Life Stress and Athletic Injury: Examination of Positive versus Negative Events and Three Moderator Variables

Abstract

A modified version of the Life Experiences Survey (LES) was used to examine the relationship between positive and negative life change and subsequent athletic injury among 104 collegiate varsity football players drawn from two teams. The findings from Team One indicated that players who incurred a significant time-loss injury had experienced greater negative—but not positive—life changes in the previous twelve months than noninjured players. Further, injured players tended to have higher object loss scores than noninjured players. No between-group differences were found for Team Two. Trait anxiety, competitive trait anxiety, and locus of control were examined as possible moderator variables in the life change—injury relationship, and were found to have no significant effects. While partially supporting past research, the findings indicate that more work on the stress—injury relationship is needed before life change measures can contribute to the assessment of athletes' injury potential.     

Psychosocial Stress,Symptoms, and Anxiety of Male and Female Teachers in Greece

Abstract

Psychosocial stress as measured by a Greek adaptation of the Schedule of Recent Experiences (SRE) constructed by Holmes and Rahe was studied in relation to symptoms, manifest anxiety, visits to doctor, and health concerns using 129 male and female Greek elementary school teachers. Psychosocial stress was related to number of symptoms and to level of manifest anxiety only with women. Although no sex differences were found in average psychosocial ratings, males and females reported different stressful life events. Females reported more symptoms than males, and had higher manifest anxiety. Relationships of sex differences to cultural norms are discussed.     

心理社会因素在Ⅱ型糖尿病发生中作用的多因素分析

目的:探讨心理社会因素在人类型糖尿病发生过程中作用及其相互作用。方法:对131名糖耐量低减和91名糖耐量正常者平均追踪18个月,对影响血糖变化和糖尿病发生的心理社会因素及年龄、体重指数进行Logistic回归分析和路径分析。结果:年龄、体重指数、生活事件强度在糖耐量正常和低减转糖尿病过程中均具有显著的作用;在本研究所选择的心理社会因素中,紧张性生活事件对样本血糖变化直接影响效应最大,积极应对方式和社会支持利用度既有一定的直接影响效应,也有一定的间接影响效应。     

Multiple Comorbidities of 21 Psychological Disorders and Relationships With Psychosocial Variables: A Study of the Online Assessment and Diagnostic System Within a Web-Based Population

BackgroundWhile research in the area of e-mental health has received considerable attention over the last decade, there are still many areas that have not been addressed. One such area is the comorbidity of psychological disorders in a Web-based sample using online assessment and diagnostic tools, and the relationships between comorbidities and psychosocial variables.ObjectiveWe aimed to identify comorbidities of psychological disorders of an online sample using an online diagnostic tool. Based on diagnoses made by an automated online assessment and diagnostic system administered to a large group of online participants, multiple comorbidities (co-occurrences) of 21 psychological disorders for males and females were identified. We examined the relationships between dyadic comorbidities of anxiety and depressive disorders and the psychosocial variables sex, age, suicidal ideation, social support, and quality of life.MethodsAn online complex algorithm based on the criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition, Text Revision, was used to assign primary and secondary diagnoses of 21 psychological disorders to 12,665 online participants. The frequency of co-occurrences of psychological disorders for males and females were calculated for all disorders. A series of hierarchical loglinear analyses were performed to examine the relationships between the dyadic comorbidities of depression and various anxiety disorders and the variables suicidal ideation, social support, quality of life, sex, and age.ResultsA 21-by-21 frequency of co-occurrences of psychological disorders matrix revealed the presence of multiple significant dyadic comorbidities for males and females. Also, for those with some of the dyadic depression and the anxiety disorders, the odds for having suicidal ideation, reporting inadequate social support, and poorer quality of life increased for those with two-disorder comorbidity than for those with only one of the same two disorders.ConclusionsComorbidities of several psychological disorders using an online assessment tool within a Web-based population were similar to those found in face-to-face clinics using traditional assessment tools. Results provided support for the transdiagnostic approaches and confirmed the positive relationship between comorbidity and suicidal ideation, the negative relationship between comorbidity and social support, and the negative relationship comorbidity and quality of life.

