Stress-induced cardiac autonomic reactivity and preclinical atherosclerosis: does arterial elasticity modify the association?

The effect of acute mental stress on atherosclerosis can be estimated using arterial elasticity measured by carotid artery distensibility (Cdist). We examined the interactive effect of acute stress-induced cardiac reactivity and Cdist to preclinical atherosclerosis assessed by carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) in 58 healthy adults aged 24-39 years participated in the epidemiological Young Finns Study. Cdist and IMT were measured ultrasonographically. Impedance electrocardiography was used to measure acute mental stress-induced cardiac autonomic responses: heart rate (HR), respiratory sinus arrhythmia and pre-ejection period after the mental arithmetic and the public speaking tasks. Interactions between HR reactivity and Cdist in relation to preclinical atherosclerosis were found. The results imply that elevated HR reactivity to acute mental stress is related to less atherosclerosis among healthy participants with higher arterial elasticity. Possibly, increased cardiac reactivity in response to challenging tasks is an adaptive reaction related to better cardiovascular health.

Does breastfeeding behavior run in families? Evidence from twins, their sisters and their mothers in the Netherlands.

The aim of the present article was to study the prevalence and the heritability of the initiation of breastfeeding in the Netherlands. The study was carried out in 5,581 participants from the Netherlands Twin Register, and included female twins, their sisters and mothers. All of the participants were born between 1911 and 1991. Breastfeeding was self-reported by the participants, and its prevalence was estimated conditional on birth cohort (born before 1955, 1955-1964, 1965-1974, 1975, or later). To estimate the heritability, we conducted extended twin-family modeling using the SEM package OpenMx in R. Mothers of twins had lower prevalence to initiate breastfeeding and the prevalence of initiation of breastfeeding increased with birth cohort: among mothers of twins 66% in the oldest (pre-1955) to 74% in the youngest (post-1974) and among mothers, who were twins themselves or sisters of twins, 79% in the oldest (pre-1955) to 85% in the youngest (post-1974). When accounting for prevalence differences between mothers of twins and other women, heritability of initiation of breastfeeding was 70%. However, the familial resemblance for sister and mother-daughter pairs was clearly lower than for DZ twin pairs, but as the number of non-twin sisters was relatively low, this observation did not lead to a significant contribution of a special shared twin environment.

Longitudinal measurement invariance, stability and change of anger and cynicism.

Anger and hostility are key concepts in behavioral medicine, but little is known about their stability over life course. A sample of 3,074 individuals from six age groups (aged 15-30 at the baseline) were selected from a population-based study to examine longitudinal measurement invariance, stability and change in anger and cynicism from early to middle adulthood over 15 years. Cynicism, a facet of hostility, and anger were measured 4 times in 1992, 1997, 2001 and 2007. Final longitudinal measurement invariance models achieved partial strict measurement invariance, indicating good measurement consistency over time. Rank-order stability of anger and cynicism was found to be moderate. Mean levels of anger and cynicism decreased over time, but in anger the decline was faster among women. The variance of anger and cynicism also increased over time, but in cynicism the rate of change was higher among men. Altogether, anger and cynicism show measurement invariance and moderate stability from early adulthood to middle adulthood.

Serotonin receptor 1B genotype and hostility, anger and aggressive behavior through the lifespan: the Young Finns study.

The serotonin system has been shown to be involved in the regulation of hostility, anger, and aggressive behavior. Previous molecular genetic studies suggest that the serotonin receptor 1B (HTR1B) rs6296 genotype might have a particular role in these types of behaviors. We examined whether HTR1B is related to hostility, anger, and aggressive behavior phenotypes over a lifespan and whether it modifies the connection between childhood aggressive behavior and adulthood hostility and anger. The participants were 967 women and men from a large population based sample (The Young Finns Study) with a 27-year follow-up. Childhood aggressive behavior was reported by the mother twice when the participants were 3 to 12 years of age. Adulthood hostility and anger were self-reported by the participants between ages 24 and 36. Childhood aggressive behavior predicted adulthood hostility over 27 years. HTR1B SNP rs6296 was associated with childhood aggressive behavior but not with adulthood anger or hostility. The HTR1B SNP rs6296 modified the association between childhood aggressive behavior and adulthood hostility. Aggressive behavior and hostility might form a life course pattern, and the HTR1B might contribute to a development of this pattern.

Cardiac stress reactivity and recovery of novelty seekers.

