Higher Socioeconomic Status Participants Research Articles

National trends in nine key minerals intake (quantity and source) among U.S. adults, 1999 to march 2020

BackgroundChanges in economy and dietary guidelines brought a great shock to diet quality and meal behaviors, but if these transformations have extended to minerals intake and their sources was still poorly understood. It is essential to evaluate time trends in minerals intake and their sources to inform policy makers.ObjectiveTo investigate trends in minerals intake and their sources among U.S. adults.MethodsThis analysis used dietary data collected by 24-h recalls from U.S. adults (≥ 20 years) in NHANES (1999-March 2020). Minerals intake, age-adjusted percentage of participants meeting recommendations, and minerals sources were calculated among all participants and by population subgroups in each NHANES survey cycle. Weighted linear or logistic regression models were used to examine the statistical significance of time trends.ResultsA total of 48223 U.S. adults were included in this analysis. From 1999 to March 2020, intake of calcium (from 0.94 to 1.02 g/day), magnesium (from 308.07 to 321.85 mg/day), phosphorus (from 1.24 to 1.30 g/day), and sodium (from 3.24 to 3.26 mg/day) from food and beverages (FB) and dietary supplements (DSs) significantly increased, and intake of iron (from 19.17 to 16.38 mg/day), zinc (from 16.45 to 14.19 mg/day), copper (from 1.79 to 1.38 mg/day), and potassium (from 2.65 to 2.50 g/day) from FB + DSs decreased (all FDR < 0.05). Additionally, age-adjusted percentage of participants meeting recommendations for calcium, phosphorus, sodium, and selenium significantly increased, that for iron, potassium, zinc, and copper decreased (all FDR < 0.05). Minerals intake and time trends in minerals intake were highly variable depending on age, gender, race/ethnicity, education, and income. For example, white, higher socioeconomic status participants had a higher minerals intake (e.g. iron, zinc, and copper), but had a greater decrease in minerals intake. Furthermore, the percentage of minerals from milks and DSs decreased, and that from beverages increased.ConclusionFrom 1999 to March 2020, both minerals intake and their sources experienced a significant alteration among U.S. adults. Many differences in minerals intake and their food sources across sociodemographic characteristics appeared to narrow over time. Although some improvements were observed, important challenges, such as overconsumption of sodium and underconsumption of potassium, calcium, and magnesium, still remained among U.S. adults.

Trend, regional variation and socioeconomic inequality in cardiovascular disease among the elderly population in China: evidence from a nationwide longitudinal study during 2011–2018

IntroductionCardiovascular disease (CVD) continues to pose a significant burden among the elderly population in China. There is a knowledge gap in the temporal trends, regional variations and socioeconomic inequalities among...

Broadening Convenience Samples to Advance Theoretical Progress and Avoid Bias in Developmental Science

Diverse samples are valuable to the study of development, and to psychology more broadly. But convenience samples—typically recruited from local populations close to universities—are still the most widely used in developmental science, despite the fact that their use leads to a vast over-representation of Western, White, and high socio-economic status participants in our studies. Do convenience samples still have a place in our research? While diverse samples are crucial to advancing developmental science, policies designed to encourage recruitment of such samples may not always succeed in improving sample diversity in ways that will benefit our theories and reduce bias. Further, convenience samples are just, well, convenient – and because their costs are lower, they allow for faster and more precise research. We suggest three paths forward to resolve this tension: 1) use theory and observed variation to choose aspects of diversity to prioritize in a particular study; 2) use online methods as an important route to broaden which samples are convenient; and 3) work in teams to achieve “inconvenient” samples using many different convenience populations.

