health studies

roseman et al

aim : investigate the health effects of type A personality (competitive, critical and anger shown in conflict).

procedure : 3154 men (aged 39-59), looking at the onset of contrary heart disease (CHD) and it’s link between type A and type B personalities.

findings : 70% of CHD patients had type A personality. when matched with smoking/ lack of exercise/ low cholesterol levels/ blood pressure, type A was 2x more likely than type B.

kendler and prescott

aim : examine the substance use among MZ and DZ twins.

procedure : telephone interviews around lifetime cocaine use, abuse, dependence of addiction (485 MZ and 335 DZ).

findings : use = similar between MZ and DZ, abuse and dependence between them are strikingly different (very clear genetic role).

alexander ‘rat park’

aim : investigate the relationship between drugs and environmental setting in rats.

procedure : put rats in ‘rat park’ where they are free to roam, play, socialise and have sex. there were 2 separate hydration stations, one with pure water and one that was drug laced.

findings : rats preferred the plain water, opposing previous research of isolated rats.

weinstein

aim : investigate the role of optimism bias on the perception of health risks.

procedure : 88 students filled out a questionnaire around 11 health and safety risk. they were asked to reflect on their level of worry and their likelihood of the risk. group 1 - control group, group 2 - individual risk (some are more prone), group 3 - given the averages of other similar people.

findings : group 2 had the most optimism bias due to them being unaware of the risks to other people similar to them. group 3, because they were made aware of the risks, had the lowest optimism bias.

neupert et al

aim : to investigate risk perception, readiness to change and optimism bias within sunbathing behaviours.

procedure : 722 swedish participants from a mobile screening service for skin cancer. all took part in structured interviews regarding freq of sunbathing, risk perception, judgement of their own ability to protect themselves from skin cancer and their readiness to change their sunbathing habits.

findings : most underestimate the frequency of of skin cancer patients in the population, 85% did not intend to stop sun bathing; even after being aware of the chances of sin cancer developing (showing a low sense of self efficacy).

felitti et al

aim : the effects of ACEs on the onset of depression in adults.

procedure : questionnaire regarding ACEs (such as domestic violence, suicidal caregivers, substance abuse, sexual abuse) was sent out after a standardised medical evaluation (from the kaiser medical evaluation).

findings : increased risk of health issues with more ACEs, having 4 or more ACEs can make you 12x more susceptible to health risks.

vandelanotte et al

aim : investigate whether computer use has negative effects on health.

procedure : questionnaire on height/ weight, physical activity in the last 7 days, time spent on the internet/ computer.

findings : high leisure computer time = 2.5x more likely to be obese.