Psychosocial Stress and Cardiovascular Risk: What is the Role of Daily Experience?

We describe an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) protocol designed to measure daily life experiences along several psychosocial dimensions (Social Conflict, Task Demand, Decisional Control, Negative Affect, and Arousal) hypothesized to be relevant for cardiovascular disease risk. In a large community sample, these assessments have been administered in conjunction with ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) monitoring and measures of subclinical cardiovascular disease. Several results have emerged that support the promise of this approach. First of all, each of these dimensions of experience appears to be a trigger for cardiovascular activation, with movement on each scale being associated with significant within-person changes in heart rate and blood pressure in the natural environment. Second, there appear to be individual differences in physiological responsiveness to these dimensions of daily experience, with such differences being associated in some cases with laboratory-based assessments of cardiovascular reactivity, as might be expected. Third, EMA ratings are associated in several instances with (between-person) stable individual differences in ABP readings. And finally, we have found that some of the characteristics defined by our EMA ratings are related to measures of subclinical atherosclerosis. Such effects appear to be mediated, in part, by ABP. The advantages of using EMA measures for capturing the effects of psychosocial stressors are highlighted by comparing the predictive validity of these daily life assessments to traditional global self-reports. We conclude by describing future plans for use of this type of assessment protocol for helping us to characterize psychosocial characteristics relevant to cardiovascular disease risk. Personality and social processes during daily living may have an important impact not only on psychological functioning but also on physical health and disease. In this article we review our recent work involving the assessment of daily experience as a means of better understanding the role of psychosocial stress in cardiovascular disease risk. First, we outline the rationale for our interest in daily experience sampling for examining these processes, and we describe the methods we have adopted for this purpose. Next, we review findings from a recent study in which we have used these approaches to examine the role of psychosocial stress on ABP and atherosclerosis in a community-dwelling sample. We compare our approach to more traditional (global self-report and laboratory-observation) methods for examining these relationships in humans, and we discuss potential future directions for use of daily experience sampling in studies of health and behavior.     

Activation of adenosine receptors in the posterior cingulate cortex impairs memory retrieval in the rat

Adenosine A1 and A2A receptor agonists and antagonists have been reported to alter learning and memory. The aim of our study was to investigate the involvement of adenosinergic system in memory retrieval into posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) of Wistar rats. To clarify this question, we tested specifics agonist and antagonists of adenosine A1 and A2A receptors in rats submitted to a one-trial inhibitory avoidance task. The stimulation of adenosine A1 and A2A receptors by CPA and CGS21680, respectively, impaired memory retrieval for inhibitory avoidance task, into PCC. These findings provide behavioral evidence for the role of adenosinergic system in the memory retrieval into PCC.     

Peritraumatic dissociation and experiential avoidance as predictors of posttraumatic stress symptomatology

This study examined whether peritraumatic dissociation serves as a proxy risk factor for experiential avoidance in its relationship with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology. One hundred eighty-five trauma survivors completed measures that assessed for peritraumatic dissociation, experiential avoidance, and PTSD symptom severity. The results indicated that peritraumatic dissociation and experiential avoidance were significantly related to PTSD symptomatology at baseline. However, after initial levels of PTSD symptomatology were taken into account, only experiential avoidance was related to PTSD symptoms both 4- and 8-weeks later. These results indicate that peritraumatic dissociation is not a proxy risk factor for experiential avoidance and contributes to the growing body of literature indicating that experiential avoidance is an important factor related to the psychological symptoms experienced by trauma survivors.     

Aging and medical adherence: the use of automatic processes to achieve effortful things

This research examined whether forming detailed implementation plans for achieving a goal improved older adults' adherence to a health behavior. Nondiabetic participants (N = 31) rehearsed, deliberated, or formed implementation intentions to perform home blood glucose monitoring, 4 times daily for 3 weeks. The implementation group performed tests nearly 50% more often than the 2 comparison groups. Results were not attributable to a priori differences in intentions to perform testing. Findings indicate that implementation intentions can facilitate older adults' performance of important medical self-care tasks in naturalistic settings over sustained periods of time and concur with previous research that implicates automatic cognitive processes that do not show age-related decline. These results support the utility of this technique for improving adherence to health behaviors in clinical populations.     

Five year research update (1996-2000): evaluations for competence to stand trial (adjudicative competence)

This article reviews and evaluates publications during 1996-2000 with relevance for assessments of competence to stand trial (also known as adjudicative competence). The review focuses specifically on articles that provide new concepts or data supported by research or case analyses. The studies are reviewed under the following headings: (i) the systemic context of evaluations of adjudicative competence (AC); (ii) conceptual guidelines for AC evaluations; (iii) research on AC assessment methods; (iv) empirical correlates of AC judgments and psycholegal abilities; (v) quality of AC evaluations and reports; (vi) interpretation of AC evaluation data; (vii) issues in AC assessment of special populations (e.g., juveniles, persons with mental retardation, and women); and (viii) treatment to restore competence. Suggestions are offered for further research to advance the quality of clinical evaluations of adjudicative competence.     

Defensive zeal and the uncertain self: what makes you so sure?

In Studies 1-3, undergraduates with high self-esteem (HSEs) reacted to personal uncertainty-threats with compensatory conviction about unrelated issues and aspects of the self. In Study 1 HSEs reacted to salience of personal dilemmas with increased implicit conviction about self-definition. In Study 2 they reacted to the same uncertainty-threat with increased explicit conviction about social issues. In Study 3, HSEs (particularly defensive HSEs, i.e., with low implicit self-esteem; C. H. Jordan, S. J. Spencer, & M. P. Zanna, 2003) reacted to uncertainty about a personal relationship with compensatory conviction about social issues. For HSEs in Study 4, expressing convictions about social issues decreased subjective salience of dilemma-related uncertainties that were not related to the social issues. Compensatory conviction is viewed as a mode of repression, akin to reaction formation, that helps keep unwanted thoughts out of awareness.     

Hemispheric asymmetries for global and local processing as a function of stimulus exposure duration

The experiments assess the relationship between stimulus exposure duration and hemispheric asymmetries for global and local processing. Six durations (27, 40, 53, 67, 80, and 147 ms) were tested in a selective attention task in which hierarchical letterforms were presented unilaterally to the left or right visual field. The results indicated that left hemisphere-local asymmetries were demonstrated more often than right hemisphere-global asymmetries and that asymmetries were most commonly found in the middle range of durations tested. The pattern of results emphasizes the importance of further study into those conditions under which the predicted asymmetries can be reliably demonstrated in healthy individuals.     

Predicting Acculturation Using Career,Family, and Demographic Variables in a Sample of Mexican American Students

The authors examined the relationship of a set of career variables, family cohesion, and demographic variables with the acculturation level of a sample of 176 Mexican American community college students. Multiple regression analyses using a blocked entry method revealed that only the demographic variables related significantly to acculturation. Based upon the zero order correlations, socioeconomic status would appear to account for most of the variance shared by acculturation and a linear combination of the demographic variables.     

Great Expectations: The Negative Consequences of Falling Short1

The present study shows conditions under which a positive stereotypic belief–Asians are good in mathematics–can have negative consequences. Participants graded a poorly performed mathematical assignment that they believed was the work of an Asian or a White target person. Under no accuracy instructions, participants who spent less time grading (unmotivated participants) assigned fewer points to the Asian than the White target. There was no difference in assignment of points to the Asian or the White target when participants were given accuracy instructions or spent more time grading (motivated participants). The findings suggest that group members may experience negative consequences when they fall short of “great expectations” stemming from a positive stereotypic belief about their group.