Trial Registration

Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN121611000704998; http://www.anzctr.org.au/trial_view.aspx?ID=336143 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/618r3wvOG)     

Psychosocial factors and incident asthma hospital admissions in the EPIC-Norfolk cohort study

BACKGROUND: Case series and case-control studies have shown high rates of psychosocial and behavioural risk factors amongst patients admitted to hospital with severe asthma. General population studies have shown associations between psychosocial factors and prevalent asthma but few have investigated incident asthma outcomes. METHODS: Data on psychosocial factors and asthma hospital admissions were available for 20 854 participants, aged 41-80 years, in the Norfolk cohort of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer study. Postal assessments included details of physical functioning, mood disorder history, social adversity and social support. RESULTS: A total of 686 asthma hospital admissions were recorded. Psychosocial factors present at baseline, including current mood disorders, adverse circumstances in childhood, the impact of life events experienced during adulthood and negative perceived support from a close confidant, were associated with increased rates of hospital admission independent of age, sex, indicators of socio-economic status, physical functional health, and obesity. Restricted to those participants who reported lifetime doctor-diagnosed asthma at baseline, the reported impact of adverse life events experienced in adulthood, and both confiding and negative aspects of support quality, were associated with asthma hospital admission. The magnitude of these associations was comparable to those involving indicators of socio-economic status and physical health. CONCLUSIONS: These results show that psychosocial factors are associated with incident asthma hospital admissions and highlight the potential importance of taking account of psychosocial factors, including availability and quality of support networks, in guiding long-term asthma management.     

Influence of Hydration and Electrolyte Supplementation on Incidence and Time to Onset of Exercise-Associated Muscle Cramps

Context: Exercise-associated muscle cramps (EAMCs) are common among physically active individuals and are temporarily disabling; therefore, prevention is of great interest.Objective: To determine the role of hydration and electrolyte supplementation in the prevention of EAMCs.Design: Each subject completed 2 counterbalanced trials in a repeated-measures design.Setting: University of Alabama.Patients or Other Participants: College-aged men (n = 13) with a history of EAMCs.Intervention(s): In each trial, participants performed a calf-fatiguing protocol to induce EAMCs in the calf muscle group. Each trial was performed in a hot environment (dry bulb temperature of 37 degrees C, relative humidity of 60%). In the carbohydrate-electrolyte trial, subjects consumed, at a rate similar to sweat loss, a carbohydrate-electrolyte beverage with sodium chloride added. In the hypohydration trial, subjects were not allowed to consume any fluids.Main Outcome Measure(s): We measured the incidence and time to onset of EAMCs.Results: Nine participants experienced cramps in the carbohydrate-electrolyte trial, compared with 7 in the hypohydration trial. Of the 7 individuals who had EAMCs in both trials, exercise duration before onset was more than doubled in the carbohydrate-electrolyte trial (36.8 +/- 17.3 minutes) compared with the hypohydration trial (14.6 +/- 5.0 minutes, P < .01).Conclusions: Consumption of a carbohydrate-electrolyte beverage before and during exercise in a hot environment may delay the onset of EAMCs, thereby allowing participants to exercise longer. However, it appears that dehydration and electrolyte loss are not the sole causes of EAMCs, because 69% of the subjects experienced EAMCs when they were hydrated and supplemented with electrolytes.     

Analysis of Injury Rates and Treatment Patterns for Time-Loss and Non-Time-Loss Injuries Among Collegiate Student-Athletes

OBJECTIVE: To compare the injury rates for time-loss and non-time-loss injuries among selected intercollegiate athletic programs and to describe the number of treatments associated with these injuries. DESIGN AND SETTING: A volunteer, cross-sectional cohort study of 50 collegiate athletic programs representing the 3 National Collegiate Athletic Association divisions, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, and the National Junior College Athletic Association during the 2000-2002 academic years. SUBJECTS: Individuals listed on the team rosters for the participating institutions and representing the sports associated with the institution's athletic programs. MEASUREMENTS: The athletic training staff and students recorded the injury and treatment data for the participating institutions. The data included information for time-loss and non- time-loss injuries, daily treatments, and daily athlete-exposures. RESULTS: Non-time-loss injury rates were 3.5 (confidence interval = 3.4, 3.6) times the time-loss rate for men and 5.1 (confidence interval = 4.9, 5.2) times the time-loss rate for women. Non-time-loss injuries required more treatments over the course of the year than did time-loss injuries. For men's sports, 22% of the injuries resulted in loss of participation time, with 47% of the treatments associated with these injuries. For women's sports, 16% of the injuries and 34% of the treatments were associated with time-loss injuries. CONCLUSIONS: Throughout the sports medicine year, athletic training staff and students spent more time delivering treatments to athletes who were not missing participation time than to athletes who were missing time. A noteworthy difference in the workforce available to provide health care among the various levels of intercollegiate athletics may contribute to the frequency of injury and treatments reported.     

The Mechanisms of Psychosocial Injury Following Human Rights Violations,Mass Trauma,and Torture

The pervasive negative impact of human rights violations (HRVs) on psychological functioning has been well documented. There is limited research, however, investigating the mechanisms that mediate the link between exposure to HRVs and various mental and behavioral health outcomes. We propose three theory‐ and evidence‐based pathways by which HRVs may lead to psychosocial impairment, namely, disruptions in interpersonal processes, decreased perceptions of control, and the denigration of individual and group identity. We also underscore how the post‐HRV environment moderates each of these pathways, and we describe the implications of the proposed model for clinical practice.     

