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Testing mediating variables in a school-based nutrition intervention program.

This study identified mediators of a school-based nutrition intervention for 4th graders and their parents. Nine variables were tested for satisfying 4 conclusions necessary to establish mediation of intervention effects on changes in fruit and vegetable consumption (FVC) in 4th graders (N = 1,676). FVC was measured in children by the use of 24-hr dietary recalls. Mediators were assessed by the use of questionnaires completed by children and parents. All 4 conclusions were met for positive outcome expectancies. Knowledge, self-efficacy, and parent consumption satisfied the first 3 conclusions for mediation but the mediating effects were not statistically significant (Conclusion 4). Future mediational analyses and the creation of a national database of mediators are crucial for increasing strength and efficiency of school-based nutrition programs.

Child↗

Parental education related to adolescent stress-coping and substance use: development of a mediational model.

This research tested the relation of socioeconomic status (SES), indexed by parental education, to stress-coping variables and substance use in a sample of 1,391 adolescents. Lower education was related to higher level of adolescent substance use, lower levels of protective factors, and higher levels of risk factors. Mediation analyses indicated that the effect of education on adolescent substance use was mediated through relationships to parental support, academic competence, behavioral competence, negative life events, and friends' substance use. Moderation analyses indicated that adolescents from lower education families were more vulnerable to risk factors but also derived more benefit from protective factors. Multiple-group analysis indicated that moderation was attributable to larger paths in the lower education group for negative events and friends' use. Implications for the relation between SES and health risk are discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

S-GMAS: Genome-Wide Mediation Analysis With Brain Subcortical Shape Mediators.

Mediation analysis is widely utilized in neuroscience to investigate the role of brain image phenotypes in the neurological pathways from genetic exposures to clinical outcomes. However, it is still difficult to conduct mediation analyses with whole genome-wide exposures and brain subcortical shape mediators due to several challenges including (i) large-scale genetic exposures, that is, millions of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs); (ii) nonlinear Hilbert space for shape mediators; and (iii) statistical inference on the direct and indirect effects. To tackle these challenges, this paper proposes a genome-wide mediation analysis framework with brain subcortical shape mediators. First, to address the issue caused by the high dimensionality in genetic exposures, a fast genome-wide association analysis is conducted to discover potential genetic variants with significant genetic effects on the clinical outcome. Second, the square-root velocity function representations are extracted from the brain subcortical shapes, which fall in an unconstrained linear Hilbert subspace. Third, to identify the underlying causal pathways from the detected SNPs to the clinical outcome implicitly through the shape mediators, we utilize a shape mediation analysis framework consisting of a shape-on-scalar model and a scalar-on-shape model. Furthermore, the bootstrap resampling approach is adopted to investigate both global and spatial significant mediation effects. Finally, our framework is applied to the corpus callosum shape data from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative.

Humans↗

Domestic violence and alcohol use: trauma-related symptoms and motives for drinking.

Alcohol use is frequently associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), especially in the face of chronic traumatic experiences. However, the relationship between alcohol use and symptoms associated with chronic trauma exposure has not been evaluated. This study examined alcohol use in recently battered women (N=369). Differences were found in trauma symptoms between abstainers, moderate drinkers, and heavy drinkers, with heavy drinkers reporting more severe symptoms. Mediational analyses suggest that the relationship between drinking and trauma symptoms is mediated by drinking to cope, which has not been previously demonstrated in a battered population. Results suggest the importance of assessing trauma symptoms and motives for drinking in understanding alcohol use in recent survivors of domestic violence.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Drug abuse prevention among minority adolescents: posttest and one-year follow-up of a school-based preventive intervention.

Most drug abuse prevention research has been conducted with predominantly White middle-class adolescent populations. The present study tested a school-based drug abuse preventive intervention in a sample of predominantly minority students (N = 3,621) in 29 New York City schools. The prevention program taught drug refusal skills, antidrug norms, personal self-management skills, and general social skills in an effort to provide students with skills and information for resisting drug offers, to decrease motivations to use drugs, and decrease vulnerability to drug use social influences. Results indicated that those who received the program (n = 2,144) reported less smoking, drinking, drunkenness, inhalant use, and polydrug use relative to controls (n = 1,477). The program also had a direct positive effect on several cognitive, attitudinal, and personality variables believed to play a role in adolescent substance use. Mediational analyses showed that prevention effects on some drug use outcomes were mediated in part by risk-taking, behavioral intentions, and peer normative expectations regarding drug use. The findings from this study show that a drug abuse prevention program originally designed for White middle-class adolescent populations is effective in a sample of minority, economically disadvantaged, inner-city adolescents.

