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Beverly H. Brummett

Associate Professor Emeritus in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Behavioral Medicine & Neurosciences
Box 2969 Med Ctr, Durham, NC 27710
4th Floor Duke So., Room 4072, Durham, NC 27705

Selected Publications


Relationship Between Psychosocial Stress and Blood Pressure: The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Family Heart Study.

Journal Article SAGE Open Nurs · 2022 INTRODUCTION: Various domains of psychosocial stress have been significantly related to blood pressure. However, ambiguity is present in how these relationships are defined in the literature. OBJECTIVE: To add to the existing literature and examine the rel ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Evaluating the precision of EBF1 SNP x stress interaction association: sex, race, and age differences in a big harmonized data set of 28,026 participants.

Journal Article Transl Psychiatry · October 20, 2020 In prior work, we identified a novel gene-by-stress association of EBF1's common variation (SNP rs4704963) with obesity (i.e., hip, waist) in Whites, which was further strengthened through multiple replications using our synthetic stress measure. We now ex ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Systolic Blood Pressure and Socioeconomic Status in a large multi-study population.

Journal Article SSM Popul Health · December 2019 The present study used harmonized data from eight studies (N = 28,891) to examine the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and resting systolic blood pressure (SBP). The study replicates and extends our prior work on this topic by examining poten ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

The Effects of Tryptophan Enhancement and Depletion on Plasma Catecholamine Levels in Healthy Individuals.

Journal Article Psychosom Med · January 2019 OBJECTIVE: Central nervous system (CNS) serotonin (5-HT) exerts both excitatory and inhibitory effects on the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) in animals. In this study, we examine the effects of tryptophan enhancement and depletion on plasma catecholamine ... Full text Link to item Cite

Developing a synthetic psychosocial stress measure and harmonizing CVD-risk data: a way forward to GxE meta- and mega-analyses.

Journal Article BMC Res Notes · July 24, 2018 OBJECTIVES: Among many challenges in cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk prediction are interactions of genes with stress, race, and/or sex and developing robust estimates of these interactions. Improved power with larger sample size contributed by the accum ... Full text Link to item Cite

Lack of Association of a Functional Polymorphism in the Serotonin Receptor Gene With Body Mass Index and Depressive Symptoms in a Large Meta-Analysis of Population Based Studies.

Journal Article Front Genet · 2018 The serotonin receptor 5-HTR2C is thought to be involved in the function of multiple brain structures. Consequently, the HTR2C gene has been studied extensively with respect to its association with a variety of phenotypes. One coding variant in the HTR2C g ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Usefulness of Myocardial Annular Velocity Change During Mental Stress to Predict Cardiovascular Outcome in Patients With Coronary Artery Disease (From the Responses of Mental Stress-Induced Myocardial Ischemia to Escitalopram Treatment Trial).

Journal Article Am J Cardiol · November 1, 2017 Mental stress-induced myocardial ischemia is common and a prognostic factor of adverse cardiovascular outcomes in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). The present study aimed at examining associations between mental stress-induced myocardial annula ... Full text Link to item Cite

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor rs6265 (Val66Met) polymorphism is associated with disease severity and incidence of cardiovascular events in a patient cohort.

Journal Article Am Heart J · August 2017 BACKGROUND: The rs6265 (Val66Met) single-nucleotide polymorphism in the BDNF gene has been related to a number of endophenotypes that have in turn been shown to confer risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD). To date, however, very few studie ... Full text Link to item Cite

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) Val66Met polymorphism interacts with gender to influence cortisol responses to mental stress.

Journal Article Psychoneuroendocrinology · May 2017 Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) Val66Met polymorphism has been associated with cortisol responses to stress with gender differences reported, although the findings are not entirely consistent. To evaluate the role of Val66Met genotype and gender o ... Full text Link to item Cite

Population differences in associations of serotonin transporter promoter polymorphism (5HTTLPR) di- and triallelic genotypes with blood pressure and hypertension prevalence.

Journal Article Am Heart J · March 2017 UNLABELLED: Based on prior research finding the 5HTTLPR L allele associated with increased cardiovascular reactivity to laboratory stressors and increased risk of myocardial infarction, we hypothesized that the 5HTTLPR L allele will be associated with incr ... Full text Link to item Cite

Depression, Stressful Life Events, and the Impact of Variation in the Serotonin Transporter: Findings from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health).

