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Stenlund S, Koivumaa-Honkanen H, Sillanmäki L, Lagström H, Rautava P, Suominen S. Changed health behavior improves subjective well-being and vice versa in a follow-up of 9 years. Health Qual Life Outcomes 2022; 20:66. [PMID: 35449057 PMCID: PMC9027415 DOI: 10.1186/s12955-022-01972-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2021] [Accepted: 04/06/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Previous research on health behavior and subjective well-being has mainly focused on interindividual differences or explored certain domains of health behavior. Good health behavior and subjective well-being at baseline can predict each other after a follow-up. In the present cohort study, we explored the outcomes of change for an individual i.e., how changed health behavior is reflected in subsequent subjective well-being and vice versa. Methods Data (n = 10,855) originates from a population-based Health and Social Support (HeSSup) study on working-age Finns in 2003 and 2012. A composite measure of health behavior included physical activity, dietary habits, alcohol consumption, and smoking status (range 0–4, worst–best) and a composite measure of subjective well-being (with reversed scoring) included three life assessments, i.e., interest, happiness, and ease in life, and perceived loneliness (range 4–20, best–worst). Different multiple linear regression models were used to study how changes in health behavior predict subjective well-being and the opposite, how changes in subjective well-being predict health behavior. Results A positive change in health behavior from 2003 to 2012 predicted better subjective well-being (i.e., on average 0.31 points lower subjective well-being sum score), whereas a negative change predicted poorer subjective well-being (i.e., 0.37 points higher subjective well-being sum score) (both: p < 0.001) compared to those study subjects who had no change in health behavior. Similarly, when a positive and negative change in subjective well-being was studied, these figures were 0.071 points better and 0.072 points worse (both: p < 0.001) health behavior sum score, respectively. When the magnitude of the effect of change was compared to the range of scale of the outcome the effect of health behavior change appeared stronger than that of subjective well-being. Conclusion Changes in health behavior and subjective well-being have long-term effects on the level of the other, the effect of the first being slightly stronger than vice versa. These mutual long-term benefits can be used as a motivator in health promotion on individual and societal levels. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12955-022-01972-4.
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Affiliation(s)
- Säde Stenlund
- Department of Public Health, University of Turku, 20014, Turku, Finland. .,Research Services, Turku University Hospital, 20014, Turku, Finland.
| | - Heli Koivumaa-Honkanen
- Institute of Clinical Medicine, Psychiatry, University of Eastern Finland, 70211, Kuopio, Finland.,Mental Health and Wellbeing Center, Kuopio University Hospital, 70029, Kuopio, Finland
| | - Lauri Sillanmäki
- Department of Public Health, University of Turku, 20014, Turku, Finland.,Research Services, Turku University Hospital, 20014, Turku, Finland.,Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Hanna Lagström
- Department of Public Health, University of Turku, 20014, Turku, Finland.,Centre for Population Health Research, University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, 20014, Turku, Finland
| | - Päivi Rautava
- Department of Public Health, University of Turku, 20014, Turku, Finland.,Research Services, Turku University Hospital, 20014, Turku, Finland
| | - Sakari Suominen
- Department of Public Health, University of Turku, 20014, Turku, Finland.,Research Services, Turku University Hospital, 20014, Turku, Finland.,School of Health Sciences, University of Skövde, 54128, Skövde, Sweden
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Stenlund S, Koivumaa-Honkanen H, Sillanmäki L, Lagström H, Rautava P, Suominen S. Subjective well-being predicts health behavior in a population-based 9-years follow-up of working-aged Finns. Prev Med Rep 2021; 24:101635. [PMID: 34976687 PMCID: PMC8684019 DOI: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2021.101635] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2021] [Revised: 11/10/2021] [Accepted: 11/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Subjective well-being predicts subsequent health behavior in a 9-years of follow-up. Neither direction of influence was stronger as compared to the other one. Enhancing subjective well-being could serve as an additional support for health behavior change.