Adolescent↗

How did Project Northland reduce alcohol use among young adolescents? Analysis of mediating variables.

Project Northland is a randomized trial designed to create, implement and evaluate multilevel, community-wide strategies to prevent alcohol use among adolescents. This paper will focus on the mediating outcomes of the early adolescent phase of Project Northland when the students in the study cohort were in Grades 6-8. The project was conducted in 24 school districts and adjacent communities in northeastern Minnesota. The intervention consisted of social-behavioral curricula in schools, peer leadership activities, parental involvement and education, and community-wide activities. At the end of 3 years of intervention, significantly fewer students in the intervention school districts reported alcohol use than students in the reference districts. Mediation analyses were conducted to investigate if the intervention's effects on mediating variables could explain the reduction in alcohol use. Important mediators of Project Northland's effect on alcohol use were: (1) peer influence to use, including normative estimates, (2) functional meanings of alcohol use, (3) attitudes and behaviors associated with alcohol and drug problems like stimulus seeking, rule violations and bad judgement, and (4) parent-child alcohol-related communication around alcohol use. In addition, among those who did not use alcohol at baseline, self-efficacy to refuse offers of alcohol was a significant mediator.

Adolescent↗

Coping sense of humor reduces effects of stereotype threat on women's math performance.

Two studies demonstrated that coping sense of humor buffered women against the effects of stereotype threat on math performance. Using a correlational design, Study 1 demonstrated that women low in coping sense of humor assessed their performance on standardized math tests lower than did men and lower than did women high in coping sense of humor. Using an experimental design, Study 2 showed that coping sense of humor was positively related to women's performance on a math test taken under conditions of stereotype threat but not under conditions of no stereotype threat. Mediation analyses suggest that in the stereotype-threat condition, state anxiety mediated the relationship between coping sense of humor and test performance. Women higher in coping sense of humor performed better because they felt less anxiety while taking the test.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Using relationship styles based on attachment theory to improve understanding of specialty choice in medicine.

BACKGROUND: Patient-provider relationships in primary care are characterized by greater continuity and depth than in non-primary care specialties. We hypothesized that relationship styles of medical students based on attachment theory are associated with specialty choice factors and that such factors will mediate the association between relationship style and ultimately matching in a primary care specialty. METHODS: We determined the relationship styles, demographic characteristics and resident specialty match of 106 fourth-year medical students. We assessed the associations between 1) relationship style and specialty choice factors; 2) specialty choice factors and specialty match, and 3) relationship style and specialty match. We also conducted mediation analyses to determine if factors examined in a specialty choice questionnaire mediate the association between relationship style and ultimately matching in a primary care specialty. RESULTS: Prevalence of attachment styles was similar to that found in the general population and other medical school settings with 59% of students rating themselves as having a secure relationship style. Patient centeredness was directly associated, and career rewards inversely associated with matching in a primary care specialty. Students with a self-reliant relationship style were significantly more likely to match in a non-primary care specialty as compared to students with secure relationship style (OR = 5.3, 95% CI 1.8, 15.6). There was full mediation of the association between relationship style and specialty match by the specialty choice factor characterized by patient centeredness. CONCLUSION: Assessing relationship styles based on attachment theory may be a potentially useful way to improve understanding and counsel medical students about specialty choice.

Adult↗

Assessment of problem-solving: a key to successful diabetes self-management.

Problem-solving skill is important for chronic illness self-management. This project prospectively evaluated a measure of diabetes problem-solving skill for its reliability, convergent validity, sensitivity to intervention, and relationship to change in behavior. Postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes (N = 279) participated in a RCT to evaluate a lifestyle modification program. The 9-item Diabetes Problem-Solving Inventory (DPSI) was used to assess how patients cope with challenges to diabetes self-care. The DPSI was found to have good inter-rater reliability and internal consistency for a brief scale, be moderately stable over time, and relate significantly to hypothesized variables. DPSI scores improved significantly more in the lifestyle change condition than in controls and were related to improved outcomes. Mediation analyses indicated that the increase in problem-solving was a partial mediator of outcomes. Results support the reliability, predictive ability, and sensitivity to change of the DPSI. Directions for future research on problem-solving and chronic illness are discussed.