Journal Article PLoS One · 2016 BACKGROUND: The low transcriptionally efficient short-allele of the 5HTTLPR serotonin transporter polymorphism has been implicated to moderate the relationship between the experience of stressful life events (SLEs) and depression. Despite numerous attempts ... Full text Link to item Cite

Gene by stress genome-wide interaction analysis and path analysis identify EBF1 as a cardiovascular and metabolic risk gene.

Journal Article Eur J Hum Genet · June 2015 We performed gene-environment interaction genome-wide association analysis (G × E GWAS) to identify SNPs whose effects on metabolic traits are modified by chronic psychosocial stress in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). In Whites, the G × E ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

A functional polymorphism in the HTR2C gene associated with stress responses: a validation study.

Journal Article Biol Psychol · December 2014 Previously we have shown that a functional nonsynonymous single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), rs6318 on the HTR2C gene located on the X-chromosome, is associated with hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis response to a laboratory stress recall task. The pre ... Full text Link to item Cite

A putatively functional polymorphism in the HTR2C gene is associated with depressive symptoms in white females reporting significant life stress.

Journal Article PLoS One · 2014 Psychosocial stress is well known to be positively associated with subsequent depressive symptoms. Cortisol response to stress may be one of a number of biological mechanisms that links psychological stress to depressive symptoms, although the precise caus ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Consistency and timing of marital transitions and survival during midlife: the role of personality and health risk behaviors.

Journal Article Ann Behav Med · June 2013 BACKGROUND: Marital status is associated with survival. PURPOSE: The aims of this study are to evaluate marital history and timing on mortality during midlife, test the role of pre-marital personality, and quantify the role of health risk behaviors. METHOD ... Full text Link to item Cite

Chronic family stress moderates the association between a TOMM40 variant and triglyceride levels in two independent Caucasian samples.

Journal Article Biol Psychol · April 2013 TOMM40 SNP rs157580 has been associated with triglyceride levels in genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Chronic caregiving stress moderates the association between triglyceride levels and a nearby SNP rs439401 that is associated with triglyceride level ... Full text Link to item Cite

Relationship Between Psychosocial Stress and Blood Pressure: The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Family Heart Study.

Journal Article SAGE Open Nurs · 2022 INTRODUCTION: Various domains of psychosocial stress have been significantly related to blood pressure. However, ambiguity is present in how these relationships are defined in the literature. OBJECTIVE: To add to the existing literature and examine the rel ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Evaluating the precision of EBF1 SNP x stress interaction association: sex, race, and age differences in a big harmonized data set of 28,026 participants.

Journal Article Transl Psychiatry · October 20, 2020 In prior work, we identified a novel gene-by-stress association of EBF1's common variation (SNP rs4704963) with obesity (i.e., hip, waist) in Whites, which was further strengthened through multiple replications using our synthetic stress measure. We now ex ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Systolic Blood Pressure and Socioeconomic Status in a large multi-study population.

Journal Article SSM Popul Health · December 2019 The present study used harmonized data from eight studies (N = 28,891) to examine the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and resting systolic blood pressure (SBP). The study replicates and extends our prior work on this topic by examining poten ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

The Effects of Tryptophan Enhancement and Depletion on Plasma Catecholamine Levels in Healthy Individuals.

Journal Article Psychosom Med · January 2019 OBJECTIVE: Central nervous system (CNS) serotonin (5-HT) exerts both excitatory and inhibitory effects on the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) in animals. In this study, we examine the effects of tryptophan enhancement and depletion on plasma catecholamine ... Full text Link to item Cite

Developing a synthetic psychosocial stress measure and harmonizing CVD-risk data: a way forward to GxE meta- and mega-analyses.

Journal Article BMC Res Notes · July 24, 2018 OBJECTIVES: Among many challenges in cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk prediction are interactions of genes with stress, race, and/or sex and developing robust estimates of these interactions. Improved power with larger sample size contributed by the accum ... Full text Link to item Cite

Lack of Association of a Functional Polymorphism in the Serotonin Receptor Gene With Body Mass Index and Depressive Symptoms in a Large Meta-Analysis of Population Based Studies.

Journal Article Front Genet · 2018 The serotonin receptor 5-HTR2C is thought to be involved in the function of multiple brain structures. Consequently, the HTR2C gene has been studied extensively with respect to its association with a variety of phenotypes. One coding variant in the HTR2C g ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Usefulness of Myocardial Annular Velocity Change During Mental Stress to Predict Cardiovascular Outcome in Patients With Coronary Artery Disease (From the Responses of Mental Stress-Induced Myocardial Ischemia to Escitalopram Treatment Trial).

