Alschuler, K. N., Hoodin, F., Murphy, S. L., & Geisser, M. E. (2011). Ambulatory monitoring as a measure of disability in chronic low back pain populations. The Clinical Journal of Pain, 27, 707-715.
Purpose: The link between chronic back pain and disability is well established. Despite this, the literature also reflects an inconsistency in methods of assessing disability, as studies interchangeably use self-report measures, clinical tests, and electronic monitoring. The purpose of this study was to conduct a multimethod comparison of disability measures to identify similarities and differences in the constructs measured by each. Method: Twenty chronic back pain patients participated in a clinic visit to complete questionnaires and clinical tests, followed by 5 days of wearing a wrist-worn electronic ambulatory monitoring device to measure activity. Results: Multiple regression analyses were conducted to identify the significant predictors of each disability assessment. Results showed that operant variables were predictive of physical activity, cognitive-behavioral variables were predictive of perceived disability, and no variables were predictive of physical ability. Discussion: The results indicate substantial differences in the types of variables that predict disability when measured through 3 different methods. This is suggestive of differences in the constructs measured by each type of disability assessment. The implications for researchers who assess predictors of disability and clinicians who use disability measures in their assessment of patients are that the measures of disability they select should be carefully matched to the proposed purposes. Strong theoretical and practical considerations support using electronic ambulatory monitoring in future research and clinical service.
Armey, M. F., Crowther, J. H., & Miller, I. W. (2011). Changes in Ecological Momentary Assessment reported affect associated with episodes of nonsuicidal self-injury. Behavior Therapy, 42, 579-588.
Although emotion regulation deficits have been frequently implicated in the incidence of nonsuicidal self-injurious behavior (NSSI), no research to date has examined in vivo change of affect associated with real-world NSSI behavior. The present study employed Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) to assess change in affect associated with episodes of experienced NSSI in a sample of 36 college students with a self-reported history of NSSI. Results indicated that individuals who reported NSSI behavior over the course of the study experienced increases in negative affect prior to an episode of NSSI that peaked during the episode and faded gradually in the hours following the episode, with affect change roughly approximating a quadratic curve. These changes in affect were detected only at times in which individuals engaged in NSSI and were absent for individuals who did not report NSSI over the course of the study. Moreover, changes in negative affect associated with NSSI were, on average, detectable hours prior to the NSSI event. These findings suggest that episodes of NSSI may be predicted through a careful examination of affect change long before actual NSSI behavior occurs.
Asaka, Y. & Takada, S. (2011). Comparing sleep measures of infants derived from parental reports in sleep diaries and acceleration sensors. Acta Paediatrica, 100, 1158-1163.
Aim: Comparing sleep measures of infants derived from two data collection methods, acceleration sensors and sleep diaries, and identify the clinical application for each data collection method. Methods: The participants were 52 pairs of infants and mothers. Infant sleep measures were obtained through the actigraphs (Micro-mini RC, Ambulatory Monitoring Inc., Ardsley, NY, USA) and sleep diaries for over a period of 7 days. Results: The results showed that the concordance in sleep measures derived from two methods showed decreases in the following order: sleep offset time [r = 0.91 (p = 0.00)], sleep onset time r = 0.89 (p = 0.00), nocturnal sleep duration [r = 0.75 (p = 0.00)], the number of night wakings [r = 0.46 (p < 0.01)] and WASO [r = 0.34 (p < 0.05)]. It was revealed that the accuracy of sleep diary records was affected by the sleeping place and varied throughout the study period. Conclusion: It was confirmed that the sleep measures indicating sleep schedule reported from the sleep diaries had high concordances compared with the data from the actigraphs. Using the sleep diary was recommended to understand behaviours when focusing on infant-s daily rhythms. In terms of accuracy and stability of recording throughout the study period, understanding sleep quality and independence of sleeping places, the choice of actigraph was recommended.
Basterfield, L., Adamson, A. J., Frary, J. K., Parkinson, K. N., Pearce, M. S., & Reilly, J. J. (2011). Longitudinal study of physical activity and sedentary behavior in children. Pediatrics, 127, e24-e30.
Objective: Physical activity is thought to decline during childhood, but the extent of the decline is unknown. We made objective measures of 2-year changes in physical activity and sedentary behavior in English children who participated in the Gateshead Millennium Study to explore the nature, timing, and extent of changes in physical activity and sedentary behavior before adolescence. Methods: We conducted a longitudinal study of 405 children (207 girls), aged 7 years, in 2006/2007 and again 24 months later. Physical activity and sedentary behavior were measured with the Actigraph GT1M accelerometer. Data were analyzed in 2010. Changes in total volume of physical activity (accelerometer counts per minute [cpm]), moderate-to-vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA), and sedentary behavior were quantified. Factors associated with changes in physical activity and sedentary behavior were tested by using linear regression. Tracking of physical activity and sedentary behavior over the 2-year period was assessed by rank-order correlation. Results: Mean daily volume of physical activity declined by 83 cpm (interquartile range [IQR]: -189 to 31) over 2 years; the percentage of daily time spent in MVPA was low at baseline and declined by 0.3% (IQR: -1.4 to 0.9). The percentage of daily time in sedentary behavior was high at baseline and increased from 78.0% to 81.1% of the day (change 3.1% [IQR: -0.3 to 6.0]). The decline in MVPA and increase in sedentary behavior were significantly greater in girls and in those with higher BMI z scores at baseline. Physical activity and sedentary behavior showed moderate tracking over the 2-year period. Conclusions: We report here new evidence of low and declining levels of physical activity and MVPA and increasing sedentary behavior before adolescence.
Bentall, R. P., Myin-Germeys, I., Smith, A., Knowles, R., Jones, S. H., Smith, T. et al. (2011). Hypomanic personality, stability of self-esteem and response styles to negative mood. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 18, 397-410.
Objectives: This paper aims to study dysfunctional self-schematic processes, abnormal coping styles, over-responsiveness to reward stimuli (indicative of an over-sensitive behavioural activation system) and stability of self-esteem in relation to subclinical hypomania. Design: Three cross-sectional studies were conducted on selected students on the basis of their scores on the Hypomanic Personality Scale (HPS) (study 1) and on elevated HPS and Dysfunctional Attitude Scale scores (studies 2 and 3). Methods: In studies 1 and 2, participants completed questionnaires and kept a self-esteem diary for 6 days. In study 3, the experience sampling method was used to assess momentary self-esteem, emotion and use of different coping styles over a 6-day period. Results: Study 1 demonstrated that hypomanic traits are associated with high fluctuations in self-esteem. In study 2, high scores on both the HPS and the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale, but not the HPS alone, were associated with bipolar spectrum symptoms. These participants showed more evidence of alcohol and substance abuse, greater self-esteem fluctuation and dysfunctional coping styles (rumination and risk-taking) compared with controls. Changes in self-esteem were related to the use of these strategies. Conclusions: Vulnerability to bipolar disorder is associated with a combination of depression-related and reward-related processes.
Berkman, E. T. (2011). Smoking cessation from the brain to the real world: An fMRI-experience sampling study. ProQuest Information & Learning, US.
Three studies investigated the neural, affective, and cognitive processes of real-world goal pursuit in the context of cigarette smoking cessation. Thirty-one smokers (15 female) with the intention to quit completed a three-phase protocol. Before quitting, participants completed a novel neurocognitive task that assessed neural and behavioral markers of goal representation, progress monitoring, and response inhibition, and also provided physiological measures of smoking at baseline. Next, during their cessation attempt, participants completed a twenty-one day experience sampling phase in which they recorded cravings, mood, and smoking behavior, eight times throughout the waking day. Finally, approximately four weeks after their quit date, participants returned to the lab for a re-assessment of self-reported and physiological measures of smoking. All studies reported here are based on data from these phases. Study 1 investigated the neural mechanisms associated with three core components of goal pursuit-goal representation, progress monitoring, and response inhibition-individually and as they interacted with one another and with time. Though these components are frequently studied in isolation, they have never been examined as they co-occur with one another. We replicated previous findings regarding the neural bases of each of the components, and identified for the first time several regions sensitive to the interaction among components including the supramarginal gyrus and the presupplementary motor area/dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. We also found that several additional regions were recruited to support sustained (compared to transient) engagement of goal pursuit including parts of the superior parietal lobe and superior temporal gyrus. Study 2 investigated within-day fluctuations in mood, craving, and smoking in a sample of smokers throughout the first three weeks of a cessation attempt in order to better understand the relationships among these variables across time. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) analyses indicated that smoking and cravings declined linearly throughout the first three weeks, though mood remained stable. Further, there was a positive within-day association between negative mood and subsequent smoking which was mediated by craving concurrent with the negative mood. This mediation pattern is consistent with an associative-learning account of the mood-to-smoking link such that, among smokers, negative mood is related to craving which is in turn related to smoking. In the absence of craving, negative mood does not directly relate to smoking. Study 3 investigated whether neural activity during response inhibition within the fMRI scanner related to reductions in smoking four weeks later and to daily experiences during the cessation attempt. In a first, more global analysis, we found that activation in the basal ganglia during the response inhibition task at baseline predicted change across four weeks in total cigarette consumption as measured by exhaled carbon monoxide. In a second, more specific analysis, we found that activation in a priori regions of interest in the right inferior frontal gyrus, presupplementary motor area, and basal ganglia separately related to an attenuated within-day association between cravings at one time point and smoking at the following time point.
Bresin, K., Fetterman, A. K., & Robinson, M. D. (2011). Motor control accuracy: A consequential probe of individual differences in emotion regulation. Emotion.
Two studies (total N = 147) sought to model emotion-regulation processes in cognitive-motoric terms. Hostile or nonhostile thoughts were primed and, immediately following, individuals held a joystick as accurately as possible on a presented visual target. Study 1 revealed that the activation of hostile thoughts impaired motor control at low levels of agreeableness but facilitated motor control at high levels of agreeableness, consistent with emotion-regulation views of this trait. Study 2 did not assess the trait of agreeableness but rather sought to determine whether better motor control following activated hostile thoughts would predict lesser reactivity to stressors in an experience-sampling protocol. It did, and relevant results are reported for daily anger, negative affect, and positive affect. In addition, and consistent with the agreeableness findings of Study 1, better motor control that follows hostile thoughts predicted greater empathy on high-stress days. Motor control probes of the present type thus appear consequential in understanding emotion-regulation processes and successes in emotion regulation.
Brown, D. E., Sievert, L. L., Morrison, L. A., Rahberg, N., & Reza, A. (2011). Relationship between hot flashes and ambulatory blood pressure: The Hilo Women’s Health Study. Psychosomatic Medicine, 73, 166-172.
