolerance is influenced by body fat mass, as well as muscle fiber composition. To examine the relation between the metabolic profile and muscle morphology in this condition, we performed muscle biopsies and hyperglycemic clamps to determine insulin secretion and clearance, and the insulin effects on glucose disposal and nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA) in 45 glucose intolerant persons (body mass index [BMI], 27.8 +/- 3.0 kg/m2) and 45 normoglycemic controls (BMI, 25.8 +/- 2.7 kg/m2) (P = .001). After adjustment for BMI, glucose-intolerant subjects had lower first-phase insulin release (726 v 954 pmol/L, P = .04). Glucose-intolerant subjects and controls differed in fasting insulin, insulin clearance, and insulin sensitivity to glucose disposal before, but not after, standardizing for BMI. During the clamp, glucose-intolerant subjects had less NEFA suppression and elevated levels of NEFA compared with controls (85% +/- 9% v 90% +/- 6%, P = .02; and 70 +/- 42 micromol/L v 45 +/- 28 micromol/L, P = .01). Glucose-intolerant subjects also had a higher percentage of insulin-insensitive, type 2b muscle fibers, which are not adapted for fat oxidation (7% +/- 9% v 9% +/- 9%, P = .003). BMI was not associated with NEFA suppression or the percentage of type 2b muscle fibers in either group. In conclusion, glucose-intolerant persons have impaired first-phase insulin release, an elevated percentage of type 2b muscle fibers, and increased NEFA availability. Reduced insulin clearance, hyperinsulinemia, and insulin resistance were associated with small increments in BMI.     

Locus of control, self-reported depression, and perceived causes of depression.

Administered Rotter's Internal-External Control Scale, the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale, the Depressive Adjective Checklist, and a questionnaire on the internal vs external causes of depression to 81 undergraduates. Although no significant correlations between the measures of depression and the checklist of perceived causes were found, data indicate a trend for females to hold themselves more responsible for unhappy moods than males. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Childhood maltreatment, perceived stress, and stress-related coping in recently abstinent cocaine dependent adults.

The authors examined associations between a personal history of childhood maltreatment and the perceived stress and stress-coping styles of recently abstinent and treatment-engaged cocaine dependent adults. Fifty men and 41 women at an inpatient treatment and research facility were administered the short form of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (D. P. Bernstein & L. Fink, 1998; D. P. Bernstein et al., 2003), the Perceived Stress Scale (S. Cohen, T. Kamarck, & R. Mermelstein, 1983), and the COPE Questionnaire (C. S. Carver, M. R. Scheier, & J. K. Weintraub, 1989). Simple and multiple linear regression analyses were used to analyze relationships while adjusting for relevant covariates. Findings indicate that overall childhood maltreatment severity was significantly associated with greater perceived stress and greater use of avoidance stress-coping strategies. These findings suggest that having a history of childhood maltreatment may influence how recently abstinent cocaine dependent individuals experience and cope with stress. Stress and stress-coping focused interventions may be particularly indicated for cocaine dependent individuals with histories of childhood maltreatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)