Journal Article Am J Cardiol · November 1, 2017 Mental stress-induced myocardial ischemia is common and a prognostic factor of adverse cardiovascular outcomes in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). The present study aimed at examining associations between mental stress-induced myocardial annula ... Full text Link to item Cite

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor rs6265 (Val66Met) polymorphism is associated with disease severity and incidence of cardiovascular events in a patient cohort.

Journal Article Am Heart J · August 2017 BACKGROUND: The rs6265 (Val66Met) single-nucleotide polymorphism in the BDNF gene has been related to a number of endophenotypes that have in turn been shown to confer risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD). To date, however, very few studie ... Full text Link to item Cite

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) Val66Met polymorphism interacts with gender to influence cortisol responses to mental stress.

Journal Article Psychoneuroendocrinology · May 2017 Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) Val66Met polymorphism has been associated with cortisol responses to stress with gender differences reported, although the findings are not entirely consistent. To evaluate the role of Val66Met genotype and gender o ... Full text Link to item Cite

Population differences in associations of serotonin transporter promoter polymorphism (5HTTLPR) di- and triallelic genotypes with blood pressure and hypertension prevalence.

Journal Article Am Heart J · March 2017 UNLABELLED: Based on prior research finding the 5HTTLPR L allele associated with increased cardiovascular reactivity to laboratory stressors and increased risk of myocardial infarction, we hypothesized that the 5HTTLPR L allele will be associated with incr ... Full text Link to item Cite

Depression, Stressful Life Events, and the Impact of Variation in the Serotonin Transporter: Findings from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health).

Journal Article PLoS One · 2016 BACKGROUND: The low transcriptionally efficient short-allele of the 5HTTLPR serotonin transporter polymorphism has been implicated to moderate the relationship between the experience of stressful life events (SLEs) and depression. Despite numerous attempts ... Full text Link to item Cite

Gene by stress genome-wide interaction analysis and path analysis identify EBF1 as a cardiovascular and metabolic risk gene.

Journal Article Eur J Hum Genet · June 2015 We performed gene-environment interaction genome-wide association analysis (G × E GWAS) to identify SNPs whose effects on metabolic traits are modified by chronic psychosocial stress in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). In Whites, the G × E ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

A functional polymorphism in the HTR2C gene associated with stress responses: a validation study.

Journal Article Biol Psychol · December 2014 Previously we have shown that a functional nonsynonymous single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), rs6318 on the HTR2C gene located on the X-chromosome, is associated with hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis response to a laboratory stress recall task. The pre ... Full text Link to item Cite

A putatively functional polymorphism in the HTR2C gene is associated with depressive symptoms in white females reporting significant life stress.

Journal Article PLoS One · 2014 Psychosocial stress is well known to be positively associated with subsequent depressive symptoms. Cortisol response to stress may be one of a number of biological mechanisms that links psychological stress to depressive symptoms, although the precise caus ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Consistency and timing of marital transitions and survival during midlife: the role of personality and health risk behaviors.

Journal Article Ann Behav Med · June 2013 BACKGROUND: Marital status is associated with survival. PURPOSE: The aims of this study are to evaluate marital history and timing on mortality during midlife, test the role of pre-marital personality, and quantify the role of health risk behaviors. METHOD ... Full text Link to item Cite

Chronic family stress moderates the association between a TOMM40 variant and triglyceride levels in two independent Caucasian samples.

Journal Article Biol Psychol · April 2013 TOMM40 SNP rs157580 has been associated with triglyceride levels in genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Chronic caregiving stress moderates the association between triglyceride levels and a nearby SNP rs439401 that is associated with triglyceride level ... Full text Link to item Cite

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) Val66Met and adulthood chronic stress interact to affect depressive symptoms.

Journal Article J Psychiatr Res · February 2013 BACKGROUND: BDNF Val66Met by chronic stress interaction has been studied using childhood stress as a moderator, but has not been widely studied using chronic stress in adulthood. METHODS: Two independent samples were used: Duke-CG (238 Caucasians) and MESA ... Full text Link to item Cite

A functional polymorphism in the 5HTR2C gene associated with stress responses also predicts incident cardiovascular events.

Journal Article PLoS One · 2013 Previously we have shown that a functional nonsynonymous single nucleotide polymorphism (rs6318) of the 5HTR2C gene located on the X-chromosome is associated with hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis response to a stress recall task, and with endophenotypes ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Socioeconomic indices as independent correlates of C-reactive protein in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.