Objectives: To examine ambulatory blood pressure (BP) differences between women who report hot flashes (HFs) and those who do not, and to observe whether an objectively measured HF is associated with transient changes in BP. HFs have been associated with elevated BP, but studies have not examined the relationship between objectively measured HFs and blood pressure during normal daily activities. Methods: A sample of 202 women in Hilo, Hawaii, aged 45 to 55 years, were asked to fill out a questionnaire that included demographic information and an inventory of symptoms. The women underwent simultaneous 24-hour monitoring of ambulatory BP and HFs, at the same time keeping a diary that included mood and HF reports. Results: No significant difference was present in mean BP between women who reported having an HF during the last 2 weeks and those who did not. When measurements controlled for negative mood reports and posture, there was a highly significant elevation in Z scores of systolic BP when a measured, objective HF occurred within 10 minutes before a BP reading, and a significant elevation of Z scores of diastolic BP when a subjectively reported HF occurred within 10 minutes after a BP reading. Conclusions: These results suggest that objectively measured HFs precede transient elevations of systolic BP, but it is unclear if there is a causal relationship. These results also suggest that women experience subjective HFs within 10 minutes after a transient increase in diastolic BP. Again, the causal relationship is not understood.
Bukara-Radujkovic, G., Zdravkovic, D., & Lakic, S. (2011). Short-term use of continuous glucose monitoring system adds to glycemic control in young type 1 diabetes mellitus patients in the long run: a clinical trial. Vojnosanit.Pregl., 68, 650-654.
BACKGROUND/AIM: Balancing strict glycemic control with setting realistic goals for each individual child and family can optimize growth, ensure normal pubertal development and emotional maturation, and control long term complications in children with type 1 diabetes (T1DM). The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of short-term continuous glucose monitoring system (CGMS) application in improvement of glycemic control in pediatric type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) patients. METHODS. A total of 80 pediatric T1DM patients were randomly assigned into the experimental and the control group. The experimental group wore CGMS sensor for 72 hours at the beginning of the study. Self-monitored blood glucose (SMBG) levels and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels were obtained for both groups at baseline, and at 3 and 6 months. RESULTS. There was a significant improvement in HbA1c (p < 0.001), in both the experimental and the control group, without a significant difference between the groups. Nevertheless, after 6 months the improvement of mean glycemia was noticed only in the experimental group. This finding was accompanied with a decrease in the number of hyperglycemic events and no increase in the number of hypoglycemic events in the experimental group. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that the CGMS can be considered as a valuable tool in treating pediatric T1DM patients, however further research is needed to more accurately estimate to what extent, if any, it outperforms intensive self-monitoring of blood glucose
Byun, W., Dowda, M., & Pate, R. R. (2011). Correlates of objectively measured sedentary behavior in US preschool children. Pediatrics, 128, 937-945.
OBJECTIVE: To identify correlates of objectively measured sedentary behavior in a diverse sample of preschool children. METHODS: A total of 331 children (51% male, 51% black) from a wide range of ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds in greater Columbia, South Carolina, were recruited for this study. Sedentary behavior (minutes/hour) was measured by using ActiGraph accelerometers (<37.5 counts per 15 seconds) over a 2-week period. All potential correlates except for anthropometric data of children were measured by a parent survey. Correlation and regression analyses were conducted to examine associations between 29 potential correlates across multiple domains (demographic, biological, psychosocial, behavioral, and physical environmental) and sedentary behavior measured by accelerometry in preschool children. RESULTS: Girls spent more time in sedentary behavior than boys (33.2 vs 32.4 minutes/hour; P = .05). Six and 8 potential correlates were found to be significant in univariate analyses for boys and girls, respectively. In the gender-specific final model, for boys, a child’s weekday TV/video games and physical activity equipment in the home were significant correlates of sedentary behavior (R(2) = 0.091). For girls, BMI z score and child’s athletic coordination were significantly associated with sedentary behavior (R(2) = 0.069). CONCLUSION: Several factors were identified as correlates of objectively measured sedentary behavior in American preschool children. However, there were no common correlates that influenced sedentary behavior for both boys and girls. Future interventions for reducing sedentary behavior could target correlates identified in this study
Cerin, E., Barnett, A., Sit, C. H., Cheung, M. C., Lee, L. C., Ho, S. Y. et al. (2011). Measuring walking within and outside the neighborhood in Chinese elders: reliability and validity. BMC.Public Health, 11, 851.
BACKGROUND: Walking is a preferred, prevalent and recommended activity for aging populations and is influenced by the neighborhood built environment. To study this influence it is necessary to differentiate whether walking occurs within or outside of the neighborhood. The Neighborhood Physical Activity Questionnaire (NPAQ) collects information on setting-specific physical activity, including walking, inside and outside one’s neighborhood. While the NPAQ has shown to be a reliable measure in adults, its reliability in older adults is unknown. Additionally its validity and the influence of type of neighborhood on reliability and validity have yet to be explored. METHODS: The NPAQ walking component was adapted for Chinese speaking elders (NWQ-CS). Ninety-six Chinese elders, stratified by social economic status and neighborhood walkability, wore an accelerometer and completed a log of walks for 7 days. Following the collection of valid data the NWQ-CS was interviewer-administered. Fourteen to 20 days (average of 17 days) later the NWQ-CS was re-administered. Test-retest reliability and validity of the NWQ-CS were assessed. RESULTS: Reliability and validity estimates did not differ with type of neighborhood. NWQ-CS measures of walking showed moderate to excellent reliability. Reliability was generally higher for estimates of weekly frequency than minutes of walking. Total weekly minutes of walking were moderately related to all accelerometry measures. Moderate-to-strong associations were found between the NWQ-CS and log-of-walks variables. The NWQ-CS yielded statistically significantly lower mean values of total walking, weekly minutes of walking for transportation and weekly frequency of walking for transportation outside the neighborhood than the log-of-walks. CONCLUSIONS: The NWQ-CS showed measurement invariance across types of neighborhoods. It is a valid measure of walking for recreation and frequency of walking for transport. However, it may systematically underestimate the duration of walking for transport in samples that engage in high levels of this type of walking
Chandra, S., Scharf, D., & Shiffman, S. (2011). Within-day temporal patterns of smoking, withdrawal symptoms, and craving. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 117, 118-125.
We examined the temporal relationships between smoking frequency and craving and withdrawal. 351 heavy smokers (GëÑ15 cigarettes per day) used ecological momentary assessment and electronic diaries to track smoking, craving, negative affect, arousal, restlessness, and attention disturbance in real time over 16 days. The waking day was divided into 8 2-h GÇ£binsGÇØ during which cigarette counts and mean levels of craving and withdrawal were computed. Cross-sectional analyses showed no association between restlessness and smoking, and arousal and smoking, but craving (b = 0.65, p < 0.01) was positively associated, and negative affect (b = GêÆ0.20, p < 0.01), and attention disturbance (b = GêÆ0.24, p < 0.01) were inversely associated with smoking. In prospective lagged analyses, higher craving predicted more subsequent smoking and higher smoking predicted lower craving (p’s < 0.01). Higher restlessness also predicted more subsequent smoking and higher smoking predicted lower restlessness (p’s < 0.01). Higher negative affect did not predict later smoking, but more smoking preceded lower negative affect (p < 0.01). Neither attention disturbance nor arousal predicted, or were predicted by variations in smoking. In short, smoking exhibits time-lagged, reciprocal relationships with craving and restlessness, and a one-way predictive relationship with negative affect. Temporal patterns of craving and restlessness may aid in the design of smoking cessation interventions.
Chang, K. M. & Liu, S. H. (2011). Wireless portable electrocardiogram and a tri-axis accelerometer implementation and application on sleep activity monitoring. Telemedicine and e-Health, 17, 177-184.
Night-to-night variability of sleep activity requires more home-based portable sleep monitoring instead of clinical polysomnography examination in the laboratory. In this article, a wireless sleep activity monitoring system is described. The system is light and small for the user. Sleep postures, such as supine or left/right side, were observed by a signal from a tri-axis accelerometer. An overnight electrocardiogram was also recorded with a single lead. Using an MSP430 as microcontroller, both physiological signals were transmitted by a Bluetooth chip. A Labview-based interface demonstrated the recorded signal and sleep posture. Three nights of sleep recordings were used to examine night-to-night variability. The proposed system can record overnight heart rate. Results show that sleep posture and posture change can be precisely detected via tri-axis accelerometer information. There is no significant difference within subject data sets, but there are statistically significant differences among subjects, both for heart rate and for sleep posture distribution. The wireless transmission range is also sufficient for home-based users.
Collip, D., van Winkel, R., Peerbooms, O., Lataster, T., Thewissen, V., Lardinois, M. et al. (2011). COMT Val158MetGÇôstress interaction in psychosis: Role of background psychosis risk. CNS Neuroscience & Therapeutics, 17, 612-619.
BACKGROUND: The interplay between the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) Val158Met polymorphism and environmental stress may have etiological relevance for psychosis, but differential effects have been reported in healthy control and patient groups, suggesting that COMT Val158Met interactions with stress may be conditional on background genetic risk for psychotic disorder. METHODS: Patients with a nonaffective psychotic disorder (n = 86) and control participants (n = 109) were studied with the experience sampling method (a structured diary technique) in order to assess stress, negative affect and momentary psychotic symptoms in the flow of daily life. RESULTS: Multilevel analyses revealed significant three-way interactions between group status (patient or control), COMT genotype and stress in the model of negative affect (X(2)(2) = 13.26, P < 0.01) as well as in the model of momentary psychotic symptoms (X(2)(2) = 6.92, P < 0.05). Exploration of the three-way interaction revealed that in patients, COMT genotype moderated the association between stress and negative affect (X(2)(4) = 11.50, P < 0.005), as well as the association between stress and momentary psychosis (X(2)(4) = 12.79, P < 0.005). Met/Met genotype patients showed significantly increased psychotic and affective reactivity to stress in comparison to the Val/Met and Val/Val genotypes. In contrast, healthy controls did not display large or significant COMT Val158Met X stress interactions. CONCLUSIONS: Important differences exist in the effect of COMT Val158Met on stress reactivity, which may depend on background risk for psychotic disorder. Differential sensitivity to environmental stress occasioned by COMT Val158Met may be contingent on higher order interactions with genetic variation underlying psychotic disorder.
Cousins, J. C., Whalen, D. J., Dahl, R. E., Forbes, E. E., Olino, T. M., Ryan, N. D. et al. (2011). The bidirectional association between daytime affect and nighttime sleep in youth with anxiety and depression. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 36, 969-979.
Objective: This study examines relationships between affect and sleep in youth with affective disorders using ecological momentary assessment (EMA). Methods: Participants included 94 youth, ages 8-16 (M = 11.73, 53% female) years with an anxiety disorder only (n = 23), primary major depressive disorder (with and without a secondary anxiety diagnoses; n = 42), and healthy controls (n = 29). A cell phone EMA protocol assessed affect and actigraphy measured sleep. Results: The patterns of bidirectional relationships between affect and sleep differed across diagnostic groups. Higher daytime positive affect and positive to negative affect ratios were associated with more time in bed during the subsequent night for youth with primary depression and less time in bed for youth with anxiety only. More time asleep was associated with more positive affect for both diagnostic groups the following day. Conclusions: This relationship may be important to consider in the treatment of youth affective disorders.