Associations of healthy lifestyle and three latent socioeconomic status patterns with physical multimorbidity among middle-aged and older adults in China

BackgroundMultimorbidity is an emerging global public health concern. However, complex associations of healthy lifestyle and socioeconomic status (SES) with multimorbidity have not been identified. MethodsThis population-based prospective cohort study used data from four waves of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) to explore these relationships. Physical multimorbidity was measured using 12 non-communicable diseases. Latent class analysis (LCA) was conducted to determine the optimal SES patterns based on annual per-capita household expenditure, occupation, education level, and health insurance. The healthy lifestyle score (0–5) was constructed comprising information on smoking, drinking, physical activity, sleep, and body shape. ResultsOf 17,708 participants in the CHARLS, 7776 were eligible for inclusion in our analysis (13.3% with high SES, 26.1% with medium SES, and 60.6% with low SES). Compared with high SES participants, those with low SES had higher risks of incident physical multimorbidity (OR 1.22, 95% CI 1.05, 1.42), which was competitively mediated by lifestyle (mediation proportion, −10.17%, 95% CI -19.12%, −1.23%). Significant interactions were observed between lifestyle factors and SES in patients with incident diabetes. Participants with low SES and no or one healthy lifestyle factor had a higher risk of incident physical multimorbidity than those with high SES and four to five healthy lifestyle factors (OR 2.19, 95% CI 1.57, 3.04). ConclusionHealthy lifestyles competitively mediate a fractional proportion of socioeconomic inequity in incident physical multimorbidity. Furthermore, healthy lifestyles were associated with lower multimorbidity risk in the SES subgroups, supporting the important role of lifestyle in reducing physical multimorbidity burden.

Experiences of resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative study among high and low socio-economic status individuals in the Netherlands

Resilience to adverse events is increasingly recognized as important for human health. Socio-economic status (SES) is also frequently identified as a predictor of resilience. However, it is not well-understood how people define resilience in their everyday lives, and whether individuals have different experiences of resilience based on their SES. This study sought to fill these gaps, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and pandemic mitigation policies in the Netherlands.We interviewed high (n = 38) and low (n = 37) SES participants about their understanding and experiences of resilience during this period. Participants took part in individual interviews and focus groups in September 2021. Transcripts were analyzed thematically.A key theme was coping with adversity, in line with commonly-used definitions of resilience. However, we found that resilience was often defined more broadly. Resilience also encompassed aspects of self-reflection and improvement, and faith in oneself, the community and the nation. There were also key differences by SES background: elaborate and optimistic definitions and experiences of resilience were more often described by high SES individuals. For instance, high SES participants more frequently defined resilience as growing and improving. In contrast, low SES participants more commonly experienced resilience as enduring until better times arrived.Having a higher SES seemed to support resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic. This indicates that adverse events may exacerbate pre-existing financial and material difficulties among low SES individuals. This finding underscores the importance of addressing financial precarity prior to adverse events.

Looking Competent Does Not Appeal to All Voters Equally: The Role of Social Class and Politicians' Facial Appearance for Voting Likelihood.

Voters generally value competence in politicians. Four studies, all conducted in Germany, show that this is especially pronounced in people of higher compared with lower social class. The first study, with a representative sample (N1 = 2239), found that the reported importance of competence in politicians increased with increasing socioeconomic status (SES). This was mediated by self-perceived competence which was higher in participants of higher SES. In three further studies (two preregistered, N2a&2b = 396, N3 = 400) participants merely saw pictures of politicians' faces. Perceived competence based on facial appearance increased the likelihood of voting for a politician. Again, this effect was stronger among participants of higher compared with lower SES. This moderation persisted after controlling for participants' political orientation and politicians' perceived warmth and dominance. We discuss implications for future research on the psychological underpinnings of social class as well as appearance effects in the political context.

Socioeconomic status differences in psychological responses to unfair treatments: Behavioral evidence of a vicious cycle.

Two studies investigated whether lower socioeconomic status (SES) would be associated with greater tolerance for unfair treatments. Specifically, we hypothesized that individuals with lower SES would be less likely to perceive apparent injustice as unfair than those with higher SES, and furthermore, such differences in perception would lead to the corresponding differences in ensuing psychological responses. In support of the hypotheses, we found that (Study 1, N = 326; Study 2, N = 130), compared with higher SES participants, lower SES participants perceived one-sidedly disadvantageous distribution during the dictator game as less unfair. Moreover, a behavioral experiment in Study 2 showed that such tolerance for unfair treatments were associated with subsequent passive reactions in the ultimatum game. Taken together, the results imply a vicious cycle whereby the SES differences in a tendency to accept unfair treatments lead to psychological responses that may maintain or even strengthen the existing social disparities.