Journal Article Psychosom Med · 2013 OBJECTIVES: To examine the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and C-reactive protein (CRP) to understand how SES may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and thus identify targets for prevention measures. METHODS: Path models were used t ... Full text Link to item Cite

Associations of Social Support and 8-Year Follow-Up Depressive Symptoms: Differences in African American and White Caregivers.

Journal Article Clin Gerontol · June 1, 2012 The present study used data from the Alzheimer's Study of Emotions in Caregivers (ASEC) to evaluate perceptions of social support assessed at baseline, as well as changes in social support assessed at a follow-up eight-years later, as predictors of symptom ... Full text Link to item Cite

Systolic blood pressure and adiposity: examination by race and gender in a nationally representative sample of young adults.

Journal Article Am J Hypertens · February 2012 BACKGROUND: Adiposity, or more specifically, underlying body fat distribution, has been associated with systolic blood pressure (SBP), and it has been suggested that these associations vary between whites and blacks, as well as by gender. METHODS: Here, we ... Full text Link to item Cite

Cortisol responses to emotional stress in men: association with a functional polymorphism in the 5HTR2C gene.

Journal Article Biol Psychol · January 2012 The serotonin 5HTR2C receptor has been shown to mediate HPA axis activation during stress. We hypothesized that a functional polymorphism (rs6318) of the 5HTR2C gene would be associated with HPA axis response to a laboratory stress protocol. The present sa ... Full text Link to item Cite

Systolic blood pressure, socioeconomic status, and biobehavioral risk factors in a nationally representative US young adult sample.

Journal Article Hypertension · August 2011 In the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a US longitudinal study of >15 000 young adults, we examined the extent to which socioeconomic status is linked to systolic blood pressure (SBP) and whether biobehavioral risk factors mediate the ass ... Full text Link to item Cite

Recovery expectations and long-term prognosis of patients with coronary heart disease.

Journal Article Arch Intern Med · May 23, 2011 BACKGROUND: Expectations of patients regarding their prospects for recovery have been shown to predict subsequent physical and social functioning. Evidence regarding the impact of expectations on clinical outcomes is limited. METHODS: At the inpatient serv ... Full text Link to item Cite

Effects of 5HTTLPR on cardiovascular response to an emotional stressor.

Journal Article Psychosom Med · May 2011 OBJECTIVES: To replicate a prior main effect of the serotonin transporter gene promoter (5HTTLPR) genotype on cardiovascular reactivity (CVR) and explore caregiver stress as a potential moderator of 5HTTLPR effects on CVR. On the basis of prior findings, w ... Full text Link to item Cite

Positive emotion is associated with 6-year change in functional status in individuals aged 60 and older

Journal Article Journal of Positive Psychology · May 1, 2011 Analyses examined both positive emotion (PE) at baseline and change in PE from baseline to follow up as predictors of change in functional status (FS). Initial models examined baseline PE, and change in PE, as predictors of change in FS adjusted for baseli ... Full text Cite

Associations between APOE variants and metabolic traits and the impact of psychological stress.

Journal Article PLoS One · January 19, 2011 OBJECTIVE: In a previous study, we observed that associations between APOE rs439401 and metabolic traits were moderated by chronic stress. Thus, in a population of stressed and non-stressed Danish men, we examined whether associations between APOE rs439401 ... Full text Link to item Cite

Central nervous system serotonin and clustering of hostility, psychosocial, metabolic, and cardiovascular endophenotypes in men.

Journal Article Psychosom Med · September 2010 OBJECTIVE: To use measures of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5HIAA) and genotype of a functional polymorphism of the monoamine oxidase A gene promoter (MAOA-uVNTR) to study the role of central nervous system (CNS) serotonin in cluste ... Full text Link to item Cite

Caregiving, residence, race, and depressive symptoms.

Journal Article Aging Ment Health · September 2010 The objective of this study is to evaluate the psychological responses to caregiving between black and white dementia caregivers measured by self-reports of depressive symptoms evaluating the impact of sub-components of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies ... Full text Link to item Cite

Impact of psychological stress on the associations between apolipoprotein E variants and metabolic traits: findings in an American sample of caregivers and controls.

Journal Article Psychosom Med · June 2010 OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene variants and waist circumference, fasting plasma glucose, serum insulin, serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and serum triglycerides, all metabolic traits known as cardiovas ... Full text Link to item Cite

Associations of depressive symptoms, trait hostility, and gender with C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 response after emotion recall.