Engelbert, M. & Carruthers, P. (2011). Descriptive experience sampling: What is it good for? Journal of Consciousness Studies, 18, 130-149.
Comments on the book Describing inner experience? Proponent meets skeptic by Russell T. Hurlburt and Eric Schwitzgebel (see record 2007-14525-000). We defend the reliability of Hurlburt-s Descriptive Experience Sampling method against some of Schwitzgebel-s attacks. But we agree with Schwitzgebel that the method could be used much more widely than it has been, helping to answer questions about the nature and structure of consciousness in addition to cataloguing the latter-s contents. We sketch a number of potential lines of further enquiry.
Entringer, S., Buss, C., Andersen, J., Chicz-DeMet, A., & Wadhwa, P. D. (2011). Ecological momentary assessment of maternal cortisol profiles over a multiple-day period predicts the length of human gestation. Psychosomatic Medicine, 73, 469-474.
Objective: Biobehavioral models of prenatal stress highlight the importance of the stress-related hormone cortisol. However, the association between maternal cortisol levels and the length of human gestation requires further investigation because most previous studies have relied on one-time cortisol measures assessed at varying gestational ages. This study assessed whether ecological momentary assessment (EMA) of cortisol sampling improves the ability to predict the length of human gestation. In addition, associations between EMA-based measures of psychological state (negative affect) with cortisol levels during pregnancy were assessed. Methods: For a 4-day period, 25 healthy pregnant women (mean gestational age at assessment = 23.4 [standard deviation = 9.1] weeks) collected seven salivary samples per day for the assessment of cortisol and provided a rating of negative affect every waking hour using an electronic diary. Results: Higher salivary cortisol concentrations at awakening and throughout the day (p = .001), as well as a flatter cortisol response to awakening (p = .005), were associated with shorter length of gestation. Women who delivered an infant at 36 weeks of gestations had 13% higher salivary cortisol levels at awakening than women who delivered an infant at 41 weeks of gestation. The EMA-based measure of negative affect was associated with higher cortisol throughout the day (p = .006) but not to gestational length (p = .641). The one-time measure of cortisol was not associated with length of gestation, and traditional retrospective recall measures of negative affect were not associated with cortisol. Conclusions: Our findings support the ecological validity of repeated ambulatory assessments of cortisol in pregnancy and their ability to improve the prediction of adverse birth outcomes.
Evering, R. M. H., Tönis, T. M., & Vollenbroek-Hutten, M. M. R. (2011). Deviations in daily physical activity patterns in patients with the chronic fatigue syndrome: A case control study. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 71, 129-135.
Objectives: Deviations in daily physical activity patterns may play an important role in the development and maintenance of fatigue in the chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). The aim of this study is to gain insight into the objective daily physical activity pattern of patients with CFS in comparison with healthy controls. The secondary objective is studying the awareness in performing physical activities. Methods: The objective daily physical activity pattern was measured with a tri-axial accelerometer in 35 patients with CFS and in 35 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. The objective daily physical activity level and distribution of physical activities at low, medium and high intensity levels during the day were measured. Moreover, variability in performing physical activities within and between subjects was computed. Subjective ratings of self-reported daily physical activity levels were assessed at a visual analog scale. Results: CFS patients were significantly less physically active in the afternoon and evening, and spent fewer activities at high intensity levels and more at low intensity levels. Moreover, CFS patients showed more variability in their own physical activity pattern during the afternoon. The heterogeneity in the physical activity pattern between subjects within the CFS and control group did not differ. Finally, CFS patients were more aware about their daily physical activity level than healthy controls. Conclusion: CFS patients showed deviations in the objectively measured daily physical activity pattern. Future research should elucidate the relation between impaired balances in daily physical activity patterns and fatigue severity in CFS.
Ewart, C. K., Elder, G. J., & Smyth, J. M. (2011). How Implicit Motives and Everyday Self-Regulatory Abilities Shape Cardiovascular Risk in Youth. Ann Behav Med.
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Tested hypotheses from social action theory that (a) implicit and explicit measures of agonistic (social control) motives and transcendence (self-control) motives differentially predict cardiovascular risk; and (b) implicit motives interact with everyday self-regulation behaviors to magnify risk. METHODS: Implicit/explicit agonistic/transcendence motives were assessed in a multi-ethnic sample of 64 high school students with the Social Competence Interview (SCI). Everyday self-regulation was assessed with teacher ratings of internalizing, externalizing, and self-control behaviors. Ambulatory blood pressure and daily activities were measured over 48 h. RESULTS: Study hypotheses were supported: implicit goals predicted blood pressure levels but explicit self-reported coping goals did not; self-regulation indices did not predict blood pressure directly but interacted with implicit agonistic/transcendence motives to identify individuals at greatest risk (all p </= 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Assessment of implicit motives by SCI, and everyday self-regulation by teachers may improve identification of youth at risk for cardiovascular disease
Foley, L. S., Maddison, R., Jiang, Y., Olds, T., & Ridley, K. (2011). It’s not just the television: survey analysis of sedentary behaviour in New Zealand young people. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act, 8, 132.
BACKGROUND: Sedentary behaviour has been linked with adverse health outcomes in young people; however, the nature and context of being sedentary is poorly understood. Accurate quantification and description of sedentary behaviour using population-level data is required. The aim of this research was to describe sedentary behaviour among New Zealand (NZ) youth and examine whether sedentary behaviour differs by Body Mass Index (BMI) status in this population. METHODS: A national representative cross-sectional survey of young people aged 5-24 years (n = 2,503) was conducted in 2008-2009. Data from this survey, which included subjectively (recall diary; n = 1,309) and objectively (accelerometry; n = 960) measured sedentary behaviour for participants aged 10-18 years were analysed using survey weighted methods. RESULTS: Participants self-reported spending on average 521 minutes per day (standard error [SE] 5.29) in total sedentary behaviour, 181 minutes per day (SE 3.91) in screen-based sedentary activities (e.g., television and video games), and 340 minutes per day (SE 5.22) in other non-screen sedentary behaviours (e.g., school, passive transport and self-care). Accelerometer-measured total sedentary behaviour was on average 420 minutes per day (SE 4.26), or 53% (SE 0.42%) of monitored time. There were no statistically significant differences in time spent in sedentary behaviour among overweight, obese and healthy/underweight young people. CONCLUSIONS: Both subjective and objective methods indicate that NZ youth spend much of their waking time being sedentary. No relationships were found between sedentary behaviour and BMI status. These findings extend previous research by describing engagement in specific sedentary activities, as well as quantifying the behaviour using an objective method. Differences in what aspects of sedentary behaviour the two methods are capturing are discussed. This research highlights the potential for future interventions to target specific sedentary behaviours or demographic groups
Gietzelt, M., Schnabel, S., Wolf, K. H., Busching, F., Song, B., Rust, S. et al. (2011). A method to align the coordinate system of accelerometers to the axes of a human body: The depitch algorithm. Comput.Methods Programs Biomed..
One of the key problems in accelerometry based gait analyses is that it may not be possible to attach an accelerometer to the lower trunk so that its axes are perfectly aligned to the axes of the subject. In this paper we will present an algorithm that was designed to virtually align the axes of the accelerometer to the axes of the subject during walking sections. This algorithm is based on a physically reasonable approach and built for measurements in unsupervised settings, where the test persons are applying the sensors by themselves. For evaluation purposes we conducted a study with 6 healthy subjects and measured their gait with a manually aligned and a skewed accelerometer attached to the subject’s lower trunk. After applying the algorithm the intra-axis correlation of both sensors was on average 0.89+/-0.1 with a mean absolute error of 0.05g. We concluded that the algorithm was able to adjust the skewed sensor node virtually to the coordinate system of the subject
Granholm, E., Ben-Zeev, D., Link, P. C., Bradshaw, K. R., & Holden, J. L. (2011). Mobile Assessment and Treatment for Schizophrenia (MATS): A Pilot Trial of An Interactive Text-Messaging Intervention for Medication Adherence, Socialization, and Auditory Hallucinations. Schizophr.Bull..
Mobile Assessment and Treatment for Schizophrenia (MATS) employs ambulatory monitoring methods and cognitive behavioral therapy interventions to assess and improve outcomes in consumers with schizophrenia through mobile phone text messaging. Three MATS interventions were developed to target medication adherence, socialization, and auditory hallucinations. Participants received up to 840 text messages over a 12-week intervention period. Fifty-five consumers with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were enrolled, but 13 consumers with more severe negative symptoms, lower functioning, and lower premorbid IQ did not complete the intervention, despite repeated prompting and training. For completers, the average valid response rate for 216 outcome assessment questions over the 12-week period was 86%, and 86% of phones were returned undamaged. Medication adherence improved significantly, but only for individuals who were living independently. Number of social interactions increased significantly and a significant reduction in severity of hallucinations was found. In addition, the probability of endorsing attitudes that could interfere with improvement in these outcomes was also significantly reduced in MATS. Lab-based assessments of more general symptoms and functioning did not change significantly. This pilot study demonstrated that low-intensity text-messaging interventions like MATS are feasible and effective interventions to improve several important outcomes, especially for higher functioning consumers with schizophrenia
Grondin, O., Johnson, E. I., Husky, M., & Swendsen, J. (2011). Sociotropy and autonomy vulnerabilities to depressed mood: A daily life comparison of Reunion Island and metropolitan France. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 42, 928-943.
The current study examines whether sociotropy and autonomy traits prospectively predict depressed mood following daily events in young adults and considers whether relationships between personality, daily events, and mood differ by cultural context. Samples in Metropolitan France (n = 99) and Reunion Island (n = 70) participated in identical ambulatory monitoring procedures over a 1-week period and were assessed relative to cultural variables and additional psychological vulnerabilities known to influence depression or stress reactivity. Sociotropy heightened depressed mood responses to negative interpersonal events in Metropolitan France but not in Reunion Island. This finding was replicated when a continuous measure of cultural investment replaced geographic location. Contrary to Beck-s theory, there was no evidence that autonomy moderated the relationship between subjective achievement events and depressed mood at either site. The results are discussed in terms of the cultural specificity of cognitive vulnerability-stress theories of depression, as well as their usefulness for explaining normal mood variance in daily life.
Habets, P., Collip, D., Myin-Germeys, I., Gronenschild, E., van, B. S., Hofman, P. et al. (2011). Pituitary volume, stress reactivity and genetic risk for psychotic disorder. Psychol Med, 1-11.
