The moderating role of neighborhood disadvantage on the link between functional limitations and self-rated health.

BACKGROUND: Self-rated health is an important health outcome and determinant of health. Improvements to our understanding on self-rated health could help design plans and strategies to improve self-rated health and achieve other preferred health outcomes. This study examined whether the link between functional limitations and self-rated health varies by neighborhood socioeconomic status. METHODS: This study used the Midlife in the United States study linked with the Social Deprivation Index developed by the Robert Graham Center. Our sample consist of noninstitutionalized middle to older adults in the United States (n = 6,085). Based on stepwise multiple regression models, we computed adjusted odds ratios to examine the relationships between neighborhood socioeconomic status, functional limitations, and self-rated health. RESULTS: Respondents in the socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods were older, had higher percentage of females, non-White respondents, lower educational attainment, lower perceived neighborhood quality, and worse health status with greater number of functional limitations than those in socioeconomically advantaged neighborhoods. Results showed a significant interaction was found where neighborhood-level discrepancies in self-rated health was biggest among individuals with highest number of functional limitations (B = -0.28, 95% CI[0.53, -0.04], p = 0.025). Specifically, individuals with the highest number of functional limitations from the disadvantaged neighborhoods had higher self-rated health compared to those from advantaged neighborhoods. CONCLUSIONS: Our study findings highlight that neighborhood discrepancy in self-rated health is underestimated particularly among those with severe functional limitations. Moreover, when interpreting self-rated health status, values should not be taken face value, and should be considered together with the environmental conditions of where one resides.

Role of the valuation of nervousness in cortisol responses to psychosocial stress task and task performance in European American and East Asian students.

How people perceive and value negative affective states is associated with physiological responses to stressful events and moderates the association between negative feelings and physiological and behavioral outcomes. However, previous studies on valuation of negative affective states have been conducted mostly in Western cultures. Different cultural backgrounds shape how people view negative emotions as well as how people attend to internal emotional states, which may change the effects of valuing negative emotions. The present study thus examined whether valuation of nervousness was associated with the magnitude and duration of cortisol responses to a standardized laboratory stressor and task performance in East Asian and European American students. Two hundred undergraduate students were recruited through a large pool of students taking psychology courses. They engaged in demanding speech and arithmetic tasks as part of the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). European American participants who had a higher valuation of nervousness showed lower cortisol reactivity. Valuing nervousness was associated with better speech performance in students from both cultural backgrounds, and the strength of this association was moderated by cortisol level. Our findings call attention to the importance of considering whether negative emotions are viewed as beneficial or an impediment, as well as the cultural context when responding to demanding and threatening situations.

Cultural Differences in Rumination and Psychological Correlates: The Role of Attribution.

Cross-cultural research suggests that rumination may have weaker maladaptive effects in Eastern than in Western cultural contexts. This study examines a mechanism underlying cultural differences in mental health correlates of rumination from sociocultural cognitive perspective. We propose that cultures differ in how people attribute rumination, which can lead to cultural differences in the link between rumination and mental health correlates. We developed the Attribution of Rumination scale, tested cultural differences (Study 1), and examined its relationship with theoretically related constructs (Study 2). In Study 3, self-doubt attribution moderated the association between rumination and mental health, partly explaining cultural differences in the rumination-mental health link. Study 4 replicated self-doubt attribution moderating the link between rumination and mental health among Asians. Furthermore, greater exposure to American culture was associated with self-doubt attribution. This work provides a novel approach to understanding cultural differences in the association between rumination and negative psychological correlates.