Journal Article Psychosom Med · May 2010 OBJECTIVE: To examine the effects of depressive symptoms and hostility on changes in C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin (IL)-6 in response to an acute laboratory stressor. Depressive symptoms moderate the effect of trait hostility on circulating leve ... Full text Link to item Cite

Socioeconomic status moderates associations between CNS serotonin and expression of beta2-integrins CD11b and CD11c.

Journal Article J Psychiatr Res · April 2010 One of the first steps in the development of atherogenesis is adhesion of circulating monocytes to the vascular endothelium that is stimulated by beta(2)-integrins. Stress has been associated with enhanced expression of beta(2)-integrins on monocyte cell s ... Full text Link to item Cite

Vulnerability genes or plasticity genes?

Journal Article Mol Psychiatry · August 2009 The classic diathesis-stress framework, which views some individuals as particularly vulnerable to adversity, informs virtually all psychiatric research on behavior-gene-environment (G x E) interaction. An alternative framework of 'differential susceptibil ... Full text Link to item Cite

Positive affect is associated with cardiovascular reactivity, norepinephrine level, and morning rise in salivary cortisol.

Journal Article Psychophysiology · July 2009 Positive affect was examined as a predictor of (1) cardiovascular reactivity during a sadness and an anger recall task and recovery following the protocol, (2) epinephrine (EPI) and norepinephrine (NOREPI) reactivity and level during the recall protocol, a ... Full text Link to item Cite

Hostility and fasting glucose in African American women.

Journal Article Psychosom Med · July 2009 OBJECTIVE: To examine whether the relationship of hostility (HOST) to fasting glucose indices is moderated by sex and race. HOST has been associated with abnormalities in glucose metabolism. Prior studies suggested that this association may be more prevale ... Full text Link to item Cite

Prospective study of associations among positive emotion and functional status in older patients with coronary artery disease.

Journal Article J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci · June 2009 We examined associations between positive emotion (PE) and functional status (Duke Activity Status Inventory) in 948 coronary artery disease (CAD) patients (35.1% women; age M = 70.1 years, SD = 6.3). Emotion and function measures were gathered during hosp ... Full text Link to item Cite

HPA axis function in male caregivers: effect of the monoamine oxidase-A gene promoter (MAOA-uVNTR).

Journal Article Biol Psychol · October 2008 Caregiving stress is associated with negative health outcomes. Neuroendocrine functioning may be a mediator of such outcomes. The MAOA gene regulates activity of neurotransmitters involved with neuroendocrine responses to stress. Differences in polymorphis ... Full text Link to item Cite

Deterring anger and anger-motivated behaviors

Journal Article Basic and Applied Social Psychology · October 1, 2008 Two experiments were carried out to explore an anger-reducing strategy based on Brehm's emotional intensity theory. According to this theory, anger can be reduced indirectly by interfering with the feeling of anger rather than by dealing directly with the ... Full text Cite

5-HTTLPR and gender moderate changes in negative affect responses to tryptophan infusion.

Journal Article Behav Genet · September 2008 Expression of the serotonin transporter is affected by the genotype of the 5-HTTLPR (short and long forms) as well as the genotype of the SNP rs25531 within this region. Based on the combined genotypes for these polymorphisms, we designated each allele as ... Full text Link to item Cite

Associations among central nervous system serotonergic function and neuroticism are moderated by gender.

Journal Article Biol Psychol · May 2008 Serotonergic dysregulation is associated with negative affect. Plasma prolactin responses to a tryptophan enhancement challenge are used as a measure of central nervous system serotonergic activity. We examined prolactin responses to a tryptophan challenge ... Full text Link to item Cite

Lipid levels are associated with a regulatory polymorphism of the monoamine oxidase-A gene promoter (MAOA-uVNTR).

Journal Article Med Sci Monit · February 2008 BACKGROUND: The monoamine oxidase-A (MAOA) gene plays a vital role in the metabolism of neurotransmitters, e.g, serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine. A polymorphism in the promoter region (MAOA-uVNTR) affects transcriptional efficiency. Allelic variatio ... Link to item Cite

Childhood socioeconomic status and serotonin transporter gene polymorphism enhance cardiovascular reactivity to mental stress.