BACKGROUND: Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis hyperactivity, associated with increased pituitary volume, may mediate observed alterations in stress reactivity in patients with psychotic disorder. We examined the association between pituitary volume, real-life stress reactivity and genetic liability for psychotic disorder.MethodPituitary volumes were derived from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of 20 patients with psychotic disorder, 37 non-psychotic siblings of these patients, and 32 controls. The Experience Sampling Method (ESM) was used to measure emotional stress reactivity [changes in negative affect (NA) associated with daily life stress] in the three groups, and biological stress reactivity (changes in cortisol associated with daily life stress) in siblings and controls. Interactions between group, stress and pituitary volume in models of NA and cortisol were examined. RESULTS: Groups did not differ in pituitary volume. Patients showed significantly higher emotional stress reactivity than siblings and controls. In addition, emotional stress reactivity increased with increasing pituitary volume to a greater degree in patients than in controls and siblings. Siblings had higher cortisol levels than controls but did not show increased cortisol reactivity to stress. There was no interaction between pituitary volume, stress and group in the model of cortisol. CONCLUSIONS: Higher pituitary volume was associated with increased emotional stress reactivity in patients with psychotic disorder, siblings and controls. The association was significantly stronger in the patient group, suggesting a process of progressive sensitization mediating clinical outcome
Haedt-Matt, A. A. & Keel, P. K. (2011). Hunger and binge eating: a meta-analysis of studies using ecological momentary assessment. Int J Eat.Disord., 44, 573-578.
OBJECTIVE: Binge eating has been associated with increased hunger, suggesting a role for impaired appetite regulation. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) is ideally suited to examine whether hunger is a precipitant of binge eating but results from such studies have not been systematically reviewed. This study provides a meta-analysis of EMA studies that have examined hunger as an antecedent of binge eating. METHOD: Electronic database and manual searches produced seven EMA studies with N = 180 participants. Meta-analyses were conducted to compare: (1) pre-binge eating hunger to average ratings of hunger, and (2) pre-binge eating hunger to hunger before regular eating. RESULTS: Across studies, hunger was significantly greater before binge eating compared with average hunger ratings, but was significantly lower before binge eating compared with before other eating episodes. DISCUSSION: Excessive hunger does not appear to be a precipitant of binge eating because higher levels of hunger are observed before regular eating episodes. However, lower hunger before food consumption may contribute to the experience of a particular eating episode as a binge
Henry, J. A., Galvez, G., Turbin, M. B., Thielman, E. J., McMillan, G. P., & Istvan, J. A. (2011). Pilot Study to Evaluate Ecological Momentary Assessment of Tinnitus. Ear Hear..
OBJECTIVES:: Because audiometric evaluation, symptom histories, questionnaires, and similar standard assessment tools may not adequately sample the effects of chronic tinnitus on day-to-day activities, there is a need for alternative methodological approaches to study the impact of tinnitus on day-to-day life. An innovative methodological approach that has shown great promise in the study of chronic health problems characterized by reported temporal and/or situational variability in symptoms and distress is known as ecological momentary assessment (EMA). EMA involves the real-time measurement of states, situational factors, and symptoms by individuals as they go about their day-to-day activities. The objective of this pilot investigation was to explore the feasibility of using EMA methods to examine within- and between-day effects of tinnitus. DESIGN: This study was conducted in three phases: (1) design and development of an EMA methodology that could be used to assess effects of tinnitus; (2) refinement of the methodology through the use of two focus groups; and (3) field-test the methodology with individuals who experienced bothersome tinnitus. For Phase 3, each of the 24 participants wore, throughout their waking hours for 2 weeks, a personal digital assistant that produced alerts four times a day. The alerts prompted participants to respond to 19 questions, including 9 relating to situational and mood factors and 10 comprising the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory-Screening version (THI-S). To evaluate for potential reactive effects of performing the EMA protocol, each participant completed the paper-and-pencil version of the full 25-item THI before and after the 2-week EMA period. RESULTS:: Participants responded to the alerts with a 90% compliance rate, providing a total of 1210 completed surveys. At the time of their response, participants indicated that they were in their house or apartment (67.7%), alone (50.2%), happy (50%), and calm (54.5%). Across most responses, participants could hear their tinnitus (97%), and the loudness of their tinnitus averaged 4.7 on a 7-point increasing-loudness scale. The mean THI-S index score (out of a possible maximum 40 points for greatest tinnitus severity) was 17.0 (moderate self-perceived tinnitus handicap). Repeated THI-S index scores varied considerably both within and between participants. Mean 25-item THI scores were not significantly different before and after the EMA period, suggesting little reactivity of the EMA. CONCLUSIONS:: The high compliance rate, positive feedback from participants, lack of reactivity as a result of performing the EMA protocol, and data collected indicate that EMA methodology is feasible with patients who have tinnitus. Outcome data obtained with this methodology cannot be obtained any other way because retrospective questionnaires cannot capture the day-to-day reactions. This methodology has the potential to provide more in-depth and accurate assessments of patients receiving therapy for tinnitus
Hill, C. L. & Updegraff, J. A. (2011). Mindfulness and its relationship to emotional regulation. Emotion.
Research on the effectiveness and mechanisms of mindfulness training applied in psychotherapy is still in its infancy (Erisman & Roemer, 2010). For instance, little is known about the extent and processes through which mindfulness practice improves emotion regulation. This experience sampling study assessed the relationship between mindfulness, emotion differentiation, emotion lability, and emotional difficulties. Young adult participants reported their current emotional experiences 6 times per day during 1 week on a PalmPilot device. Based on these reports of emotions, indices of emotional differentiation and emotion lability were composed for negative and positive emotions. Mindfulness was associated with greater emotion differentiation and less emotional difficulties (i.e., emotion lability and self-reported emotion dysregulation). Mediational models indicated that the relationship between mindfulness and emotion lability was mediated by emotion differentiation. Furthermore, emotion regulation mediated the relationship between mindfulness and both negative emotion lability and positive emotion differentiation. This experience sampling study indicates that self-reported levels of mindfulness are related to higher levels of differentiation of one’s discrete emotional experiences in a manner reflective of effective emotion regulation.
Hofmann, W., Baumeister, R. F., F+Ârster, G., & Vohs, K. D. (2011). Everyday temptations: An experience sampling study of desire, conflict, and self-control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
How often and how strongly do people experience desires, to what extent do their desires conflict with other goals, and how often and successfully do people exercise self-control to resist their desires? To investigate desire and attempts to control desire in everyday life, we conducted a large-scale experience sampling study based on a conceptual framework integrating desire strength, conflict, resistance (use of self-control), and behavior enactment. A sample of 205 adults wore beepers for a week. They furnished 7,827 reports of desire episodes and completed personality measures of behavioral inhibition system/behavior activation system (BIS/BAS) sensitivity, trait self-control, perfectionism, and narcissistic entitlement. Results suggest that desires are frequent, variable in intensity, and largely unproblematic. Those urges that do conflict with other goals tend to elicit resistance, with uneven success. Desire strength, conflict, resistance, and self-regulatory success were moderated in multiple ways by personality variables as well as by situational and interpersonal factors such as alcohol consumption, the mere presence of others, and the presence of others who already had enacted the desire in question. Whereas personality generally had a stronger impact on the dimensions of desire that emerged early in its course (desire strength and conflict), situational factors showed relatively more influence on components later in the process (resistance and behavior enactment). In total, these findings offer a novel and detailed perspective on the nature of everyday desires and associated self-regulatory successes and failures.
Holman, R. M., Carson, V., & Janssen, I. (2011). Does the fractionalization of daily physical activity (sporadic vs. bouts) impact cardiometabolic risk factors in children and youth? PLoS.One., 6, e25733.
OBJECTIVE: Children and youth accumulate their daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in bouts (i.e., >/= 5 consecutive minutes) and in a sporadic manner (i.e., <5 consecutive minutes). The study objective was to determine, within children and youth, whether MVPA accumulated in bouts is more strongly associated with cardiometabolic risk factors than an equivalent volume of MVPA accumulated sporadically. METHODS: Participants consisted of 2754 children and youth aged 6-19 years from the 2003-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a representative cross-sectional study. Bouts and sporadic MVPA were measured objectively over 7 days using Actigraph accelerometers. Thresholds of 5 and 10 consecutive minutes were used to differentiate between bouts and sporadic MVPA. A high cardiometabolic risk factor score (CRS) was created based on measures of waist circumference, non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, C-reactive protein, and systolic blood pressure. Associations were examined using logistic regression and controlled for covariates (sex, age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, dietary fat and sodium, smoking, and accelerometry wear time). RESULTS: The odds of a high CRS decreased in a dose-response for both the sporadic and bout MVPA measures. Relative to quartile 1, the odds ratio (95% confidence interval) for a high CRS in quartile 4 was 0.25 (0.10-0.60) for sporadic MVPA, 0.17 (0.09-0.34) for >/= 5 minute bouts of MVPA, and 0.19 (0.11-0.34) for >/= 10 minute bouts of MVPA. The sporadic and bout MVPA measures had a similar ability to distinguish between participants with high and normal CRS. Relative to 0 minutes of MVPA, an equivalent number of minutes of sporadic MVPA and bouts of MVPA had an almost identical odds ratio for a high CRS. The findings were consistent for 5 and 10 minute bout thresholds. CONCLUSIONS: The relations between sporadic MVPA and bouts of MVPA with cardiometabolic risk factors were remarkably similar in children and youth
Holt, L. J., Litt, M. D., & Cooney, N. L. (2011). Prospective analysis of early lapse to drinking and smoking among individuals in concurrent alcohol and tobacco treatment. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors.
The aims of the current study were to examine, prospectively, (a) dynamic changes in affective state, self-efficacy, and urge in the hours before initial smoking and drinking lapses among individuals in concurrent alcohol and smoking treatment, and (b) the extent to which self-efficacy, urge to use, and/or the use of one substance predicted lapse to the other substance. Ninety-six men and women recruited for a clinical trial of concurrent alcohol and tobacco treatment were eligible for inclusion. Only data from those who experienced an initial lapse to drinking (n = 29) or smoking (n = 32) were included. Two outpatient substance abuse clinics provided concurrent alcohol and smoking treatment on a weekly basis for three months. Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) methods were employed over a 28-day monitoring period to assess antecedents to first drink, and a 14-day monitoring period was examined for initial smoking lapses. Baseline and EMA measures of positive and negative affect, alcohol/smoking urge, alcohol/smoking abstinence self-efficacy, nicotine withdrawal, and quantity/frequency of alcohol and tobacco use were examined as lapse predictors. Analyses of EMA ratings controlled for the corresponding baseline measure. Smoking lapse among individuals in concurrent alcohol and tobacco treatment was foreshadowed by higher urges to smoke, lower positive mood, and lower confidence to resist smoking. Drinking lapse was preceded by lower confidence to resist smoking, but only among individuals who reported recent smoking. Concurrent alcohol and smoking treatment should focus on the enhancement of abstinence self-efficacy, positive mood, and the curbing of urges in order to offset lapse risk.
Hurlburt, R. T. (2011). Nine clarifications of descriptive experience sampling. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 18, 274-287.