BACKGROUND: Novelty seeking temperament has been associated with higher coronary heart disease risk factors, but the mechanism behind the association is open. Cardiac stress response is a potential candidate. PURPOSE: Cardiac stress reactivity and recovery was studied in 29 healthy subjects (aged 22-37 years) scoring extremely high (n = 16) or extremely low (n = 13) on temperamental dimension of novelty seeking. METHOD: Heart rate, respiratory sinus arrhythmia, and pre-ejection period were measured during challenging tasks. Differences in cardiac reactivity and recovery between the novelty seeking groups were examined with repeated-measures and univariate analyses. RESULTS: The main finding was that stress reactivity did not differ between high and low novelty seeking groups, but high novelty seekers tended to show faster recovery, which is likely to be parasympathetically mediated. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that high novelty seekers may be more stress resilient because they might have faster cardiac recovery after stress. Cardiac stress reactivity seems not to be among the explaining factors for the association between novelty seeking and coronary heart disease risk factors.

Adverse childhood environment and self-reported sleep in adulthood: The Young Finns Study.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the association between cumulative exposure to parent-reported childhood adversities and self-reported adulthood suboptimal sleep. METHODS: Participants (n = 1,038; 57.4% women) were drawn from the prospective population-based Young Finns Study. Childhood adversities were assessed in 1980 among 3- to- 18-year-olds, while components of suboptimal sleep were measured 27 years later. Cumulative childhood adversities included factors from four domains: stressful life events, adverse parental health behaviors, adverse emotional environment, and low socioeconomic status. Logistic, linear, and ordinal regression analyses were conducted to examine associations between cumulative exposure and self-reported sleep duration, sleep deficiency, and sleep problems, respectively. Multiple imputations were applied to correct for participants lost to follow-up and for missing values (resulting in n = 3,559) and the aforementioned analyses were rerun. RESULTS: More adverse parental health behaviors (OR = 1.19, CI 95% [1.02-1.38], p = .03) and combined childhood adversities (OR = 1.10, CI 95% [1.02-1.19], p = .02) were associated with sleeping less than six hours. Neither association withstood adjustment for adulthood health or socioeconomic status or both, nor for attrition bias. No associations were found between adverse childhood environments and sleep deficiency or problems. CONCLUSIONS: The accumulation of more typical childhood adversities might not persistently affect self-reported sleep duration, sleep deficiency or sleep problems in adulthood. However, this study is among the first to assess the effects of the accumulation of everyday stressors on sleep and therefore, more research is warranted on everyday adversities for more definitive conclusions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Anger is associated with subclinical atherosclerosis in low SES but not in higher SES men and women. The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.

We investigated the associations of anger and cynicism with carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) and whether these associations were moderated by childhood or adulthood socioeconomic status (SES). The participants were 647 men and 893 women derived from the population-based Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study. Childhood SES was measured in 1980 when the participants were aged 3-18. In 2001, adulthood SES, anger, cynicism, and IMT were measured. There were no associations between anger or cynicism and IMT in the entire population, but anger was associated with thicker IMT in participants who had experienced low SES in childhood. This association persisted after adjustment for a host of cardiovascular risk factors. It is concluded that the ill health-effects of psychological factors such as anger may be more pronounced in individuals who have been exposed to adverse socioeconomic circumstances early in life.

Is there a two-way relationship between cynicism and job strain? Evidence from a prospective population-based study.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the bidirectional relationship between job strain and cynicism. METHODS: The study sample was obtained from the Young Finns study and comprised 757 participants (399 women, 53%). The bidirectional association between cynicism and job strain over a 6-year-follow-up was examined with a cross-lagged structural equation model, controlling for a number of demographic variables. RESULTS: High job strain (ß = 0.08; P = 0.007) was associated with higher baseline-adjusted cynicism 6 years later. Nevertheless, cynicism was not associated with baseline-adjusted job strain. The additional analysis showed that cynicism mediated 21.5% of the relationship between job strain and depression. CONCLUSIONS: Perceptions of having a highly strenuous job may elicit mistrustful and cynical attitudes in employees, which in turn may lead to mental health problems.

Brief report: Emotional distress and recent stressful life events in long QT syndrome mutation carriers.

To study emotional distress in symptomatic and asymptomatic long QT syndrome mutation carriers who had experienced a recent stressful life event. The participants were 209 symptomatic and 279 asymptomatic long QT syndrome mutation carriers. Emotional distress was assessed with the Cope questionnaire and stressful life events with the Social Readjustment Rating Scale. Symptomatic long QT syndrome mutation carriers with burdening recent stressful life events reported a higher emotional distress (ß = 0.35, p < 0.001), while the asymptomatic did not show such difference (ß = 0.13, p = 0.393). Symptomatic long QT syndrome mutation carriers who have experienced stressful life events recently report an increased emotional distress.