Journal Article Psychosom Med · January 2008 OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that low socioeconomic status (SES) and the 5HTTLPR L allele are associated with increased cardiovascular reactivity (CVR) to stress in a larger sample and that SES and 5HTTLPR genotypes interact to enhance CVR to stress. ... Full text Link to item Cite

Effects of environmental stress and gender on associations among symptoms of depression and the serotonin transporter gene linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR).

Journal Article Behav Genet · January 2008 The short (s) variant of the serotonin transporter (5-HTT) gene linked functional polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) is associated with depression. Stressful life events, gender, and race have been shown to moderate this association. We examined the relationshi ... Full text Link to item Cite

Personality as a predictor of dietary quality in spouses during midlife.

Journal Article Behav Med · 2008 The authors evaluated the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised (NEO-PI-R) as a predictor of dietary quality in 850 married couples, focusing on associations among each participant's personality as a predictor of their own dietary quality and their spouses' di ... Full text Link to item Cite

Depressive symptoms, race, and glucose concentrations: the role of cortisol as mediator.

Journal Article Diabetes Care · October 2007 OBJECTIVE: This study examined the associations of depressive symptoms with glucose concentrations and morning cortisol levels in 665 African-American and 4,216 Caucasian Vietnam-era veterans. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Glucose level was measured as a th ... Full text Link to item Cite

Associations of a regulatory polymorphism of monoamine oxidase-A gene promoter (MAOA-uVNTR) with symptoms of depression and sleep quality.

Journal Article Psychosom Med · June 2007 OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationships among the variable number of tandem repeats in the monoamine oxidase-A linked polymorphic region allelic variation (MAOA-uVNTR) and the symptoms of depression and sleep quality. The monoamine oxidase-A (MAOA) gene, w ... Full text Link to item Cite

Sleep quality varies as a function of 5-HTTLPR genotype and stress.

Journal Article Psychosom Med · 2007 OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that allelic variation in 5HTT gene-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) genotype was associated with sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, PSQI) as a main effect and as moderated by the chronic stress of caregivi ... Full text Link to item Cite

Prediction of all-cause mortality by the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory Optimism-Pessimism Scale scores: study of a college sample during a 40-year follow-up period.

Journal Article Mayo Clin Proc · December 2006 OBJECTIVE: To examine a measure of explanatory style, the Optimism-Pessimism (PSM) scale derived from college-entry Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory scores, as a predictor of all-cause mortality. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A total of 7007 students en ... Full text Link to item Cite

NEO personality domains and gender predict levels and trends in body mass index over 14 years during midlife

Journal Article Journal of Research in Personality · June 1, 2006 Mixed models were used to examine NEO-PI scores as predictors of body mass index (BMI) over a 14 year period during midlife. Average BMI levels during midlife were positively related to Neuroticism and negatively related to Openness, Agreeableness, and Con ... Full text Cite

Associations among perceptions of social support, negative affect, and quality of sleep in caregivers and noncaregivers.

Journal Article Health Psychol · March 2006 The authors used structural equation modeling to examine associations among perceptions of negative affect, social support, and quality of sleep in a sample of caregivers (n = 175) and noncaregiver control participants (n = 169). The authors hypothesized t ... Full text Link to item Cite

Effect of race on cultural justifications for caregiving.

Journal Article J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci · September 2005 OBJECTIVE: Our objective in this study was to explore the effects of caregiver characteristics on cultural reasons given for providing care to dependent elderly family members. METHODS: The sample included 48 African American and 121 White caregivers. Usin ... Full text Link to item Cite

Hostility, age, and mortality in a sample of cardiac patients.

Journal Article Am J Cardiol · July 1, 2005 This study examined hostility as a predictor of survival in a sample of 1,328 patients who had documented coronary artery disease. After controlling for disease severity, there was a significant interaction between age and hostility. Hostility was signific ... Full text Link to item Cite

Ratings of positive and depressive emotion as predictors of mortality in coronary patients.

Journal Article Int J Cardiol · April 20, 2005 BACKGROUND: An extensive body of research has demonstrated an association between negative affective states and health outcomes. Positive emotions may also influence physical health, however, their examination has received far less attention. METHODS: Posi ... Full text Link to item Cite

Perceived social support as a predictor of mortality in coronary patients: effects of smoking, sedentary behavior, and depressive symptoms.

Journal Article Psychosom Med · 2005 OBJECTIVE: Numerous studies have shown network assessments of social contact predict mortality in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). Fewer studies have demonstrated an association between perceived social support and longevity in patient samples. ... Full text Link to item Cite

Neighborhood characteristics moderate effects of caregiving on glucose functioning.