Behavioral Reactivity to Social and Nonsocial Stimulations: A Multivariate Analysis of Six Inbred Rat Strains

Male rats from six inbred rat strains (Spontaneously Hypertensive Rat, Wistar Kyoto, Brown Norway, Wistar Furth, Fischer 344, and Lewis) have been compared for their behavioral reactivity when placed in several nonsocial (elevated plus-maze, open field) and social (social interaction in aversive and neutral environment, resident–intruder test, chronic social stress) settings. In addition, a factorial analysis was performed to assess how the variables measured in these different tests related to each other. Besides significant strain-related differences in all tests, the factorial analysis showed that, in nonsocial environments, the strains contrasted essentially along two independent behavioral traits, the propensity to approach or avoid an aversive stimulus and general motor activity in novel environments (two indices of emotionality). In the social settings, marked interstrain differences were observed regarding the expression of aggressive behaviors but these differences were not related to the respective levels on the two nonsocial components of reactivity. Furthermore, large genetic differences were observed in variations of body weight induced by a chronic social stressor paradigm. The factorial analysis suggested a lack of relationship between the effect of social stressors on body weight and the measures of emotionality and general activity obtained in the nonsocial tests. Conversely, these variations were influenced by the levels of aggressiveness and sociability. Taken together, these results show (i) that the behavioral variability observed in rats, in social and nonsocial environments, is influenced by genetic factors and (ii) that the behavioral reactivity to social stimulations is a specific feature, dissociable from the levels of the different components of emotionality (approach/avoidance and general activity) as evaluated by the behavioral responses to nonsocial settings.     

Psychosocial Functioning of Children, Adolescents, and Adults Following Hypospadias Surgery: A Comparative Study

Used standardized questionnaires to compare psychosocial functioningof 116 children and adolescents (9 to 18 years) and 73 adults(18 to 38 years) operated on for hypospadias, a congenital penileanomaly, with that of 88 and 50 agematched comparison males,respectively, treated for an inguinal hernia. The relationshipsof coping with penile appearance, subject age, severity of hypospadias,number of operations, age at final surgery, and type of surgicalprocedure with psychosocial functioning were also investigated.Hypospadias patients did not exhibit a poorer psychosocial functioningand no significant relationships of various medical characteristicswith psychosocial functioning could be discerned. Genitallbodyperception of hypospadias patients ages 9 to 18 years correlatedpositively with psychosocial functioning, albeit with low values.These findings are important for psychologists and specialistsin the counseling process of hypospadias patients and theirparents.     

Mechanisms Underlying Sexual Violence Exposure and Psychosocial Sequelae: A Theoretical and Empirical Review

Sexual violence is associated with a range of negative mental health and behavioral sequelae, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, substance abuse/dependence, risky sexual behavior, and interpersonal relationship problems. However, mechanisms underlying these associations are not well understood. Identifying mechanisms that explain linkages between sexual violence and poor outcomes is of paramount importance in determining when and how to intervene to prevent or reduce the magnitude of these outcomes. This review focuses on theories that have been proposed to explain risk of negative outcomes among sexual violence victims, including the development of traumagenic dynamics and emotion dysregulation. We also review promising biological mechanisms that may explain the risk of negative outcomes among sexual violence victims, including studies concerned with epigenetic and neurobiological mechanisms.     

父母低头行为与青少年攻击行为:一个双路径模型

目的:基于一般攻击模型,从认知和情绪双路径的视角考察核心自我评价、社交焦虑在父母低头行为与青少年攻击行为之间的中介作用。方法:以河南省812名中学生为被试,采用父母低头行为量表、核心自我评价量表、儿童社交焦虑量表和线下攻击问卷,以班级为单位进行集体施测。结果:(1)相关分析显示,父母低头行为、青少年社交焦虑、攻击行为两两显著正相关,且均与青少年核心自我评价显著负相关。(2)中介效应检验表明,父母低头行为不仅直接影响青少年攻击行为,还通过认知和情绪的双路径即核心自我评价和社交焦虑的单独中介作用产生间接影响。结论:核心自我评价和社交焦虑在父母低头行为与青少年攻击行为之间起并列中介作用。     

Prevention of Anxiety Psychopathology: A Critical Review of the Empirical Literature

The empirical literature on prevention programs for anxiety psychopathology is reviewed. Programs targeting the prevention of nonspecific anxiety psychopathology as well as specific anxiety disorders are critically evaluated in the context of the Institute of Medicine's conceptualization of universal, selected, and indicated prevention. General conclusions embedded within contemporary models of prevention are discussed in order to outline future directions for the area in terms of methodological and conceptual issues.     

