Faking self-reports of health behavior: a comparison between a within- and a between-subjects design

Fruit and vegetable intake, physical activity, and functional fitness among older adults in urban Alaska

Older adults often face barriers to obtaining recommended diet, physical activity, and fitness levels. Understanding these patterns can inform effective interventions targeting health beliefs and behavior. This cross-sectional study included a multicultural sample of 58 older adults (aged 55+ years, M=71.98) living in independent senior housing in urban Southcentral Alaska. Participants completed a questionnaire and the Senior Fitness Test that assessed self-reported fruit and vegetable intake, physical activity, self-efficacy, and functional fitness. T-tests and bivariate correlation analyses were used to test six hypotheses. Results indicated that participants had low physical activity but had a mean fruit and vegetable intake that was statistically significantly higher than the hypothesized "low" score. Only 4.26% of participants met functional fitness standards for balance/agility, and 8.51% met standards for lower-body strength. However, 51.1% met standards for upper-body strength and 46.8% met standards for endurance The results also indicated that nutrition self-efficacy and exercise self-efficacy were positively related to fruit and vegetable intake and physical activity levels, respectively. Interestingly, income was not related to nutrition or activity patterns. These data complicate the picture on dietary and physical activity patterns for older adults in Alaska and offer recommendations for future health promotion activities.

Body dissatisfaction, negative affect, and engagement in healthy behaviors: The conditional effect of future-self continuity

The relationship between body dissatisfaction and negative affect is complex, with some research suggesting that this combination motivates individuals to engage in more health-related behaviors; while other studies find it increases unhealthy behavior. To bridge this gap, it may be the case that to the extent these individuals have continuity between their present and future selves, the more likely they are able to make positive health-related choices with this future self in mind. We examined individuals (n = 344; 51.74% men) aged between 18 and 72 years (M = 39.66, SD = 11.49) who endorsed high negative affect along with body dissatisfaction but either had high or low levels of future self-continuity. We found individuals experiencing body dissatisfaction and negative affect reported higher engagement in healthy behaviors only if they had a strong connection to their future self, index of moderated mediation = 0.07 (95% CI = 0.02, 0.13). These findings support targeting future-self continuity in therapeutic regimens to bolster engagement in healthy behaviors among individuals with body dissatisfaction and high negative affect.

Evaluating self-reported retrospective average daily fruit, vegetable, and egg intake: Trustworthy-Sometimes!

Retrospective self-reports are commonly used to assess dietary intake. Yet, their use is criticized as it is unclear whether the underlying assumptions for valid self-reports are met: Individuals have to consider the behavior of all days in the retention interval and weigh the behavior of all days equally. This study examines whether these assumptions for retrospective self-reports are met and whether interindividual differences in self-report performance are relevant regarding these assumptions. Ninety-two participants aged 18-61 years participated in seven sequential 24-h recalls and one retrospective 7-day recall concerning their intake of fruit, vegetables, and eggs. A multiple linear regression approach was used to examine the relation between the daily reported dietary intake and the 7-day recall. In the overall sample, the requirements for retrospective self-reports were not tenable. Distinguishing good and poor self-reporters based on a rational criterion showed that the requirements can be taken as given for good self-reporters, whereas poor self-reporters base their retrospective self-reports mostly on recency effects. The underlying requirements for retrospective self-reports appear to be met in two thirds of the sample, supporting the use of retrospective self-reports to capture dietary behavior. Future research should investigate characteristics separating good from poor self-reporters.

Specific health beliefs mediate sex differences in food choice

Objective

Although sex differences in dietary habits are well documented, the etiology of those differences is still a focus of research. The present study examines the role of specific health beliefs regarding healthy amounts of food for food choice and its relation to sex, more specifically, the assumption that sex differences in food choices are mediated by differentiating health beliefs.

Method

212 German participants (44.3% female) aged 18-70 answered an online self-report questionnaire on their dietary habits and health beliefs, based on the recommendations of the German Nutrition Society.

Results

Most of the anticipated sex differences in food choice and some differences in health beliefs were found. The mediation hypothesis was partly supported, as the relationship between sex and fruit, vegetable, and fish consumption was mediated by the respective health beliefs. However, no mediation effects were found for meat, egg, cereal, and milk product consumption.

Conclusion

The support for the mediation hypothesis aligns with previous findings and indicates that health beliefs might be an important pathway to fostering healthier food choices, especially for men. Nonetheless, sex differences in food choice were only partially mediated by sex differences in specific health beliefs, indicating that future studies might benefit from parallel mediation analyses to reveal the impact of other relevant factors influencing sex differences in food choice.

A scenario-based quasi-experimental study of co-workers’ cognitive responses to an individual’s resource-focused job crafting

Research on job crafting has demonstrated a more positive effect of an individual’s approach crafting on co-workers and supervisors compared to the effect of avoidance crafting, but how the availability of resources and demands affects this relationship remains unclear. Our study investigates co-workers’ cognitive responses to an individual’s resource-focused job crafting when resources are finite. We applied a scenario-based quasi-experimental research design to test the moderating effect of resource availability on the relationship between an individual’s resource-focused job crafting and co-workers’ evaluation. The results show that co-workers rate avoidance resources crafting as more destructive than approach resources crafting. When an individual steps away from unlimited resources, co-workers perceive the behavior more negatively than they do when the individual avoids limited resources. For approaching resources, the effect is reversed. The study provides insights into co-workers’ responses to job crafting and the influence of contextual factors.

Prevalence and effects of sleep-disordered breathing on middle-aged patients with sedative-free generalized anxiety disorder: A prospective case-control study

OBJECTIVE

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) share similar symptoms, such as poor sleep quality, irritability, and poor concentration during daily activities. This study aims to investigate the proportion of undiagnosed SDB and its impacts on anxiety severity and autonomic function in newly diagnosed, sedative-free GAD patients.

METHODS

This prospective case-control study included newly diagnosed GAD patients and control participants with matched age, sex, and body mass index (BMI) in Taiwan. All participants completed questionnaires for sleep and mood symptoms and a resting 5-min heart rate variability (HRV) examination during enrollment. The participants also used a home sleep apnea test to detect SDB. An oxygen desaturation index (ODI) ≥ 5 was considered indicative of SDB.

RESULTS

In total, 56 controls and 47 newly diagnosed GAD participants (mean age 55.31 ± 12.36 years, mean BMI 23.41 ± 3.42 kg/m²) were included. There was no significant difference in the proportion of undiagnosed SDB in the control and sedative-free GAD groups (46.43 vs. 51.06%). Sedative-free GAD patients with SDB scored significantly higher on Beck Anxiety Inventory (23.83 ± 11.54) than those without SDB (16.52 ± 10.61) (p < 0.001). Both control and sedative-free GAD groups with SDB had worse global autonomic function than the control group without SDB, as evidenced by the HRV results (p < 0.05 for all).

CONCLUSION

Average age 55 years and mean BMI 23 kg/m² patients with GAD and matched controls had an undiagnosed SDB prevalence of approximately 50%. SDB correlated with worsening anxiety severity and reduced cardiac autonomic function. Moreover, age and BMI were considered major risk factors for predicting undiagnosed SDB.