Socioeconomic status biases among children and adolescents: The role of school diversity and teacher beliefs in Nepal.

Investigating socioeconomic status (SES) biases, Nepalese children and adolescents (N=605, 52% girls, Mage =13.21, SDage =1.74) attending schools that varied by SES composition were asked to anticipate whether a peer would include a high or low SES character as a math partner. Novel findings were that students attending mixed SES schools were more likely to expect inclusion of a low SES character than were students attending high SES schools. With age, high SES participants attending mixed SES schools increasingly expected the inclusion of the low SES character. Moreover, teachers' democratic beliefs in high SES schools predicted inclusive expectations. Teacher beliefs and school diversity play a significant role for fostering students' inclusivity in educational contexts.

A longitudinal investigation of intellectual functioning in youth at high risk for bipolar and depressive disorders

• Participants were 192 children of mothers with or without a diagnosed mood disorder. • Offspring's intelligence quotients were assessed from childhood to emerging adulthood. • Children of depressed vs healthy mothers had less of an increase in intelligence trajectories. • Cognitive functioning may be protective for male offspring of mood disorder mothers. • Limitations include small sample size and higher socioeconomic status participants.

Comparing different operationalizations of allostatic load measured in mid-life and their patterning by race and cumulative life course socioeconomic status

Since its conceptualization, there has been a lack of consensus on the best way to operationalize allostatic load (AL). As a marker of the cumulative, physiological wear and tear on the body resulting from chronic exposure to stressors, it follows that AL should be higher among people who have faced more stressful life experiences. Thus, the purpose of this study was to construct AL scores using different operationalizations and, as a measure of construct validity, compare whether each construction produced expected disparities in AL by race and a composite socioeconomic status (SES) variable which accounts for measures over the life course; we also explored differences by sex. We conducted the study in a sample of 45–52-year-old offspring from the Child Health and Development Studies, a longitudinal birth cohort established in the early 1960s. AL scores were constructed in 6 different ways and included 10 biomarkers from inflammatory, neuroendocrine, cardiovascular, and metabolic systems. Our main approach to constructing AL was to sum across high-risk biomarker quartiles, correct for medication use, and use sex-specific high-risk quartiles for specific biomarkers. Alternative constructions did not use sex-specific quartiles and/or weighted biomarkers within subsystems and/or did not correct for medication use. We estimated differences in AL scores by race, SES, sex and their pairwise interactions. All constructions of AL, including the main approach, produced expected disparities by race (higher scores for Black vs. non-Black participants) and life course SES (higher scores for low vs. high SES participants). However, disparities by sex only emerged when the AL score was constructed via approaches that did not use sex-specific high-risk quartiles; for these alternative constructions, overall, female participants had higher AL scores than male participants and Black female participants had the highest AL scores in the sample. For most constructions, the pairwise interaction between sex and SES, showed a stronger disparity in AL scores between low and high-SES female compared with low- and high-SES male participants; this suggests that, in terms of lowering AL, high life course SES may be more important for female than male participants. In conclusion, our results suggest that the basic AL concept is consistently expressed in different operationalizations, making it an especially useful and robust tool for understanding disparities by race and SES.

Emphasizing appeal over health promotes preference for nutritious foods in people of low socioeconomic status

People of low socioeconomic status (SES) have disproportionately poorer dietary health despite efforts to improve access and highlight the health benefits of nutritious foods. While health-focused labels and advertisements make healthier options easier to recognize, they can prime a number of negative associations about healthy foods (e.g., taste, satiety, cost), which may be particularly aversive for low SES groups. This within-subjects study recruited people of low and high SES (those without and with a college degree) and compared their product expectations, experiences, satiety, and choice when consuming a bottled fruit and vegetable smoothie promoted as pleasurable (“Crave”) or as healthy (“Nutralean”). Relative to Nutralean, Crave improved product expectations and behavioral measures of satiety across all participants. However, Crave enhanced expectations, experiences, and product choice more for low SES than high SES participants. Importantly, improvements were achieved without deception of nutritional facts and without decreasing perceived healthiness or increasing perceived cost. These findings identify SES as an important moderator in health-focused promotion and suggest how the rapidly growing healthy food industry can more effectively appeal to low SES groups, contexts which the majority of Americans navigate.