Adult↗

Factors mediating cognitive deficits and psychopathology among siblings of individuals with schizophrenia.

Schizotypal traits and cognitive disturbances are known to be present in first-degree relatives of people with schizophrenia. However, there is little understanding of how these endophenotypes are related to each other. We explored the nature of this relationship in individuals with schizophrenia, their full siblings, community controls, and their siblings. All participants were assessed in the domains of working memory, attention, episodic memory, and executive function, as well as in their level of positive, negative, and disorganization symptoms. Schizophrenia probands were significantly impaired on all cognitive domains, as compared with the other 3 groups, and displayed the highest levels of positive, negative, and disorganization symptoms. Proband siblings performed significantly worse than controls on tasks of working memory, episodic memory, and executive function, and they displayed significantly more positive and negative symptoms as compared with controls. Poorer task performance across all 4 cognitive domains was most strongly correlated with increased negative symptoms. Mediation analyses revealed that working memory, episodic memory, and executive function deficits partially mediated increases in negative symptoms among proband siblings. Negative symptoms fully mediated deficits in working memory and episodic memory but only partially mediated deficits in executive function. Results suggest that there is a complex relationship between cognitive and clinical factors in this high-risk population.

Adult↗

Sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and incident depression: an exploratory multi-omics analysis of candidate biological mediators.

BACKGROUND: Depression is a leading cause of mental and physical disability globally, with its onset and progression influenced by a complex interplay of dietary, psychological, and biological factors. Recent research suggests a link between sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption and depression risk, although the potential biological pathways underlying this association remain poorly understood. METHODS: This study utilized data from 192,045 participants in the UK Biobank to examine the prospective association between SSB consumption and incident depression using Cox proportional hazards models. SSBs were defined as the sum of five beverage categories assessed via the Oxford WebQ 24-hour dietary recall. Directional consistency of the association was further examined across three external supporting datasets encompassing diverse populations: NHANES, YRBSS, and the Lianyungang Municipal School Health and Risk Factor Surveillance Study Dataset. We further investigated whether proteins, metabolites, inflammatory markers, and brain imaging phenotypes may serve as candidate mediators statistically consistent with mediation of the SSB-depression association. RESULTS: High SSB consumption was associated with an 18% higher risk of incident depression compared with non-consumers (HR = 1.18; 95% CI: 1.11-1.25), with consistent directional associations observed across external supporting datasets. A plasma proteomic signature comprising 229 proteins was constructed using elastic net regularization and was associated with an increased risk of incident depression. Exploratory mediation analyses identified 72 proteins, 36 metabolites, and 5 inflammatory markers as candidate mediators, with IL1RN showing the strongest protein-level candidate mediating effect (9.6%), and Unsaturation and neutrophil count showing the strongest metabolite- and inflammatory marker-level effects, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides preliminary evidence that proteins, metabolites, and inflammatory markers may serve as candidate mediators statistically consistent with mediation of the association between SSB consumption and incident depression. These findings are exploratory and hypothesis-generating, and future experimental studies are needed to validate these candidate pathways and assess their potential as targets for dietary interventions in depression prevention.

Humans↗

The mediating effect of eating self-efficacy on the relationship between emotional arousal and overeating in the treatment-seeking obese.

In this study, we tested the proposition that the emotion-based eating of obese individuals is mediated by the effects of emotional arousal tendencies on brittle dieting self-restraint. Our indices of emotion-aroused eating, overeating, and brittle restraint were derived from a set of measures administered to 632 female and 254 male participants in a residential weight control and lifestyle change program. Mediation analyses indicated that (a) the relationship between positive emotion and overeating was entirely mediated by restraint tendencies and (b) the relationship between negative emotion eating and overeating was only partially mediated by brittle restraint. These findings held for both males and females. The results are discussed in relation to the viability of the psychosomatic hypothesis for understanding the relationship between emotions and overeating.

Journal Article↗

Regulatory control and adults' stress-related responses to daily life events.