Reply by the current author to the comments made by Christopher S. Hill (see record 2011-20325-002); Claire Petitmengin (see record 2011-20325-003); Charles Siewert (see record 2011-20325-004); Eric Klinger (see record 2011-20325-005); Gualtiero Piccinini (see record 2011-20325-006); John Sutton (see record 2011-20325-007); Mark Engelbert and Peter Carruthers (see record 2011-20325-008); Michael J. Kane (see record 2011-20325-009); Maja Spener (see record 2011-20325-010); Terry Horgan and Mark Timmons (see record 2011-20325-011) on the book Describing inner experience? Proponent meets skeptic by Russell T. Hurlburt and Eric Schwitzgebel (see record 2007-14525-000). The commentaries in this symposium reveal nine misconceptions about Descriptive Experience Sampling (DES) that the present paper attempts to clear up: about pristine experience, about the iterative nature of DES, about the term of DES retrospection, about the accuracy of DES, about the diachronic abilities of DES, about the inability of DES to target specific questions, about the worry that DES stifles careful observation, about the difficulty/expense of DES, and about the transformative power of DES to trump a lifetime of observations.
Jehad Sarkar, A. M. (2011). An Intelligent Tool for Activity Data Collection. Sensors.(Basel), 11, 3988-4008.
Activity recognition systems using simple and ubiquitous sensors require a large variety of real-world sensor data for not only evaluating their performance but also training the systems for better functioning. However, a tremendous amount of effort is required to setup an environment for collecting such data. For example, expertise and resources are needed to design and install the sensors, controllers, network components, and middleware just to perform basic data collections. It is therefore desirable to have a data collection method that is inexpensive, flexible, user-friendly, and capable of providing large and diverse activity datasets. In this paper, we propose an intelligent activity data collection tool which has the ability to provide such datasets inexpensively without physically deploying the testbeds. It can be used as an inexpensive and alternative technique to collect human activity data. The tool provides a set of web interfaces to create a web-based activity data collection environment. It also provides a web-based experience sampling tool to take the user’s activity input. The tool generates an activity log using its activity knowledge and the user-given inputs. The activity knowledge is mined from the web. We have performed two experiments to validate the tool’s performance in producing reliable datasets.
Jovanovic, J. L., Hughes, D. C., Baum, G. P., Carmack, C., Greisinger, A. J., & Basen-Engquist, K. (2011). Accelerometry and self-report in sedentary populations. American Journal of Health Behavior, 35, 71-80.
Objectives: To determine whether self-reported exercise duration and intensity matched accelerometer data in sedentary endometrial cancer survivors and age-matched controls. Methods: Participants were asked to wear an accelerometer and self-report exercise bouts, duration, and intensity for one week. Self-reported duration was compared with accelerometer data. Results: Self-reported exercise-bout duration matched accelerometer duration 93% for survivors and 99% for controls. Self-reported exercise-bout intensity matched accelerometer intensity 70% for survivors and 66% for controls. There were no significant differences between groups. Conclusions: Sedentary endometrial cancer survivors and controls self-reported duration and intensity of physical activity consistent with accelerometer data.
Kikuchi, H., Yoshiuchi, K., Yamamoto, Y., Komaki, G., & Akabayashi, A. (2011). Does sleep aggravate tension-type headache?: An investigation using computerized ecological momentary assessment and actigraphy. BioPsychoSocial Medicine, 5.
Background: Both insufficient sleep and oversleeping have been reported as precipitating and aggravating factors of tension-type headache (TTH). However, previous studies relied on recalled self-reports, and the relationship has not been confirmed prospectively and objectively in a daily life situation. Recently, ecological momentary assessment (EMA) using electronic diaries, i.e., computerized EMA, is used to record subjective symptoms with the advantages of avoiding recall bias and faked compliance in daily settings. In addition, actigraphy has become an established method to assess sleep outside laboratories. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the within-individual effect of sleep on the following momentary headache intensity in TTH patients during their daily lives utilizing EMA and actigraphy. Methods: Twenty-seven patients with TTH wore watch-type computers as electronic diaries for seven consecutive days and recorded their momentary headache intensity using a visual analog scale of 0-100 approximately every six hours, on waking up, when going to bed, and at the time of headache exacerbations. They also recorded their self-report of sleep quality, hours of sleep and number of awakenings with the computers when they woke up. Physical activity was continuously recorded by an actigraph inside the watch-type computers. Activity data were analyzed by Cole-s algorithm to obtain total sleep time, sleep efficiency, sleep latency, wake time after sleep onset and number of awakenings for each night. Multilevel modeling was used to test the effect of each subjective and objective sleep-related variable on momentary headache intensity on the following day. Results: Objectively measured total sleep time was significantly positively associated with momentary headache intensity on the following day, while self-reported sleep quality was significantly negatively associated with momentary headache intensity on the following day. Conclusions: Using computerized EMA and actigraphy, longer sleep and worse sleep quality were shown to be related to more intense headache intensity on within-individual basis and they may be precipitating or aggravating factors of TTH.
Knestel, A. (2011). Religious orientation and naturally occurring stress: Ecological momentary assessment of cardiovascular function. ProQuest Information & Learning, US.
Research suggests that religious orientation may impact cardiovascular stress response. Historically, the concept of religious orientation focused on intrinsic and extrinsic religiousness as has research investigating the relationship between religious orientation and cardiovascular stress response. These findings indicate that older intrinsically religious adults demonstrate reduced blood pressure and heart rate reactivity to interpersonal laboratory stressors as compared to older extrinsically religious individuals. A more recent study found that pro-religious adults showed decreased cardiovascular reactivity to laboratory stressors as compared to adults with an intrinsic or non-religious orientation. Although these findings provide valuable information about the religion-health relationship, the study of religious orientation and cardiovascular stress response is still in its early stages. For example, the relationship between religious orientation and cardiovascular response to naturally occurring daily stressors has not been studied. Consequently, this study: (1) explored the relationship between religious orientation and the rate of occurrence of overall stress, interpersonal stress, and non-interpersonal stress, and (2) tested the hypothesis that individuals with a pro-religious orientation would display reduced cardiovascular response to naturally occurring interpersonal stressors as compared to the intrinsic and non-religious groups. Hypotheses were tested using a community sample (n=83) of middle-aged to older adults (40-65 years) with measures of religious orientation, stress, and 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) and ambulatory heart rate (AHR). Findings from this study did not reveal statistically significant relationships between religious orientation and cardiovascular response to naturally occurring stress. Visual inspection of these non-significant results does show, however, that the pro-religious group experienced fewer stressors, specifically interpersonal stressors, over the course of a 24-hour period. Surprisingly, the pro-religious group also demonstrated considerable decreases in SBP, DBP, and HR responses to those stressors that they had identified as being the strongest in intensity as compared to the no stress (for SBP and HR), some stress (for SBP, DBP, and HR), and moderate stress (for SBP, DBP, and HR) categories. The intrinsic group showed the largest increases in cardiovascular response to the stressors they identified as being very strong. These observations suggest that religious orientation may be an important variable to consider when examining middle-aged and older adults? cardiovascular responding to stressors in naturalistic environments, particularly, interpersonal stressors.
Larsson, B. & Stinson, J. N. (2011). Commentary: On the importance of using prospective diary data in the assessment of recurrent headaches, stressors, and health behaviors in children and adolescents. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 36, 863-867.
Comments on an article by M. Connelly, and J. Bickel (see record 2011-18469-002). The authors explore the stress and health behavior triggers of primary headaches in children using a daily process evaluation that is captured using a handheld electronic diary (e-diary). They reported on the evaluation of stress and health behavior triggers in a small sample of children aged 8-17 years referred to a pediatric clinic because of frequent headaches. The authors’ innovative use of prospective measurement of headaches and potential triggers three times a day during two weeks in an electronic computer diary is a clear advancement of previous research and provided an opportunity for conducting statistical analyses of temporal and casual relationships between new headache episodes and the included triggers. The study provide encouraging data on potential triggers of frequent headaches in a selected clinic and small sample of children and adolescents based on prospective electronic diary measurement. The use of prospective event recordings in diaries will certainly help advance our knowledge and understanding of important triggers behind recurrent migraine and tension-type headaches in children and adolescents but also provide more solid grounds in evaluating treatment approaches focusing on coping strategies to improve headaches in these age groups.
Le, S., Shafer, P. O., Bartfeld, E., & Fisher, R. S. (2011). An online diary for tracking epilepsy. Epilepsy Behav, 22, 705-709.
My Epilepsy Diary is a free Web-based application on the public website epilepsy.com, available for patients to track epilepsy and to aid clinicians with data-based, individualized management. The first aim of this descriptive study was to outline electronic diary functions. Second, the study retrospectively profiled a large cohort of 2010 calendar year diary users including demographics, seizure types, temporal distribution of seizures, triggers, and use and side effects of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). A total of 1944 users provided demographic information and 1877 recorded seizure data. Most (64%) users were women. Average age was 29.9+/-16.0years. A total of 70,990 seizure entries and 15,630 AED entries were logged. Events were apportioned as 79% seizures and 21% seizure clusters. Specific AEDs were detailed in 7331 entries: monotherapy was used in 18% and polytherapy in 82%. Mood-related side effects were most commonly reported in 19% of 1027 users
London, B., Rosenthal, L., & Gonzalez, A. (2011). Assessing the role of gender rejection sensitivity, identity, and support on the academic engagement of women in nontraditional fields using experience sampling methods. Journal of Social Issues, 67, 510-530.
Efforts to understand and alleviate the pervasive underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields may benefit from the utilization of research methodologies that can model STEM engagement from multiple levels of analysis. We discuss the utility of experience sampling methodology (ESM) in capturing this broad range of factors that contribute to women-s success and engagement in STEM fields-as well as other fields in which women have historically been underrepresented-with special focus on the importance of identity, social support, and gender-based rejection. We propose that the use of ESM may provide fine-grained details of women-s STEM experiences, and thus model the challenges they face in STEM fields. The advantages of using ESM for capturing repeated measures of affect and behavior, the use of electronic methods of data collection, and the use of ESM to administer interventions are discussed.
Martino, S. C., Scharf, D. M., Setodji, C. M., & Shadel, W. G. (2011). Measuring Exposure to Protobacco Marketing and Media: A Field Study Using Ecological Momentary Assessment. Nicotine Tob.Res.
INTRODUCTION: The aims of this study were to validate ecological momentary assessment (EMA) as a method for measuring exposure to tobacco-related marketing and media and to use this method to provide detailed descriptive data on college students’ exposure to protobacco marketing and media. METHODS: College students (n = 134; ages 18-24 years) recorded their exposures to protobacco marketing and media on handheld devices for 21 consecutive days. Participants also recalled exposures to various types of protobacco marketing and media at the end of the study period. RESULTS: Retrospectively recalled and EMA-based estimates of protobacco marketing exposure captured different information. The correlation between retrospectively recalled and EMA-logged exposures to tobacco marketing and media was moderate (r = .37, p < .001), and EMA-logged exposures were marginally associated with the intention to smoke at the end of the study, whereas retrospective recall of exposure was not. EMA data showed that college students were exposed to protobacco marketing through multiple channels in a relatively short period: Exposures (M = 8.24, SD = 7.85) occurred primarily in the afternoon (42%), on weekends (35%), and at point-of-purchase locations (68%) or in movies/TV (20%), and exposures to Marlboro, Newport, and Camel represented 56% of all exposures combined and 70% of branded exposures.Conclusions:Findings support the validity of EMA as a method for capturing detailed information about youth exposure to protobacco marketing and media that are not captured through other existing methods. Such data have the potential to highlight areas for policy change and prevention in order to reduce the impact of tobacco marketing on youth
Meuret, A. E., Rosenfield, D., Wilhelm, F. H., Zhou, E., Conrad, A., Ritz, T. et al. (2011). Do unexpected panic attacks occur spontaneously? Biological Psychiatry, 70, 985-991.