Making the Need Salient and the Benefits Clear: A Commentary on Mental Health Checkups for Children and Adolescents

This commentary addresses issues pertinent to school-based anxiety-targeted mental health checkups for children and adolescents. The commentary discusses (a) avenues toward policy change—how to "make the need salient" and (b) the utility of developing strategies that fit seamlessly into school routines and that have self-sustaining characteristics—how to "make the benefit clear."     

Psychosocial Stress and Cardiovascular Disease: Pathophysiological Links

Abstract

The remarkable decline in cardiovascular disease (CVD) experienced in developed countries over the last 40 years appears to have abated. Currently, many CVD patients continue to show cardiac events despite optimal treatment of traditional risk factors. This evidence suggests that additional interventions, particularly those aimed at nontraditional factors, might be useful for continuing the decline. Psychosocial stress is a newly recognized (nontraditional) risk factor that appears to contribute to all recognized mechanisms underlying cardiac events, specifically, (a) clustering of traditional cardiovascular risk factors, (b) endothelial dysfunction, (c) myocardial ischemia, (d) plaque rupture, (e) thrombosis, and (f) malignant arrhythmias. A better understanding of the behavioral and physiologic associations between psychosocial stress and CVD will assist researchers in identifying effective approaches for reducing or reversing the damaging effects of stress and may lead to further reductions of CVD morbidity and mortality.     

A daily stress inventory: Development,reliability, and validity

This article describes the development of the Daily Stress Inventory, a measure introduced to provide researchers and clinicians with a psychometrically sound self-report instrument for the daily assessment of the sources and individualized impact of relatively minor stressful events. It was designed to assess sources of stress not typically assessed by major life-event scales. Generalizability coefficients indicate that the scale has significant homogeneity and a useful degree of stability. Several studies investigating the concurrent and construct validities suggest that the scale measures the construct commonly referred to as "stress." Implications for uses in theoretical and basic research as well as clinical assessment are discussed.     

Psychosocial adaptation to stoma surgery: A review

During the last decade strong improvements have been made in the medical care of patients with a digestive tract stoma, particularly with regard to nursing skills and to the quality of collecting material for faecal products. Scientific investigation into the psychosocial adjustment of patients after stoma surgery has intensified as well, giving us indications for quality of life. These developments induced a review of the actual state of affairs in psychological issues. After evaluating the results of psychosocial stoma research, it can be concluded that the technical improvements in stoma care during the past decade did not result in a decline in psychosocial problems after stoma surgery. However, there are some serious problems when interpreting the results of studies in this field of investigation. Stoma surgery is not per se solely responsible for the reported psychosocial problems, first, because many conclusions are based on research studies with poor design and, second, because these studies lack a theoretical framework within which the process of psychosocial adjustment has been measured and explained. This review assesses the most current developments and controversies in this field.This study was made possible by the financial support of Glaxo Nederlands, B. V., and Convatec-Squibb, B. V., The Netherlands.     

Perceived Risk and Worry About Prostate Cancer: A Proposed Conceptual Model

Prostate cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer among American men, and worry about the disease has psychological, behavioral, and biological consequences. To better understand prostate cancer-specific worry, the authors tested a model of the interrelationships among family history of prostate cancer, perceived risk of and worry about prostate cancer, and perceived risk of and worry about other diseases. Men who attended prostate cancer-screening appointments at a general urology practice (n = 209) were given a brief anonymous self-report measure. Structural equation modeling (LISREL) results indicated: (1) perceived risk of prostate cancer mediated the relationship between family history of prostate cancer and prostate cancer worry; (2) perceived risk of other diseases increased perceived risk of prostate cancer; and (3) prostate cancer worry and increased other disease worry.     

Facts and Artifacts in Cardiac Cycle Time Analysis: A Simple Model of Vagal Control

Cardiac cycle time effects occur when stimuli or responses presented at different times within the cardiac cycle induce differential changes in the same or following interbeat interval (IBI). Two related problems regarding cardiac cycle time effects are discussed. One problem concerns how to separate anticipatory from stimulus-induced changes in interbeat intervals that occur around the time of presentation of an expected stimulus. The other problem is an anomalous finding in reaction time tasks: prestimulus interbeat intervals are longer when they precede stimuli presented early, rather than late, in the cardiac cycle. These two problems can be understood if some simple assumptions are made about anticipatory and stimulus-induced vagal excitation. If vagal excitation regularly increases prior to an expected event, the anomalous effect of stimulus delay in the cardiac cycle on preceding interbeat intervals can be explained. The presentation of events and IBI times on an ordinal IBI axis induces an inappropriate time shift. Furthermore, estimates of maximal anticipatory deceleration at stimulus onset in the interbeat interval of the stimulus and of subsequent stimulus-induced vagal changes can be inferred. The relevance of this analysis to earlier experimental results is discussed.