The influence of socio-economic status, age, gender, and level of literacy on language attitudes

AbstractThis study investigated the relationship between socio-economic status, age, gender, and literacy level and Haitian Gonâviens‘ attitudes towards Haitian Creole or Kreyòl and French. Most studies that investigated language attitudes of Creolophones have found that they have negative attitudes towards Kreyòl. Nevertheless, previous studies often included participants who are affiliated with education such as students, teachers, and language policy makers, or those from higher social classes. The current study, however, utilized a language attitudes questionnaire to collect data from 78 adult informants from diverse backgrounds. These participants included 21 highly literate, 51 partially literate and 6 illiterate Haitians. Findings revealed that participants of higher socio-economic status have more positive attitudes towards French than those from lower socio-economic status. Results also showed that there is a tendency for age, gender, and literacy level to affect language attitudes. For instance, positive attitudes towards Kreyòl were found to be more prevalent among older participants than younger respondents. Similarly, male participants had more negative attitudes towards French than female informants. Moreover, respondents of lower literacy levels had more negative attitudes towards French than those who were highly literate.

Association between daily number of eating occasions with fasting glucose and insulin sensitivity in adults from families at high risk for type 2 diabetes in Europe: the Feel4Diabetes Study

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to examine the association between the number of times one eats daily (termed eating occasions [EO]) with indices of glycemic control and insulin resistance (IR) in a large sample of adults from families at high risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) from six European countries. The study also considered sex and socioeconomic status (SES). MethodsStandardized questionnaires and procedures were used to assess sociodemographic characteristics, dietary intake, sedentary behavior, and anthropometric and biochemical indices. Univariate analysis of variance was used to investigate associations of daily EOs with fasting glucose (FG), fasting insulin (FI), and IR. ResultsIn 1552 adults (41.6 ± 7.2 y), three to four daily EOs rather than less than three were inversely associated with FG (β = –2.598; 95% confidence interval [CI], –4.521 to –0.675), independent of age, body mass index (BMI), dietary quality, and sedentary time. In women, three to four EOs per day were also associated with FG (β = –3.071; 95% CI to –5.573 to –0.570) independently of the mentioned confounders. In high SES participants, having more than four EOs per day had an inverse association with FI (β = –1.348; 95% CI to –2.583 to –0.114). No such associations were observed in men or in low SES participants. ConclusionIn adults at high risk for T2DM, and especially in women, having three to four daily EOs was inversely associated with FG, whereas in high SES participants, more than four EOs was associated with FI. Future studies should further elucidate the underlying mechanisms and offer insight into the optimum number of daily EOs for the prevention of T2DM especially in men and in adults with low SES where the number of daily EOs was not found to be significantly related to glycemic indices.

Self-Compassion, Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors, and Psychological Well-Being in Women

Despite pressures on women to make healthy lifestyle choices and a bevy of constantly changing fitness trends and gadgets, national trends related to women’s health reflect a decline in wellness and serious health disparities based on race and socioeconomic status. Therefore, factors underlying women’s success in adopting and maintaining healthy lifestyle behaviors continue to be an essential area for research in health promotion. Previous studies have preliminarily explored the role of self-compassion in women’s health with regard to exercise and eating although less is known about how these factors contribute to overall psychological well-being. In this study, we investigated the relationships between self-compassion, engagement in healthy lifestyle behaviors, and overall psychological well-being among a sample of 340 adults from diverse backgrounds. Results supported the hypothesis that more self-compassionate women engage more frequently in healthy lifestyle behaviors and experience greater psychological well-being. Engagement in healthy lifestyle behaviors partially mediated the relationship between self-compassion and psychological well-being, such that engagement in healthy lifestyle behaviors explained a significant amount of variance in psychological well-being over and above self-compassion. Participants of underrepresented ethnic and racial groups reported higher levels of self-compassion, and higher socioeconomic status participants reported greater engagement in healthy lifestyle behaviors.

Types of Nutrition Knowledge, Their Socio-Demographic Determinants and Their Association With Food Consumption: Results of the NEMONIT Study.