Background: Spontaneous or unexpected panic attacks, per definition, occur GÇ£out of the blue,GÇØ in the absence of cues or triggers. Accordingly, physiological arousal or instability should occur at the onset of, or during, the attack, but not preceding it. To test this hypothesis, we examined if points of significant autonomic changes preceded the onset of spontaneous panic attacks. Methods: Forty-three panic disorder patients underwent repeated 24-hour ambulatory monitoring. Thirteen natural panic attacks were recorded during 1960 hours of monitoring. Minute-by-minute epochs beginning 60 minutes before and continuing to 10 minutes after the onset of individual attacks were examined for respiration, heart rate, and skin conductance level. Measures were controlled for physical activity and vocalization and compared with time matched control periods within the same person. Results: Significant patterns of instability across a number of autonomic and respiratory variables were detected as early as 47 minutes before panic onset. The final minutes before onset were dominated by respiratory changes, with significant decreases in tidal volume followed by abrupt carbon dioxide partial pressure increases. Panic attack onset was characterized by heart rate and tidal volume increases and a drop in carbon dioxide partial pressure. Symptom report was consistent with these changes. Skin conductance levels were generally elevated in the hour before, and during, the attacks. Changes in the matched control periods were largely absent. Conclusions: Significant autonomic irregularities preceded the onset of attacks that were reported as abrupt and unexpected. The findings invite reconsideration of the current diagnostic distinction between uncued and cued panic attacks.
Motl, R. W., McAuley, E., & Dlugonski, D. (2011). Reactivity in baseline accelerometer data from a physical activity behavioral intervention. Health Psychology.
Objective: This brief report describes the possibility of reactivity in the baseline assessment of physical activity using accelerometry from two separate randomized controlled trials of a behavior intervention for increasing physical activity in persons with multiple sclerosis (MS). Method: The samples included 18 persons with multiple sclerosis (MS) from Study 1 and 20 from Study 2 who were randomized into treatment arms of the intervention. The participants initially wore an accelerometer over a 7-day period for collection of baseline data, and one week later wore a pedometer over a 7-day period for collection of data for self-monitoring and goal setting in week 1 of the 12-week intervention. The accelerometer and pedometer data were both expressed in average steps per day over a 7-day period. Results: There was a moderate (d = .56), statistically significant (p = .03) difference of 1,822 steps per day between baseline and week 1 of the intervention in Study 1. There was a large (d = 1.36), statistically significant (p = .0001) difference of 2,338 steps per day in Study 2. Conclusion: We are unaware of other research describing a significant change in physical activity between baseline and the first week of a behavioral intervention and believe that this change reflects reactivity in the baseline assessment using accelerometry.
Mulvaney, S. A., Rothman, R. L., Dietrich, M. S., Wallston, K. A., Grove, E., Elasy, T. A. et al. (2011). Using mobile phones to measure adolescent diabetes adherence. Health Psychol.
Objectives: 1) describe and determine the feasibility of using cell-phone-based ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to measure blood glucose monitoring and insulin administration in adolescent Type 1 diabetes, 2) relate EMA to traditional self-report and glycemic control, and 3) identify patterns of adherence by time of day and over time using EMA. Method: Adolescents with Type 1 diabetes (n = 96) completed baseline measures of cell phone use and adherence. Glycemic control (measured by levels of HbA1c) was obtained from medical records. A subgroup of adolescents (n = 50) completed 10 days of EMA to assess blood glucose monitoring frequency, timing of glucose monitoring, insulin administration, and insulin dosing. One third of adolescents were not allowed to use their cell phones for diabetes at school. Parental restrictions on cell phone use at home were not prevalent. Results: The EMA response rate (59%) remained stable over the 10-day calling period. Morning time was associated with worse monitoring and insulin administration, accounting for 59-74% of missed self-care tasks. EMA-reported missed glucose checks and missed insulin doses were correlated to traditional self-report data, but not to HbA1c levels. Trajectory analyses identified two subgroups: one with consistently adequate adherence, and one with more variable, and worse, adherence. The latter adherence style showed worse glycemic control. Conclusion: Mobile phones provide a feasible method to measure glucose monitoring and insulin administration in adolescents, given a limited assessment duration. The method provided novel insights regarding patterns of adherence and should be explored in clinical settings for targeting or tailoring interventions.
Ojiambo, R., Cuthill, R., Budd, H., Konstabel, K., Casajùs, J. A., González-Agüero, A. et al. (2011). Impact of methodological decisions on accelerometer outcome variables in young children. International Journal of Obesity, 35, S98-S103.
BACKGROUND: The impact of accelerometer-related methodological decisions relating to the assessment of physical activity and sedentary time has not been conclusively determined in young children. OBJECTIVES: To determine the effects of epoch and cutoff points on the assessment of physical activity and sedentary time and to determine the accelerometer wear time required to achieve reliable accelerometer data in children. DESIGN: Children were recruited from centres at Ghent, Glasgow, Gothenburg and Zaragoza. METHODS: Physical activity was assessed for 1 week in 86 children (41 girls, 45 boys; mean age 7±2 years) by uniaxial accelerometry. The epoch was set at 15 s and reintegrated to 30 and 60 s. Time spent sedentary and in moderate and vigorous physical activity (MVPA) was assessed using a range of cutoff points. Number of days required to achieve 80% reliability was predicted using the Spearman-Brown Prophecy formula. RESULTS: The Reilly cutoff points (<1100 counts per min (CPM)) indicated less sedentary time per day when comparing 15 vs 30 s and 15 vs 60 s epochs: 570±91 vs 579±93 min and 570±91 vs 579±94 min, respectively; P<0.05. Pate cutoff points (>420 counts per 15 s) reported more MVPA time per day compared with Sirard (890 counts per 15 s) and Puyau cutoff points (>3200 counts per min) using 15 s epoch: 78 (4-197) min (median (range) vs 18 (1-80) min and 24 (1-100) min, respectively; P<0.001. Compliance with guidels of at least 60 min MVPA was 84, 78 and 73% for Pate cutoff points using 15, 30 and 60 s epochs, respectively, but 0% for Sirard and Puyau cutoff points across epochs. The number of days required to achieve 80% reliability for CPM, sedentary and MVPA time was 7.4-8.5 days. CONCLUSION: Choice of epoch and cutoff point significantly influenced the classification of sedentary and MVPA time and observed compliance to the MVPA guidelines.
Oorschot, M., Lataster, T., Thewissen, V., Wichers, M., & Myin-Germeys, I. (2011). Mobile Assessment in Schizophrenia: A Data-Driven Momentary Approach. Schizophr.Bull..
In this article, a data-driven approach was adopted to demonstrate how real-life diary techniques [ie, the experience sampling method (ESM)] could be deployed for assessment purposes in patients with psychotic disorder, delivering individualized and clinically relevant information. The dataset included patients in an acute phase of psychosis and the focus was on paranoia as one of the main psychotic symptoms (30 patients with high levels of paranoia and 34 with low levels of paranoia). Based on individual cases, it was demonstrated how (1) symptom and mood patterns, (2) patterns of social interactions or activities, (3) contextual risk profiles (eg, is being among strangers, as opposed to family, associated with higher paranoia severity?), and (4) temporal dynamics between mood states and paranoia (eg, does anxiety precipitate or follow the onset of increased paranoia severity?) substantially differ within individual patients and across the high vs low paranoid patient group. Most striking, it was shown that individual findings are different from what is found on overall group levels. Some people stay anxious after a paranoid thought came to mind. For others, paranoia is followed by a state of relaxation. It is discussed how ESM, surfacing the patient’s implicit knowledge about symptom patterns, may provide an excellent starting point for person-tailored psychoeducation and for choosing the most applicable therapeutic intervention
Patnode, C. D., Lytle, L. A., Erickson, D. J., Sirard, J. R., Barr-Anderson, D. J., & Story, M. (2011). Physical activity and sedentary activity patterns among children and adolescents: A latent class analysis approach. Journal of Physical Activity & Health, 8, 457-467.
Background: While much is known about the overall levels of physical activity and sedentary activity among youth, few studies have attempted to define clusters of such behaviors. The purpose of this study was to identify and describe unique classes of youth based on their participation in a variety of physical activity and sedentary behaviors. Methods: Latent class analysis was used to characterize segments of youth based on patterns of self-reported and accelerometer-measured participation in 12 behaviors. Children and adolescents (N = 720) from 6th-11th grade were included in the analysis. Differences in class membership were examined using multinomial logistic regression. Results: Three distinct classes emerged for boys and girls. Among boys, the 3 classes were characterized as “Active” (42.1%), “Sedentary” (24.9%), and “Low Media/Moderate Activity” (33.0%). For girls, classes were “Active” (18.7%), “Sedentary” (47.6%), and “Low Media/Functional Activity” (33.7%). Significant differences were found between the classes for a number of demographic indicators including the proportion in each class who were classified as overweight or obese. Conclusions: The behavioral profiles of the classes identified in this study can be used to suggest possible audience segments for intervention and to tailor strategies appropriately.
Preston, K. L. & Epstein, D. H. (2011). Stress in the daily lives of cocaine and heroin users: Relationship to mood, craving, relapse triggers, and cocaine use. Psychopharmacology, 218, 29-37.
Rationale: Quantitative real-time data on the stress experienced by drug misusers in their daily lives may provide additional insight into stress-s role in drug use. Objective: The purpose of this study is to evaluate stress in relation to craving, mood, relapse-trigger exposure, and cocaine use in cocaine-dependent outpatients. Methods: Methadone-maintained cocaine- and heroin-abusing outpatients (N = 114) provided ecological momentary assessment data on handheld computers. Ratings of stress were compared to those of craving and mood and past-hour exposure to putative drug-use triggers in randomly prompted entries and in the 5 h prior to participant-initiated cocaine use reports. Results: Stress had significant positive relationships with current ratings of craving for cocaine, heroin, and tobacco and with ratings of tiredness, boredom, and irritation, and had significant negative relationships with ratings of happiness and relaxation. Stress was significantly greater in entries in which participants also reported past-hour exposure to negative-mood triggers, most of the drug-exposure triggers, or any trigger involving thoughts about drugs (e.g., tempted out of the blue). The linear increase in stress during the 5-h preceding individual episodes of cocaine use was not significant (p = 0.12), though there was a trend for such an increase before the use episodes that participants attributed to stressful states when they occurred (p = 0.87). Conclusions: The findings suggest a complex role of stress in addiction. Stress reported in real time in the natural environment showed strong cross-sectional momentary relationships with craving, mood, and exposure to drug-use trigger. However, the prospective association between stress ratings and cocaine-use episodes was, at best, weak.