Journal Article Psychosom Med · 2005 OBJECTIVE: Adverse neighborhood environments and caregiving for a relative with dementia are both stressors that have been associated with poor health. The present study examined the extent to which three self-report measures of neighborhood characteristic ... Full text Link to item Cite

Prospective study of perceived stress in cardiac patients.

Journal Article Ann Behav Med · February 2004 BACKGROUND: Psychological stress is known to have a negative effect on the health and well-being of coronary artery disease (CAD) patients. Although the study of stress CAD samples has received considerable attention, few studies have examined the effects ... Full text Link to item Cite

Hostility as a predictor of survival in patients with coronary artery disease.

Journal Article Psychosom Med · 2004 OBJECTIVE: This article presents a reanalysis of an earlier study that reported a nonsignificant relation between the 50-item Cook-Medley Hostility Scale (CMHS) and survival in a sample of coronary patients. Since publication of those results, there have b ... Full text Link to item Cite

Effect of smoking and sedentary behavior on the association between depressive symptoms and mortality from coronary heart disease.

Journal Article Am J Cardiol · September 1, 2003 It has been suggested that one of the mechanisms linking depression with elevated mortality risk is the association between depressive symptoms and other established coronary artery disease (CAD) risk factors, such as smoking and failure to exercise. The p ... Full text Link to item Cite

Associations among the NEO Personality Inventory, Revised and the serotonin transporter gene-linked polymorphic region in elders: effects of depression and gender.

Journal Article Psychiatr Genet · March 2003 OBJECTIVE: The short variant of the serotonin transporter gene-linked functional polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) has been associated with personality traits related to anxiety, hostility, and depression. We attempted to replicate findings suggesting a positi ... Full text Link to item Cite

Patterns of change in hostility from college to midlife in the UNC Alumni Heart Study predict high-risk status.

Journal Article Psychosom Med · 2003 OBJECTIVE: To examine hostility measured in college and patterns of change in hostility from college to midlife as predictors of high health-related risk later in midlife. METHODS: Logistic regression models were used to test hostility/risk associations. R ... Full text Link to item Cite

Associations among social support, income, and symptoms of depression in an educated sample: the UNC Alumni Heart Study.

Journal Article Int J Behav Med · 2003 It has been suggested that the inverse association between social support and depression may be stronger in persons with lower income. This study tested the support x income hypothesis in a sample of 2,472 individuals enrolled in the UNC Alumni Heart Study ... Full text Link to item Cite

Predictors of smoking cessation in patients with a diagnosis of coronary artery disease.

Journal Article J Cardiopulm Rehabil · 2002 Featured Publication PURPOSE: This study aimed to examine demographic, psychosocial, and clinical variables as predictors of smoking cessation in patients with coronary artery disease. METHODS: Smoking status and psychosocial variables were obtained at baseline. Participants w ... Full text Link to item Cite

Are the salutogenic effects of social supports modified by income? A test of an "added value hypothesis".

Journal Article Health Psychol · May 2001 Featured Publication Older adults (54 men, 113 women; M age = 69.5 years) were examined to test the hypothesis that social supports would be more salutogenic (health promoting) for persons with lower incomes than for persons with higher incomes. Interactions of income and soci ... Link to item Cite

Characteristics of socially isolated patients with coronary artery disease who are at elevated risk for mortality.

Journal Article Psychosom Med · 2001 Featured Publication OBJECTIVES: Social isolation has been linked to poor survival in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). Few studies have closely examined the psychosocial characteristics of CAD patients who lack social contact. METHODS: Social isolation was examined ... Full text Link to item Cite

Associations among NEO personality assessments and well-being at midlife: facet-level analyses.

Journal Article Psychol Aging · December 2000 Featured Publication The association between well-being and personality was examined in 2,379 middle-aged adults. Measures that parallel C. D. Ryffs (1989) psychological model were selected to assess well-being. The 30 facet scales of the NEO-PI-R were used to measure personal ... Full text Link to item Cite

Relation of subjective and received social support to clinical and self-report assessments of depressive symptoms in an elderly population.

Journal Article J Affect Disord · December 2000 Featured Publication BACKGROUND: The authors sought to evaluate the associations between depressive symptoms and social support in a sample drawn from a relatively understudied population - depressed elderly patients. The present study also used a multi-measure approach to ass ... Full text Link to item Cite

Reliability of interview-assessed hostility ratings across mode of assessment and time.