The cross-sectional association between measures of subjective well-being (SWB) and various health behaviors is well-established. In this 9-year (2003–2012) follow-up study, we explored how a composite indicator of SWB (range 4–20) with four items (interest, happiness, and ease in life, as well as perceived loneliness) predicts a composite health behavior measure (range 0–4) including dietary habits, physical activity, alcohol consumption, and smoking status. Study subjects (n = 10,855) originated from a population-based random sample of working-age Finns in the Health and Social Support study (HeSSup). According to linear regression analysis, better SWB predicted better health behavior sum score with a β = 0.019 (p < 0.001) with a maximum effect of 0.3 points after adjusting for age (p = 0.038), gender (p < 0.001), education (p = 0.55), baseline self-reported diseases (p = 0.020), baseline health behavior (β = 0.49, p < 0.001), and the interaction between SWB and education (p < 0.001). The results suggest that SWB has long-term positive effect on health behavior. Thus, interventions aiming at health behavioral changes could benefit from taking into account SWB and its improvement in the intervention.
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Stenlund S, Junttila N, Koivumaa-Honkanen H, Sillanmäki L, Stenlund D, Suominen S, Lagström H, Rautava P. Longitudinal stability and interrelations between health behavior and subjective well-being in a follow-up of nine years. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0259280. [PMID: 34714864 PMCID: PMC8555827 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0259280] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2021] [Accepted: 10/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The bidirectional relationship between health behavior and subjective well-being has previously been studied sparsely, and mainly for individual health behaviors and regression models. In the present study, we deepen this knowledge focusing on the four principal health behaviors and using structural equation modeling with selected covariates. METHODS The follow-up data (n = 11,804) was derived from a population-based random sample of working-age Finns from two waves (2003 and 2012) of the Health and Social Support (HeSSup) postal survey. Structural equation modeling was used to study the cross-sectional, cross-lagged, and longitudinal relationships between the four principal health behaviors and subjective well-being at baseline and after the nine-year follow-up adjusted for age, gender, education, and self-reported diseases. The included health behaviors were physical activity, dietary habits, alcohol consumption, and smoking status. Subjective well-being was measured through four items comprising happiness, interest, and ease in life, and perceived loneliness. RESULTS Bidirectionally, only health behavior in 2003 predicted subjective well-being in 2012, whereas subjective well-being in 2003 did not predict health behavior in 2012. In addition, the cross-sectional interactions in 2003 and in 2012 between health behavior and subjective well-being were statistically significant. The baseline levels predicted their respective follow-up levels, the effect being stronger in health behavior than in subjective well-being. CONCLUSION The four principal health behaviors together predict subsequent subjective well-being after an extensive follow-up. Although not particularly strong, the results could still be used for motivation for health behavior change, because of the beneficial effects of health behavior on subjective well-being.
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Affiliation(s)
- Säde Stenlund
- Department of Public Health, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
- Research Services, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland
| | - Niina Junttila
- Department of Teacher Education, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
| | - Heli Koivumaa-Honkanen
- Institute of Clinical Medicine, Psychiatry, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland
- Mental Health and Wellbeing Center, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland
| | - Lauri Sillanmäki
- Department of Public Health, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
- Research Services, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland
- Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - David Stenlund
- Faculty of Science and Engineering, Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland
| | - Sakari Suominen
- Department of Public Health, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
- Research Services, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland
- School of Health Sciences, University of Skövde, Skövde, Sweden
| | - Hanna Lagström
- Department of Public Health, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
- Research Services, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland
- Centre for Population Health Research, University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland
| | - Päivi Rautava
- Department of Public Health, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
- Research Services, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland
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Trudel-Fitzgerald C, James P, Kim ES, Zevon ES, Grodstein F, Kubzansky LD. Prospective associations of happiness and optimism with lifestyle over up to two decades. Prev Med 2019; 126:105754. [PMID: 31220509 PMCID: PMC6697576 DOI: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2019.105754] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2019] [Revised: 06/11/2019] [Accepted: 06/16/2019] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Greater levels of psychological well-being are associated with reduced disease and mortality risk, and lifestyle habits may be potential mechanisms underlying these relationships. Prospective studies show that positive psychological factors enhance the likelihood of adopting specific health behaviors; yet, whether they promote the adoption of multiple healthy behaviors, which can have a multiplicative effect on disease and mortality risk compared to individual behaviors, is unknown. We investigated whether happiness and optimism were related to a healthy lifestyle (characterized by multiple health behaviors) over 10-22 years of follow-up; we also explored bidirectional associations, assessing if a healthy lifestyle at baseline was related to greater likelihood of experiencing higher happiness and optimism over time. Women reported levels of happiness in 1992 (N = 52,133) and optimism in 2004 (N = 36,802). Health-related behaviors (physical activity, body mass index, diet, alcohol and tobacco consumption) were self-reported and combined into a lifestyle score, every four years from baseline until 2014. Multivariable generalized estimating equations with a Poisson distribution were used. Women with moderate and higher (versus lower) happiness levels were more likely to report sustaining healthy lifestyles (RR = 1.18, CI = 1.11-1.25; RR = 1.39, CI = 1.32-1.46, respectively). In secondary analyses, the magnitude of the inverse association was somewhat smaller (likelihood of sustaining higher happiness levels for baseline healthy versus unhealthy lifestyle, RR = 1.11, CI = 1.10-1.12). Results were similar when considering optimism as the exposure and in other secondary analyses (e.g., across individual habits). While bidirectional associations are apparent, these findings suggest pursuing happiness and optimism as modifiable determinants of lifestyle deserves further consideration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claudia Trudel-Fitzgerald
- Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, United States of America; Lee Kum Sheung Center for Health and Happiness, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, United States of America.
| | - Peter James
- Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, United States of America
| | - Eric S Kim
- Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, United States of America
| | - Emily S Zevon
- Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, United States of America
| | - Francine Grodstein
- Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, United States of America; Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, United States of America
| | - Laura D Kubzansky
- Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, United States of America; Lee Kum Sheung Center for Health and Happiness, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, United States of America
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Liautaud MM, Leventhal AM, Pang RD. Happiness as a Buffer of the Association Between Dependence and Acute Tobacco Abstinence Effects in African American Smokers. Nicotine Tob Res 2018; 20:1215-1222. [PMID: 29059368 PMCID: PMC6121915 DOI: 10.1093/ntr/ntx216] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2017] [Accepted: 09/25/2017] [Indexed: 11/14/2022]
Abstract
Introduction African American (AA) smokers are at disproportionate risk of tobacco dependence, utilizing smoking to regulate stress, and poor cessation outcomes. Positive emotional traits may function as coping factors that buffer the extent to which dependence increases vulnerability to adverse responses to acute tobacco abstinence (ie, tobacco withdrawal). This laboratory study examined subjective happiness (SH; dispositional orientation towards frequent and intense positive affect [PA] and life satisfaction) as a moderator of the relation between tobacco dependence and subjective and behavioral abstinence effects among AA smokers. Methods AA smokers (N = 420, 39.0% female) completed self-report measures of tobacco dependence and SH followed by two counterbalanced experimental sessions (nonabstinent vs. 16-hour abstinent) involving self-report measures of composite withdrawal, urge to smoke, and mood, and a behavioral smoking task in which participants could: (1) earn money to delay smoking reinstatement, and (2) subsequently purchase cigarettes to smoke. Results Tobacco dependence was positively associated with increased abstinence effects in composite withdrawal, urge to smoke, PA, and latency to smoking reinstatement (ps < .04). SH significantly moderated the relation between dependence and abstinence-induced increases in composite withdrawal (β = -.17, p < .001), such that the predictive power of dependence on withdrawal severity grew proportionately weaker as levels of SH increased. Conclusions SH may insulate against adverse effects of dependence on withdrawal during acute smoking abstinence, particularly withdrawal symptom clusters that are craving- and mood-based. Consideration of positive emotional traits as stress-coping factors in the dependence-withdrawal link may be warranted in research and practice with AA smokers. Implications The current study contributes to a growing body of literature examining the potentially advantageous role of positive emotional traits to smokers. We do so by identifying a relatively understudied psychological construct within tobacco research-subjective happiness-that may suppress the extent to which more severe tobacco dependence increases risk for subjective withdrawal-related distress during acute smoking abstinence in AA smokers. In doing so, the study provides a primer for future targeting of subjective happiness and other positive emotional traits as means to understand and treat acute tobacco abstinence effects among dependent AA smokers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Madalyn M Liautaud
- Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA
| | - Adam M Leventhal
- Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA
- Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
| | - Raina D Pang
- Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA
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