Objectives: To investigate nutrition knowledge in the German population, its determinants and its association with food consumption.Methods: Data were obtained from the NEMONIT study (2014/15, n = 1,505, participants' age: 22–80 years). Nutrition knowledge was measured using the consumer nutrition knowledge scale (CoNKS) in a computer-assisted telephone interview. Two 24-h recalls were conducted to assess food consumption, which was evaluated using the Healthy Eating Index-NVS II.Results: Areas for knowledge enhancement were the understanding of health benefits of fruit and vegetable consumption, the concept of a balanced diet and saturated fatty acids. Nutrition knowledge was higher among females, younger and high socio-economic status participants. Correlations between nutrition knowledge and a favorable diet were significant but low. Analyses of types of nutrition knowledge yielded similar results for procedural knowledge and knowledge on nutrients but not for knowledge on calories.Conclusions: Areas for knowledge enhancement were identified, but an increase in nutrition knowledge alone seems unlikely to result in large improvements of dietary behavior.

Abstract PO-125: Prenatal proximity to agricultural use of endocrine-disrupting pesticides and risk of testicular germ cell tumor (TGCT) among Latino and non-Latino adolescents in California

Abstract BACKGROUND. Incidence of testicular germ cell tumors (TGCTs) has increased steadily in the United States in recent years, especially among Latinos. TGCT initiation is believed to occur during fetal development and to be related to endocrine disruption; the increasing prevalence of in utero exposures to endocrine- disrupting chemicals may have contributed to the rise in the disease’s incidence. METHODS. This registry-based case-control study included 381 California-born patients diagnosed with TGCT at age 15-19 years from 1997-2011 (336 non- seminomas, 41 seminomas) and 762 controls matched on birth year and race/ethnicity. We assessed the agricultural application of 22 endocrine-disrupting pesticides (EDPs) using California’s Pesticide Use Reporting (PUR) database for an area within a 3km radius of participants’ birth address in the year prior to birth; 15 high-volume EDPs (those to which 50 or more participants were potentially exposed) were included in statistical analyses. We used logistic regression to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for log2-transformed continuous pesticide levels, and to calculate attributable risk (AR) for dichotomous exposure (zero and low application vs. high application). Analyses accounted for the timing of pesticide application, histologic subtype, race/ethnicity, birth year, and neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES). RESULTS. Overall, 48% of cases and 45% of controls lived within 3km of an EDP application in the year before birth. Nearby pesticide applications were greater among Latinos than non-Latinos for 13 of 15 EDPs; the median [interquartile range (IQR)] for total EDP application was 29 kg [5- 135] vs. 11 kg [1-80]. Application was also greater for those born after 1990 (the period of time with complete PUR reporting) than before 1990 for 14 of 15 EDPs (median [IQR] for total EDP application: 54 kg [10-229] vs. 13 kg [0.7-70]). Analyses of individual EDPs showed an increased risk of TGCT associated with acephate (OR [95%CI]: 1.1 [1.0-1.2] and 1.3 [1.0-1.7] for continuous and binary exposures, respectively). In analyses stratified by ethnicity, risk remained elevated for acephate application among Latinos (n=614, OR [95% CI] for continuous exposure model: 1.1 [1.0-1.2]) and for carbaryl and copper sulfate in non-Latinos (n=504, OR [95% CI]: 1.2 [1.0-1.3] and 1.1 [1.0-1.3], respectively). Overall there were no differences by PUR reporting period (before and after 1990) and application timing (preconception and trimesters), yet risk appeared to be higher for non-seminomas and among high SES participants. The population AR for high levels of acephate was 5.4% among Latinos, and &amp;lt;1% prior to 1990 vs. 10% after 1990 for all subjects combined. In non-Latinos, the AR for carbaryl was 4.8% and 2.5% for copper sulfate. CONCLUSIONS. Acephate, an organophosphate insecticide, was associated with an increased TGCT risk, possibly contributing 5-10% to the prevalence of TGCT among Latinos in California. Citation Format: Scott J. Swartz, Libby Morimoto, Todd Whitehead, Robert Gunier, Joseph Wiemels, Xiaomei Ma, Catherine Metayer. Prenatal proximity to agricultural use of endocrine-disrupting pesticides and risk of testicular germ cell tumor (TGCT) among Latino and non-Latino adolescents in California [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Virtual Conference: Thirteenth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2020 Oct 2-4. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020;29(12 Suppl):Abstract nr PO-125.