Rahman, K., Burton, A., Galbraith, S., Lloyd, A., & Vollmer-Conna, U. (2011). Sleep-wake behavior in chronic fatigue syndrome. Sleep: Journal of Sleep and Sleep Disorders Research, 34, 671-678.
Study Objectives: Disturbances of the internal biological clock manifest as fatigue, poor concentration, and sleep disturbances-symptoms reminiscent of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and suggestive of a role for circadian rhythm disturbance in CFS. We examined circadian patterns of activity, sleep, and cortisol secretion in patients with CFS. Design: Case-control study, 5-day behavioral observation. Setting: Natural setting/home environment Participants: 15 patients with CFS and 15 healthy subjects of similar age, sex, body mass index (BMI), and activity levels. Interventions: N/A Measurements: Self-report questionnaires were used to obtain medical history and demographic information and to assess health behaviors, somatic and psychological symptoms, and sleep quality. An actiwatch accelerometer recorded activity and sleep patterns over 5 days with concurrent activity and symptom logs. Diurnal salivary cortisol secretion was measured. Additionally, overnight heart rate monitoring and pain sensitivity assessment was undertaken. Results: Ratings of symptoms, disability, sleep disturbance, and pain sensitivity were greater in patients with CFS. No between-group differences were found in the pattern or amount of sleep, activity, or cortisol secretion. Afternoon activity levels significantly increased evening fatigue in patients but not control subjects. Low nocturnal heart rate variability was identified as a biological correlate of unrefreshing sleep. Conclusions: We found no evidence of circadian rhythm disturbance in CFS. However, the role of autonomic activity in the experience of unrefreshing sleep warrants further assessment. The activity symptom-relationship modelled here is of clinical significance in the approach to activity and symptom management in the treatment of CFS.
Rea, M. S., Brons, J. A., & Figueiro, M. G. (2011). Measurements of light at night (LAN) for a sample of female school teachers. Chronobiology International, 28, 673-680.
Epidemiological studies have shown an association between rotating shiftwork and breast cancer (BC) risk. Recently, light at night (LAN) measured by satellite photometry and by self-reports of bedroom brightness has been shown to be associated with BC risk, irrespective of shiftwork history. Importance has been placed on these associations because retinal light exposures at night can suppress the hormone melatonin and/or disrupt circadian entrainment to the local 24-h light-dark cycle. The present study examined whether it was valid to use satellite photometry and self-reports of brightness to characterize light, as it might stimulate the circadian system and thereby affect BC incidence. Calibrated photometric measurements were made at the bedroom windows and in the bedrooms of a sample of female school teachers, who worked regular dayshifts and lived in a variety of satellite-measured sky brightness categories. The light levels at both locations were usually very low and were independent of the amount of satellite-measured light. Calibrated photometric measurements were also obtained at the corneas of these female school teachers together with calibrated accelerometer measurements for seven consecutive days and evenings. Based upon these personal light exposure and activity measurements, the female teachers who participated in this study did not have disrupted light-dark cycles like those associated with rotating shiftworkers who do exhibit a higher risk for BC. Rather, this sample of female school teachers had 24-h light-dark and activity-rest patterns very much like those experienced by dayshift nurses examined in an earlier study who are not at an elevated risk of BC. No relationship was found between the amount of satellite-measured light levels and the 24-h light-dark patterns these women experienced. It was concluded from the present study that satellite photometry is unrelated to personal light exposures as they might affect melatonin suppression and/or circadian disruption. More generally, photometric devices calibrated in terms of the operational characteristics of the human circadian system must be used to meaningfully link LAN and BC incidence.
Rosenkranz, R. R., Welk, G. J., Hastmann, T. J., & Dzewaltowski, D. A. (2011). Psychosocial and demographic correlates of objectively measured physical activity in structured and unstructured after-school recreation sessions. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 14, 306-311.
Most studies of psychosocial and demographic correlates of physical activity (PA) have examined relationships across various types of physical and social environments, rather than within a specific environmental behavior setting. The objective of this study was to investigate correlates of PA in structured and unstructured after-school recreation sessions. This study is cross-sectional. School records, questionnaires, and anthropometry were used to obtain demographic and psychosocial variables. Third and fourth-grade children (n=230) from seven schools wore Actigraph GT1M accelerometers up to six times per year during after-school programming. Accelerometer data were processed to determine percentage of time in moderate-to-vigorous PA (T scores, reflective of an individual child’s PA level relative to group mean, were computed for each session and averaged across sessions). Pearson correlations, point-biserial correlations, and mixed-model analyses were used to determine significant associations with PA for each session type (structured and unstructured). For structured sessions, gender, PA barriers self-efficacy, and PA enjoyment were significantly related to PA. For unstructured sessions, only gender was related to PA. Despite equivalent opportunities to participate in active recreation, boys were more active than girls, and children varied in PA level partly due to psychosocial factors. Our results showed that PA self-efficacy and enjoyment explained variability in structured PA sessions.
Smallwood, J., Schooler, J. W., Turk, D. J., Cunningham, S. J., Burns, P., & Macrae, C. N. (2011). Self-reflection and the temporal focus of the wandering mind. Consciousness and Cognition: An International Journal, 20, 1120-1126.
Current accounts suggest that self-referential thought serves a pivotal function in the human ability to simulate the future during mind-wandering. Using experience sampling, this hypothesis was tested in two studies that explored the extent to which self-reflection impacts both retrospection and prospection during mind-wandering. Study 1 demonstrated that a brief period of self-reflection yielded a prospective bias during mind-wandering such that participants- engaged more frequently in spontaneous future than past thought. In Study 2, individual differences in the strength of self-referential thought - as indexed by the memorial advantage for self rather than other-encoded items - was shown to vary with future thinking during mind-wandering. Together these results confirm that self-reflection is a core component of future thinking during mind-wandering and provide novel evidence that a key function of the autobiographical memory system may be to mentally simulate events in the future.
Steptoe, A. & Wardle, J. (2011). Positive affect measured using ecological momentary assessment and survival in older men and women. Proc.Natl.Acad.Sci U.S A, 108, 18244-18248.
Links between positive affect (PA) and health have predominantly been investigated by using measures of recollected emotional states. Ecological momentary assessment is regarded as a more precise measure of experienced well-being. We analyzed data from the English Longitudinal Study of Aging, a representative cohort of older men and women living in England. PA was assessed by aggregating momentary assessments over a single day in 3,853 individuals aged 52 to 79 y who were followed up for an average of 5 y. Respondents in the lowest third of PA had a death rate of 7.3%, compared with 4.6% in the medium-PA group and 3.6% in the high-PA group. Cox proportional-hazards regression showed a hazard ratio of 0.498 (95% confidence interval, 0.345-0.721) in the high-PA compared with the low-PA group, adjusted for age and sex. This was attenuated to 0.646 (95% confidence interval, 0.436-0.958) after controlling for demographic factors, negative affect, depressed mood, health indicators, and health behaviors. Negative affect and depressed mood were not related to survival after adjustment for covariates. These findings indicate that experienced PA, even over a single day, has a graded relationship with survival that is not caused by baseline health status or other covariates. Momentary PA may be causally related to survival, or may be a marker of underlying biological, behavioral, or temperamental factors, although reverse causality cannot be conclusively ruled out. The results endorse the value of assessing experienced affect, and the importance of evaluating interventions that promote happiness in older populations
Tan, P. Z., Forbes, E. E., Dahl, R. E., Ryan, N. D., Siegle, G. J., Ladouceur, C. D. et al. (2011). Emotional reactivity and regulation in anxious and nonanxious youth: a cell-phone ecological momentary assessment study. J Child Psychol Psychiatry.
Background: Reviews have highlighted anxious youths’ affective disturbances, specifically, elevated negative emotions and reliance on ineffective emotion regulation strategies. However, no study has examined anxious youth’s emotional reactivity and regulation in real-world contexts. Methods: This study utilized an ecological momentary assessment approach to compare real-world emotional experiences of 65 youth with generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, or social phobia (ANX) and 65 age-matched healthy controls (CON), ages 9-13 years. Results: Hierarchical linear models revealed that ANX reported higher levels of average past-hour peak intensity of nervous, sad and upset emotions than CON youth but similar levels during momentary reports of current emotion. As expected, ANX youth reported more frequent physiological reactions in response to a negative event; however, there were no group differences in how frequently they used cognitive-behavioral strategies. Avoidance, distraction and problem solving were associated with the down-regulation of all negative emotions except nervousness for both ANX and CON youth; however, group differences emerged for acceptance, rumination and physiological responding. Conclusions: In real-world contexts, ANX youth do not report higher levels of momentary negative emotions but do report heightened negative emotions in response to challenging events. Moreover, ANX youth report no differences in how frequently they use adaptive regulatory strategies but are more likely to have physiological responses to challenging events. They are also less effective at using some strategies to down-regulate negative emotion than CON youth
Telford, C., McCarthy-Jones, S., Corcoran, R., & Rowse, G. (2011). Experience Sampling Methodology studies of depression: the state of the art. Psychol Med, 1-11.
BACKGROUND: Experience Sampling Methodology (ESM) is ideally suited to test the predictions, and inform the development of contemporary cognitive models of depression. Yet there has been no systematic examination of ESM in depression research.MethodA search of databases (PsychARTICLES, PsycINFO, AMED, Ovid Medline and CINAHL) was conducted to identify studies published within the last 25 years investigating major depressive disorder (MDD) using ESM. RESULTS: Altogether, 19 studies using ESM, or comparable methodologies, with clinically depressed individuals were identified and critically reviewed. The identified studies examined six aspects of MDD: methodological issues; positive and negative affect; cortisol secretion; antidepressant treatment; work performance; genetic risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: Despite some methodological limitations of existing studies, ESM has made a significant contribution to our current understanding of depression by consolidating existing theories, uncovering new and clinically relevant findings and identifying questions for future research. This review concludes by introducing the possibility of using ESM as an intervention tool in clinical practice and proposing that ESM could be useful for furthering knowledge of the causes of MDD
To, M. L., Fisher, C. D., Ashkanasy, N. M., & Rowe, P. A. (2011). Within-person relationships between mood and creativity. Journal of Applied Psychology.