Five-factor personality traits and sleep: evidence from two population-based cohort studies.

OBJECTIVE: The current study examines associations between five factor personality traits and average sleep duration, sleep deficiency, and sleep problems. METHOD: The participants were from two population-based samples from Australia (n = 1,104, age range 31-41) and Finland (n = 1,623, age range 30-45). Self-reports of sleep behavior, sleep problems (Jenkin's scale), and five factor model personality traits (NEO-FFI) were collected. Associations between personality traits and sleep were analyzed with linear regressions. RESULTS: The results showed that higher extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness were, in general, associated with better sleep, whereas higher neuroticism was associated with sleeping less well. Openness was not associated with sleep. Most of the associations were replicable between the samples from the two countries, but personality traits explained only small part of the variance in sleep behavior. CONCLUSIONS: Increasing the knowledge on personality and sleep may benefit more personalized treatment of sleep disorders and help in personnel selection to jobs in which it is critical to stay alert. However, longitudinal research is needed to confirm the current findings.

Parental care-giving and home environment predicting offspring's temperament and character traits after 18 years.

Although many personality theories emphasize the role of parental behaviors in shaping personality development, empirical data from longitudinal studies remain scarce. It is also not known, if parental behaviors affect character development more strongly than temperament or vice versa. In a prospective study, 1083 volunteer participants of the Young Finns study completed the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI). Parents of the participants had answered questions about parenting attitudes, socioeconomic status, health behaviors, and role satisfaction 18 years before. We studied the univariate and the cumulative effects of parental care-giving and family environment on offspring's personality traits. Parental care-giving and home-environment were more strongly associated with offspring character traits reflecting personality maturity (Self-directedness and Cooperativeness) than with offspring temperament traits (Novelty seeking, Harm avoidance, Reward dependence and Persistence) reflecting emotional and behavioral tendencies. The differences were most evident in the cumulative effects model. Maternal variables were stronger predictors than paternal variables. The present findings suggest that not all personality traits are similarly predicted by parental care-giving and home-environment. In particular, character development is more strongly related to such measures than temperament. Parental care-giving and home-environment are more strongly related to psychological maturity (character) than emotional and behavioral tendencies (temperament).

Personality Profiles Identify Depressive Symptoms over Ten Years? A Population-Based Study.

Little is known about the relationship between temperament and character inventory (TCI) profiles and depressive symptoms. Personality profiles are useful, because personality traits may have different effects on depressive symptoms when combined with different combinations of other traits. Participants were from the population-based Young Finns study with repeated measurements in 1997, 2001, and 2007 (n = 1402 to 1902). TCI was administered in 1997 and mild depressive symptoms (modified Beck's depression inventory, BDI) were reported in 1997, 2001, and 2007. BDI-II was also administered in 2007. We found that high harm avoidance and low self-directedness related strongly to depressive symptoms. In addition, sensitive (NHR) and fanatical people (ScT) were especially vulnerable to depressive symptoms. high novelty seeking and reward dependence increased depressive symptoms when harm avoidance was high. These associations were very similar in cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis. Personality profiles help in understanding the complex associations between depressive symptoms and personality.

Hostility, metabolic syndrome, inflammation and cardiac control in young adults: The Young Finns Study.

We studied whether there is an association between hostility and cardiovascular heart disease (CHD) risk factors, such as the metabolic syndrome, systemic inflammation and autonomic cardiac control. Participants were 912 women and 712 men aged 15-30 when hostility was measured in 1992. Metabolic syndrome was assessed 9years later in 2001 using 3 definitions: the National Institute of Health Adult Treatment Panel III criteria (NCEP), the European Group for the Study of Insulin Resistance criteria (EGIR), and the International Diabetes Federation criteria (IDF). C-reactive protein (CRP) defined in 2001 was the marker of inflammation. Cardiac control indices were from EGC recording. In women, hostility predicted increased risk of metabolic syndrome (EGIR, and the IDF definitions, ORs = 1.34, 1.35, p < 0.05), and higher levels of inflammation (ß = 0.09, p < 0.01). We concluded that hostility is associated with metabolic syndrome and systemic inflammation in women and these conditions may be factors linking hostility to CHD.