Abstract PD10-07: Patient reported outcomes and early discontinuation of adjuvant endocrine therapy according to neighborhood poverty rate

Abstract Introduction: Early discontinuation (DC) of adjuvant endocrine therapy (AET) for hormone receptor positive breast cancer (BC) is associated with increased risk of recurrence and death. Symptoms and low socioeconomic status (SES) have both previously been associated with early AET DC. Prospective collection of patient-reported outcomes (PRO) is increasingly used in oncology practice, and can lead to improvements in quality of life and survival in advanced cancer. Compared to patients of high SES, those of low SES report higher symptom burden in multiple clinical settings. Whether PRO reporting during AET differs according to SES is unknown. Methods: We enrolled women initiating AET for stage 0-III BC in a prospective clinic-based cohort from March 2012 to Dec 2016. At baseline (BL), 3, 6, 12, and 24 months (mo), participants completed these PROs online: FACT-ES, MOS Sexual Problems, and NIH PROMIS measures for pain interference, fatigue, depression, anxiety, physical function and sleep disturbance. Neighborhood poverty (NP) rate, a surrogate for SES based on US Census estimates of the % of persons in a zip code below the federal poverty line, was categorized as 0-5% (low), &amp;gt;5-10% (moderate) and &amp;gt;10% (high). We assessed AET DC and cited reason for DC by chart review. Baseline characteristics were compared between NP groups using Fisher’s exact and t-tests. Changes in mean PRO scores from BL to follow-up (FU) time points for each NP group were estimated simultaneously from a linear mixed effects regression model with a random intercept for each patient. We evaluated differences in changes in mean scores for all 8 PRO measures over time according to NP group with an interaction test. Statistical significance of p &amp;lt; 0.05/8 = 0.006 was used, adjusting for multiple comparisons. Results: Among 320 women, mean age was 61 (range 26-90), 83% were White, 10% Black, 65% were post-menopausal and 84% had Stage I-II BC. NP categorization was: 97 (30.3%) low, 127 (39.7%) moderate and 96 (30%) high. Mean stage distribution, and proportions of participants who had mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation did not differ by NP group. There were fewer post-menopausal women in the moderate/high NP groups (61%) compared to the low NP group (72%, p=0.04). The proportion of Black participants increased with NP group (low 5%, moderate 10%, high 16%, p=0.04). Overall, 180 (56%) were on an aromatase inhibitor (AI) and 140 (44%) were on tamoxifen. There was more AI use in the low NP group (64%) compared to the moderate/high NP groups (53%, p=0.08). At BL, there were no differences in mean score on any PRO by NP group. For all NP groups, endocrine symptoms worsened at all FU times (all p&amp;lt;0.05) and physical function improved at most FU times. Compared to BL, mean changes in pain interference over time differed by NP group (interaction p=0.005), with less pain interference at 6 and 12 mo in the moderate/high NP groups and no significant change in the low NP group. Mean changes in other PROs did not differ by NP group. At median FU of 41 mo (range 3-75), the proportion of participants who discontinued AET due to side effects/intolerance was similar across NP groups (low 12.6%, moderate 16%, high 17%, p=0.67). Discussion: We found that changes in PROs during AET were similar across SES based on NP rates with the exception of less reported pain interference over time in participants of lower SES. The lack of improvement in pain interference in participants of higher SES may be attributable to arthralgias due to more frequent AI use. Despite differences in pain interference, early DC of AET due to side effects/intolerance did not differ by SES in this cohort. Our findings suggest that PROs are generally similar among early BC patients of varied SES receiving AET and that factors other than symptoms may explain the previously reported association between early DC and low SES. Citation Format: Ramy Sedhom, Amanda Blackford, David Lim, Jennifer Ensminger, Claire Snyder, Vered Stearns, Karen Lisa Smith. Patient reported outcomes and early discontinuation of adjuvant endocrine therapy according to neighborhood poverty rate [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2019 Dec 10-14; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(4 Suppl):Abstract nr PD10-07.