State mood has been proposed as a facilitator of creative behavior. Whereas positive mood compared to neutral mood generally facilitates creative performance, mood effects are weaker and less consistent when positive mood is compared to negative mood. These inconsistent results may be due to focusing only on mood valence, while neglecting or confounding mood activation. The current study is based on the dual-pathway model, which describes separate roles for mood valence and mood activation in facilitating creativity. We used experience sampling methodology to investigate the concurrent and lagged effects of mood valence and activation on creative process engagement (CPE) within-person over time among individuals working on a long-term project requiring creativity. We also investigated the moderating effects of individual differences in goal orientation and supervisory support on within-person moodGÇôcreativity relationships. As expected, we found that activating positive and activating negative moods were positively associated with concurrent CPE, whereas deactivating moods of both valences were negatively related to CPE. Activating negative mood had a significant lagged effect on CPE, whereas activating positive mood did not. We also found that activating positive mood was more strongly related to concurrent CPE among individuals with high rather than low learning goal orientation. Further, activating positive mood interacted with prove goal orientation and supervisory support for creativity, such that activating positive mood had the strongest association with CPE when both prove goal orientation and supervisory support were high.
van Weering, M. G. H., Vollenbroek-Hutten, M. M. R., & Hermens, H. J. (2011). The relationship between objectively and subjectively measured activity levels in people with chronic low back pain. Clinical Rehabilitation, 25, 256-263.
Objective: To compare self-report measures of daily activities with objective activity data to determine whether patients with chronic lower back pain report their activity levels as accurately as controls do. Design: A cross-sectional study was performed in patients and controls. Setting: The study was carried out in the daily environment of the subjects. Subjects: Thirty-two chronic lower back pain patients with symptoms more than three months and 20 healthy controls from the Netherlands, aged 18-65 years. Main measures: A tri-axial accelerometer was worn for five weekdays and the Baecke Physical Activity Questionnaire was filled in. Pearson-s correlation was calculated to get insight in the awareness of patients and controls. Comparisons of the relationship between the objective and subjective scores of each individual patient with those of the group of controls were used to allocate each patient into subgroups: overestimators, underestimators and aware patients. Physical and psychological characteristics of these groups were explored. Results: Patients showed weak correlations between the objective and subjective scores of physical activity and appear to have problems in estimating their activity levels (r = -0.27), in contrast to controls who showed strong correlations between the objective and subjective scores (r = 0.66). Comparison of the individual relationships of patients with those of controls showed that 44% of the patients were not aware of their activity level. There were relatively more underestimators (30%) than overestimators (14%). Physical characteristics between the three groups tended to be different. Conclusions: Patient self-reports about their activity level are relatively inaccurate when compared to objective measurements.
ven Dyck, D., Cardon, G., Deforche, B., Giles-Corti, B., Sallis, J. F., Owen, N. et al. (2011). Environmental and psychosocial correlates of accelerometer-assessed and self-reported physical activity in Belgian adults. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 18, 235-245.
Background: Despite the well-known benefits of physical activity (PA) on overall health, the majority of the adult population does not engage in sufficient PA. To develop effective interventions to increase PA, it is necessary to understand the most important PA correlates and to investigate whether correlates are similar in different population subgroups. Purpose: This study examined associations between physical environmental perceptions and self-reported and objectively assessed PA in Belgian adults. Moreover, associations between psychosocial factors and PA, and the moderating effects of sociodemographic factors were investigated. Method: A sample of 1,200 Belgian adults (20-65 years; 47.9% males) completed a survey measuring sociodemographic variables and psychosocial correlates, the Neighborhood Environmental Walkability Scale and the long-version International Physical Activity Questionnaire. They wore an accelerometer for 7 days. Results: Perceiving neighborhoods to be high walkable (high residential density, high land use mix access, and high land use mix diversity) and recreation facilities to be convenient, and the availability of home PA equipment were the most consistent physical environmental correlates of PA. The strongest psychosocial correlates were social support from friends and family and self-efficacy. The psychosocial associations were most consistent for self-reported leisure-time PA and less clear for self-reported active transportation and accelerometer-assessed PA. Few significant sociodemographic moderators were found. Conclusion: Both physical environmental and psychosocial factors were associated with PA in adults, with psychosocial factors being important especially for leisure-time PA. Correlates of PA were similar regardless of gender, age, or socio-economic status, so interventions to change these factors could have population-wide effects.
Ver Halen, N. (2011). A randomized controlled study of the acute and sustained effects of perceived racism on negative affect. ProQuest Information & Learning, US.
Racism is a stressor that has significant effects on the psychological and physical wellbeing of individuals belonging to various ethnic and minority groups. Racism may affect health by increasing the intensity and frequency of negative affect. The aim of this study was to investigate how racism acts as a unique stressor, eliciting acute affect reactivity that extends from the laboratory into the field to produce sustained distress, as measured by daily affect. In a hybrid experimental design, 65 Black college students were randomly assigned to perform either a race-related stress task (RACE) or a social evaluation stress task (TV). Participants rated 9 emotion states at baseline, pre-task, post-task and after recovery. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) was used to collect diary ratings in the field for the remainder of the day. Participants completed measures of hope and rumination to test the mediating mechanisms through which racial stress produces sustained negative affect. Measures of lifetime perceived racism and trait anger were completed to test the moderating effects of experiential and personality variables. Analyses revealed a significant main effect of stress exposure on acute affect, whereby individuals in the RACE condition reported greater pre- to post-task increases in anger and hurt, and greater decreases in happiness. This association was moderated by lifetime perceived racism. Individuals exposed to racial stress who report greater lifetime perceived racism exhibited greater increases in negative affect immediately following stress exposure. The interaction of condition and acute helpless reactivity was a significant predictor of daily helplessness, such that participants who reported increases in helplessness in response to the RACE task later reported feeling less daily helplessness. In contrast, participants who reported more anger and helplessness in response to the TV task experienced significantly more anger and helplessness during the day in comparison to those who had less of an emotional reaction to the stress task. These findings suggest that race-related stress elicits acute emotional reactivity that may continue to influence mood beyond exposure to the original stressor.
Weisberg, J. (2011). Introduction. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 18, 7-20.
This special issue of the Journal of Consciousness Studies extends both the spirit and scope of the book, “Describing Inner Experience” (see record 2007-14525-000). Ten invited commentaries from leading researchers in philosophy and psychology challenge both Hurlburt’s impassioned defence of Descriptive Experience Sampling (DES) and Schwitzgebel-s persistent sceptical worries about introspection. In this brief introduction, I will present a sketch of the DES method and touch on some of the central themes raised in the book and in Hurlburt and Schwitzgebel-s replies. The debate moves in new and interesting directions, and problems initially brought out in the book receive extended treatment. The commentaries are informative stand-alone articles in their own right. And they in turn spark Hurlburt and Schwitzgebel-s spirited replies, making this special issue of the Journal of Consciousness Studies a fitting companion to the original work, extending the book-s conversation in exciting and productive directions. The issues at the heart of the book, and of this symposium, are the issues at the heart of consciousness studies. Anyone interested in the prospects for a scientific approach to consciousness will find this special issue rewarding - proponents and sceptics of introspection alike.
Wichers, M., Peeters, F., Rutten, B. P. F., Jacobs, N., Derom, C., Thiery, E. et al. (2011). A time-lagged momentary assessment study on daily life physical activity and affect. Health Psychology.
Objective: Novel study designs using within-subject methodology and frequent and prospective measurements are required to unravel direction of causality and dynamic processes of behavior over time. The current study examined the effects of physical activity on affective state. A primary and within-study replication sample was derived from twin pairs. Methods: Female twins (n = 504) participated in an experience sampling method study at baseline. Positive and negative affective changes were examined before and following daily life increases in physical activity. Neuroticism was measured at baseline and depressive symptoms were assessed at baseline and at each of four follow-up assessments. Diagnoses, derived by Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Health-IV axis I disorders, (A. P. A., 1994) were obtained at baseline. Results: A significant increase in positive affect (PA) following the moment of increase in physical activity was replicated across both samples up to 180 min after physical activity. There was no effect of physical activity on negative affect (NA). Across the two samples, a history of fulfilling diagnostic criteria for depression at least once moderated the effect of physical activity on PA, in that the effect was lost more rapidly. Conclusions: The study supports a causal effect of physical activity on PA. However, people with past experience of clinical depression may benefit less from the PA-inducing effect of physical activity. These findings have implications for the use of physical exercise in clinical practice.
Wichers, M., Simons, C. J. P., Kramer, I. M. A., Hartmann, J. A., Lothmann, C., Myin-Germeys, I. et al. (2011). Momentary assessment technology as a tool to help patients with depression help themselves. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 124, 262-272.
Objective: Given high relapse rates and residual symptoms in depression, new strategies to increase treatment effectiveness are required. A promising avenue is to investigate how electronic momentary assessment technology may contribute to clinical assessment and interventions in depression. Method: A literature search was conducted focusing on the potential contribution of momentary assessments to clinical applications in depression. Results: Momentary assessments are able to reveal subtle, small but repetitive and relevant patterns of emotional expression that predict future course of depression. A momentary assessment tool may expose manageable pieces of daily life behaviour contributing to the depressive experience that patients can influence. The use of this explicit knowledge of daily life experience is understudied with regard to its contribution to diagnostic assessment, monitoring of treatment effects and feedback interventions in depressed patients. The clinical application of momentary assessments may stimulate a shift from passive consumption of treatment to an active role for patients in their recovery and increased patient ownership. Conclusion: The precise, prospective and fine-grained information that momentary assessment technology provides may contribute to clinical practice in various ways. Future studies should examine the clinical impact of its use and the feasibility of its implementation in mental health care.
Yang, C. C., Hsu, Y. L., Shih, K. S., & Lu, J. M. (2011). Real-Time Gait Cycle Parameter Recognition Using a Wearable Accelerometry System. Sensors.(Basel), 11, 7314-7326.
This paper presents the development of a wearable accelerometry system for real-time gait cycle parameter recognition. Using a tri-axial accelerometer, the wearable motion detector is a single waist-mounted device to measure trunk accelerations during walking. Several gait cycle parameters, including cadence, step regularity, stride regularity and step symmetry can be estimated in real-time by using autocorrelation procedure. For validation purposes, five Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients and five young healthy adults were recruited in an experiment. The gait cycle parameters among the two subject groups of different mobility can be quantified and distinguished by the system. Practical considerations and limitations for implementing the autocorrelation procedure in such a real-time system are also discussed. This study can be extended to the future attempts in real-time detection of disabling gaits, such as festinating or freezing of gait in PD patients. Ambulatory rehabilitation, gait assessment and personal telecare for people with gait disorders are also possible applications
Zunker, C., Peterson, C. B., Crosby, R. D., Cao, L., Engel, S. G., Mitchell, J. E. et al. (2011). Ecological momentary assessment of bulimia nervosa: Does dietary restriction predict binge eating? Behaviour Research and Therapy, 49, 714-717.
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between caloric restriction (CR) and binge eating (BE) using ecological momentary assessment (EMA). Participants included 133 women with bulimia nervosa (BN) who completed an EMA protocol for 2 weeks. Logistic regression analyses tested whether CR increased the probability of BE episodes. The results revealed that the odds of BE increased on the day that restriction occurred as well as on the following day. In addition, both restriction and BE on one day predicted the likelihood of BE the subsequent day, but restriction for two days prior to the episode failed to add additional information for predicting BE. These findings support the cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) model of BN, suggesting that self-reported dietary restriction is predictive of subsequent BE episodes, and that reducing dietary restriction in treatment may lead to improvements in bulimic symptoms.