Changing how I feel about the food: experimentally manipulated affective associations with fruits change fruit choice behaviors

Disgusted, embarrassed, annoyed: affective associations relate to uptake of colonoscopy screening

BACKGROUND

Uptake of colorectal cancer screening is lower than desired. Screening decision making research has traditionally focused on benefits and barriers to screening. This study examines the relation of affective associations with screening (feelings and emotions associated with screening) to colonoscopy screening uptake.

METHODS

Participants were 103 African American community adults. Participants completed a structured interview assessing perceived benefits of and barriers to colonoscopy screening, affective associations with colonoscopy, colonoscopy screening behavior, and intentions for future screening.

RESULTS

Higher positive and lower negative affective associations with screening were both significant predictors of colonoscopy uptake. Affective associations fully mediated the relation of perceived benefits and barriers to screening uptake. Affective associations were associated with intentions for future screening.

CONCLUSIONS

Incorporation of affective associations into models of screening decision making and intervention approaches to address screening compliance has utility for advancing our understanding of screening adherence as well as increasing screening rates.

A new approach to assessing affect and the emotional implications of personal genomic testing for common disease risk

AIMS

Personal genomic testing (PGT) for common disease risk is becoming increasingly frequent, but little is known about people's array of emotional reactions to learning their genomic risk profiles and the psychological harms/benefits of PGT. We conducted a study of post-PGT affect, including positive, neutral, and negative states that may arise after testing.

METHODS

A total of 228 healthy adults received PGT for common disease variants and completed a semistructured research interview within 2 weeks of disclosure. The study participants reported how the PGT results made them feel in their own words. Using an iterative coding process, the responses were organized into three broad affective categories: negative, neutral, and positive affect.

RESULTS

Neutral affect was the most prevalent response (53.9%), followed by positive affect (26.9%) and negative affect (19.2%). We found no differences by gender, race, or education.

CONCLUSIONS

While <20% of participants reported negative affect in response to learning their genomic risk profile for common diseases, a majority experienced either neutral or positive emotions. These findings contribute to the growing evidence that PGT does not impose significant psychological harms. Moreover, they point to a need to better link theories and assessments in both emotional and cognitive processing to capitalize on PGT information for healthy behavior change.

Implicit affective associations predict snack choice for those with low, but not high levels of eating disorder symptomatology

The central purpose of the current study was to examine whether eating disorder symptomatology moderates the extent to which implicitly and explicitly measured affective associations with fruits, or the feelings individuals associate with them, predict food choice. Participants (N = 107) completed both implicit and explicit measures of affective associations with fruits, a self-report of eating disorder symptomatology. In a subsequent snack selection task, they selected either a granola bar or fruit as a measure of their food choice behavior. Logistic regression analyses revealed that eating disorder symptomatology moderated the relation of implicit affective associations on behavior, OR = 0.27, p = .024, 95% CI (0.085, 0.84). A test of the simple effects indicated that implicit affective associations predicted snack choice at or below mean symptomatology levels [OR = 2.073, p = .02, 95% CI (1.12, 3.84)], but not at high levels [OR = 0.56, p = .28, 95% CI (0.18, 1.74)]. The effects of explicit measures on eating behavior were not moderated by eating disorder symptomatology (ps > .05). These findings advance our understanding of both the relation of implicit affective associations on behavior, as well as the ways in which eating disorder symptomatology may impact the decision-making process, thereby perpetuating disorder-related eating behavior. As such, they have implications for both health decision-making theory, as well as for the study and treatment of eating disorders.