Socioeconomic status, mindfulness, and momentary associations between stress and smoking lapse during a quit attempt

BackgroundModels of health disparities highlight stress among low socioeconomic status (SES) smokers as a barrier to cessation. Recent studies suggest that mindfulness may improve cessation outcomes by reducing stress during a quit attempt. The current study examined associations of SES and mindfulness with ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) of stress and smoking lapse during a quit attempt. MethodsEMAs (N = 32,329) were gathered from 364 smokers engaged in a quit attempt. A multilevel structural equation model estimated within person paths from momentary stress to subsequent smoking lapse. Between person paths estimated paths from a latent variable for SES and mindfulness to stress and smoking lapse, the indirect effect of SES and mindfulness on lapse through stress, and moderation of within person stress-lapse associations by SES and mindfulness. ResultsWithin person estimates found that momentary increases in stress predicted increased risk of subsequent smoking lapse. Between person estimates found that lower SES was indirectly associated with greater risk for smoking lapse through increased stress; and, higher mindfulness was indirectly associated with lower risk for smoking lapse through reduced stress. Additionally, higher SES participants, who reported lower stress during the quit attempt, showed a stronger relationship between momentary increases in stress and risk for subsequent smoking lapse. ConclusionsAmong low SES smokers engaged in a quit attempt, both SES and mindfulness uniquely influenced smoking lapse through their influence on stress. Findings support reports that mindfulness presents a promising intervention target to reduce stress and improve cessation outcomes among low SES smokers.

Aflatoxin and viral hepatitis exposures in Guatemala: Molecular biomarkers reveal a unique profile of risk factors in a region of high liver cancer incidence

Liver cancer is an emerging global health issue, with rising incidence in both the United States and the economically developing world. Although Guatemala experiences the highest rates of this disease in the Western hemisphere and a unique 1:1 distribution in men and women, few studies have focused on this population. Thus, we determined the prevalence and correlates of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) exposure and hepatitis virus infection in Guatemalan adults. Healthy men and women aged ≥40 years (n = 461), residing in five departments of Guatemala, were enrolled in a cross-sectional study from May—October of 2016. Serum AFB1-albumin adducts were quantified using isotope dilution mass spectrometry. Multivariate linear regression was used to assess relationships between AFB1-albumin adduct levels and demographic factors. Biomarkers of hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus infection were assessed by immunoassay and analyzed by Fisher’s exact test. AFB1-albumin adducts were detected in 100% of participants, with a median of 8.4 pg/mg albumin (range, 0.2–814.8). Exposure was significantly higher (p<0.05) in male, rural, low-income, and less-educated participants than in female, urban, and higher socioeconomic status participants. Hepatitis B and C seropositivity was low (0.9% and 0.5%, respectively). Substantial AFB1 exposure exists in Guatemalan adults, concurrent with low prevalence of hepatitis virus seropositivity. Quantitatively, AFB1 exposures are similar to those previously found to increase risk for liver cancer in Asia and Africa. Mitigation of AFB1 exposure may reduce liver cancer incidence and mortality in Guatemala, warranting further investigation.

The Classroom as a Developmental Context for Cognitive Development: A Meta-Analysis on the Importance of Teacher–Student Interactions for Children’s Executive Functions

Executive functions (EFs), important cognitive processes that enable goal-directed behavior, develop due to maturation and environmental stimulation. The current study systematically reviews and synthesizes evidence on the association between teacher–student interactions and EFs. The search resulted in 28 studies, from which 23 studies provided sufficient data to be included in the calculations. Overall effect sizes indicate that teacher–child interactions are related to general executive functioning, working memory, and inhibition but not cognitive flexibility. Relationships were stronger for studies including children at the beginning of elementary school, studies with higher socioeconomic status participants and more boys, and studies measuring teacher–child interactions at the dyadic level. This study shows that qualitative teacher–child interactions are important for performance in EFs in children. This suggests that teachers can promote the cognitive processes that are essential in children’s learning by changing their behavior to create an emotionally positive, structured, and cognitively stimulating classroom environment.