In this study, the authors examined the relations of regulatory control to adults' daily stress-related responses. A physiological index of regulatory control (vagal tone) and daily reports of stress and coping were obtained from 92 college students. The results of the study generally confirmed the prediction that individuals who are high in regulatory control were relatively unlikely to experience high levels of negative emotional arousal in response to stressors, but this relation held only for moderate- to high-intensity stressors. Moreover, under conditions of moderate to high stress, highly regulated individuals were likely to cope constructively with the stressor. Mediational analyses suggested that the relation of regulatory control to constructive coping was partially mediated by negative emotional arousal. The results support the conclusion that individual differences in regulatory control interact with situational factors in influencing the prediction of stress-related responses.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

On being happy and mistaken: mood effects on the fundamental attribution error.

Does temporary mood influence the occurrence of the fundamental attribution error (FAE)? Based on recent affect-cognition theorizing and research on attributions, 3 experiments predicted and found that negative moods decrease and positive moods increase the FAE, because of the information-processing consequences of these affective states. In Experiment 1, happy mood enhanced and sad mood reduced dispositional attributions based on coerced essays advocating unpopular opinions. Experiment 2 replicated this effect using an unobtrusive mood induction in a field study. Experiment 3 further confirmed these results and also showed that changes in the FAE were linked to mood-induced differences in processing style, as indicated by memory data and confirmed by mediational analyses. The results are discussed in terms of the cognitive processing strategies that mediate mood effects on attributions. The implications of the findings for everyday inferences and for contemporary theories of affect and cognition are considered.

Affect↗

Family income and its relation to preschool children's adjustment for families in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care.

The current study examines relations of mean-level estimates, linear changes, and instability in income and family processes to child outcomes and addresses whether income, through its impact on family functioning, matters more for children living in poverty. Temporal changes and instability in family processes, but not income, predicted children's adjustment. Cross-sectional mediational analyses indicated that for families living at the poverty threshold, family processes fully mediated the effect of average income over the study period on social behavior but only partially mediated its effect on cognitive-linguistic development. The strength of these associations diminished as average income exceeded the poverty threshold. That is, income had a greater impact on the family functioning and development of poor children than of nonpoor children.

Child Behavior Disorders↗

Mediating social anxiety and disordered eating: the role of expressive suppression.

Social anxiety and disordered eating frequently overlap, and evidence suggests that emotional suppression may be an important mediating factor. The present study examines the relationships among social anxiety, emotional suppression, and disordered eating in a non-clinical sample of 160 undergraduate women. Participants completed self-report measures for social anxiety, disordered eating, expressive suppression, depression, and negative affect. Results from mediation analyses indicate that the relationship between social anxiety and disordered eating is fully mediated by expressive suppression. Findings are consistent with a displacement theory in which unexpressed negative affect is shifted towards the body, thereby promoting symptoms of disordered eating.

Adult↗

A comparison of the psychosocial functioning of children with drug-versus alcohol-dependent fathers.

The present study compared the psychosocial functioning of children whose fathers primarily abused illicit drugs other than alcohol (n = 51 ) to children from a demographically matched sample of families whose fathers abused alcohol (n = 51). Children with drug-abusing (DA) fathers exhibited significantly more negative child behaviors on a standardized child-rating scale than did children from homes with alcohol-abusing fathers. In addition, a significantly greater proportion of children with DA fathers met clinical cutoffs indicative of psychosocial impairment (n = 23: 45%) than did children whose fathers abused alcohol (n = 5; 10%). Mediation analyses indicated that severity of drug, legal, medical, employment, and family problems partially mediated the relationship between type of family (i.e., families with fathers who had an alcohol problem versus families with fathers who had a drug problem) and children's psychosocial adjustment.

Adolescent↗

Managing life through personal goals: intergoal facilitation and intensity of goal pursuit in younger and older adulthood.

Two studies varying in design (cross-sectional and longitudinal) and methods (questionnaires, diaries, and objective information) support the notion that personal goals are among the phenomena that show positive development throughout adulthood: Older adults (M = 64 years) reported more mutual facilitation among their personal goals and were more engaged in goal pursuit than were younger adults (M = 25 years). Results were robust when age-group differences in education and disposable time were controlled for, and they also emerged in a context where younger and older participants had one goal in common, namely, to start regular physical exercise. Mediational analyses showed that the older adults' higher intensity of goal pursuit was partly mediated by their higher level of intergoal facilitation.

Adult↗