Journal Article J Pers Assess · October 2000 Featured Publication These studies addressed 2 questions concerning interview-based hostility assessments: whether they are affected if the interview is conducted face-to-face versus telephone and whether they are stable across an extended time period. In Study 1A, 54 students ... Full text Link to item Cite

Moderators of the effect of social support on depressive symptoms in cardiac patients.

Journal Article Am J Cardiol · August 15, 2000 Featured Publication Social support and depression have been shown to affect the prognosis of coronary patients, and social support has been found to influence depression in community and patient samples. We investigated the characteristics of coronary patients whose depressiv ... Full text Link to item Cite

Hostility in marital dyads: associations with depressive symptoms.

Journal Article J Behav Med · February 2000 Featured Publication We examined the relations of hostility (of self and spouse) with self-ratings of depressive symptoms in 898 spouse pairs. Self-ratings of hostility were initially examined as predictors of depression. Next, spouse self-ratings of hostility were added to th ... Full text Link to item Cite

Depressive symptoms and survival of patients with coronary artery disease.

Journal Article Psychosom Med · 2000 Featured Publication OBJECTIVE: Multiple studies have shown that high levels of depressive symptoms increase the mortality risk of patients with established coronary disease. This investigation divided depressive symptoms into groups to assess their relative effectiveness in p ... Full text Link to item Cite

Social support and quality of life in patients with coronary artery disease.

Journal Article Qual Life Res · 2000 Featured Publication The relationship between perceived social support and domain-specific health-related quality of life (HRQOL) was examined in a sample of cardiac catheterization patients after considering age, gender, race, education, and coronary artery disease (CAD) seve ... Full text Link to item Cite

The association between self-rated health and mortality in a well-characterized sample of coronary artery disease patients.

Journal Article Med Care · December 1999 Featured Publication BACKGROUND: The relationship between self-rated health and mortality after adjustment for sociodemographic variables, physician-rated comorbidities, disease severity, health-related quality of life (HRQOL), and psychosocial measures (depression, social sup ... Full text Link to item Cite

The relationship between self-rated health and health status among coronary artery patients.

Journal Article J Aging Health · November 1999 Featured Publication OBJECTIVES: This study examined the descriptive relationship of self-rated health (SRH) with various psychosocial measures, sociodemographic variables, coronary artery disease (CAD) diagnostic/clinical measures, and medically abstracted comorbidities. METH ... Full text Link to item Cite

Paradoxical sadness

Journal Article Motivation and Emotion · January 1, 1999 Three experiments were conducted to examine the theoretical prediction that the intensity of sadness is determined not only by the instigating event but also by factors that impede or deter the function or purpose of sadness. In the first two experiments, ... Full text Cite

Trust, health, and longevity.

Journal Article J Behav Med · December 1998 Featured Publication Scores on the Rotter Interpersonal Trust Scale were evaluated as predictors of psychological well-being, functional health, and longevity in a sample of 100 men and women who were between 55 and 80 years old at baseline (mean age 66.8). Cross-sectionally, ... Full text Link to item Cite

Measures of hostility as predictors of facial affect during social interaction: evidence for construct validity.

Journal Article Ann Behav Med · 1998 Featured Publication We assessed the construct validity of several self-report measures and an interview-based measure of hostility (Interpersonal Hostility Assessment Technique [IHAT]) by evaluating their associations with a behavioral indicator of hostile emotions (facial ex ... Full text Link to item Cite

Social support and hostility as predictors of depressive symptoms in cardiac patients one month after hospitalization: a prospective study.

Journal Article Psychosom Med · 1998 Featured Publication OBJECTIVE: Hospitalization for cardiac disease is associated with an increased risk for depression, which itself confers a poorer prognosis. Few prospective studies have examined the determinants of depression after hospitalization in cardiac patients, and ... Full text Link to item Cite

Hostility and risk for disease

Journal Article Current Opinion in Psychiatry · January 1, 1998 Recent research exploring the association between hostility and risk for disease is generally supportive of the previous literature that suggests the existence of a link between hostility and health. Both past and current findings also indicate that there ... Full text Cite

Empathy and the Collective Good: Caring for One of the Others in a Social Dilemma

Journal Article Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · January 1, 1995 We predicted that feeling empathy for another member of the collective in a social dilemma would create an altruistic desire to allocate resources to that person as an individual, reducing collective good. To test this prediction, 2 studies were run. In ea ... Full text Cite