Annals of Behavioral Medicine

Obesity is a major public health problem associated with increased health risks, chronic pain, and decrements in functional health status and subjective well-being. To examine the impact of pain on Health-Related Quality-of-Life (HRQL), 312 consecutive persons seeking medically-supervised weight loss treatment completed a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36), and underwent a series of clinical evaluations. Forty-eight percent of the patients when asked to rate “How much pain have you had in the last four weeks?” reported at least moderate pain in the four weeks prior to treatment. In analyses adjusted for sociodemographic factors, body-mass index (BMI) (kg/m2), and depression, obese patients reporting pain scored significantly lower on all SF-36 domains than those not reporting pain. Findings indicate that the pain itself is independently associated with impaired HRQL in nearly half of obese persons seeking treatment. These data demonstrate that pain is a strong covariate of obesity and, therefore, may need to be considered in the design and development of obesity treatments.

Asian Indians have approximately 3 times the rate of coronary artery disease as do age-matched European Americans, but the increased risk cannot be explained by the presence of known physiological and behavioral risk factors. One previous study suggested that Asian Indians have diminished vasoactive responses to isoproterenol, but no published study has examined responses to psychological stressors. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that the vasomotor response to stress, as indexed by hemodynamic measures, would be exaggerated in Asian Indian men and women, relative to European American individuals. Thirty-seven Asian Indian and 43 European American men and women were tested in a standard reactivity protocol, whereas heart rate, blood pressure, and cardiac impedance measures were assessed. Asian Indian men and women had significantly smaller changes in systolic blood pressure and mean arterial pressure during the stressors, relative to European American men and women. Asian Indian women, but not men, had significantly smaller diastolic blood pressure and total peripheral-resistance index changes to the stressors, relative to the other 3 groups. These data are in contrast to our expectation of decreased tendency of Asian Indians to vasodilate during psychological stress but do suggest that sex and Asian Indian ethnicity interact to influence vascular reactivity to stressors.

To address the complexity of issues surrounding childhood obesity, the Society of Behavioral Medicine identified childhood obesity as a special focus of its 2007 Annual Meeting. The purpose of this paper was to provide a brief summary of the content of these sessions, promising practices that were presented, and recommendations for behavioral medicine research and practice professionals to facilitate reversing the current trends in childhood obesity. A social-ecological perspective was used to discuss views on biological and genetic perspectives, the need for policy and environmental approaches, and the need to expand the types of research and practice being conducted. Recommendations included the need to (1) conduct a broader examination of potential policy, program, and practice strategies across social ecological levels, (2) use team approaches to science that include multiple disciplines and perspectives, (3) expand the methods and metrics used to demonstrate the value of childhood obesity treatment or prevention interventions, (4) use integrated research and practice partnerships, and (5) explicitly assess the potential of intervention strategies to reduce health disparities.

Disclosure of the use of complementary health approaches (CHA) is an important yet understudied health behavior with important implications for patient care. Yet research into disclosure of CHA has been atheoretical and neglected the role of health beliefs. Using a consumer commitment model of CHA use as a guiding conceptual framework, the current study tests the hypotheses that perceived positive CHA outcomes (utilitarian values) and positive CHA beliefs (symbolic values) are associated with disclosure of CHA to conventional care providers in a nationally representative US sample. From a sample of 33,594 with CHA use information from the 2012 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), a subsample of 7348 who used CHA within the past 12 months was analyzed. The 2012 NHIS is a cross-sectional survey of the non-institutionalized US adult population, which includes the most recent nationally representative CHA use data. The 63.2% who disclosed CHA use were older, were less educated, and had visited a health care provider in the past year. Weighted logistic regression analyses controlling for demographic variables revealed that those who disclosed were more likely to report experiencing positive psychological (improved coping and well-being) and physical outcomes (better sleep, improved health) from CHA and hold positive CHA-related beliefs. CHA users who perceive physical and psychological benefits from CHA use and who hold positive attitudes towards CHA are more likely to disclose their CHA use. Findings support the relevance of a consumer commitment perspective for understanding CHA disclosure and suggest CHA disclosure as an important proactive health behavior that warrants further attention.

This study addresses limitations of prior research that have used group comparison designs to test the effects of parental illness on youth. This study examined differences in adjustment between children of a parent with illness and peers from ‘healthy’ families controlling for the effects of whether a parent or non-parent family member is ill, illness type, demographics and caregiving. Based on questionnaire data, groups were derived from a community sample of 2,474 youth (‘healthy’ family, n = 1768; parental illness, n = 336; other family member illness, n = 254; both parental and other family illness, n = 116). The presence of any family member with an illness is associated with greater risk of mental health difficulties for youth relative to peers from healthy families. This risk is elevated if the ill family member is a parent and has mental illness or substance misuse. Serious health problems within a household adversely impact youth adjustment.