Meg Gerrard - US grants

Recent research in the areas of social and health psychology has applied Festinger's (1954) theory of social comparison to the study of coping processes. This research has indicated that people who are facing psychological or physical problems (e.g.,cancer, loss of a loved one) will often compare their own situation with that of others who are thought to be worse off, a process called downward comparison. Research by the current investigators has indicated that this type of social comparison can improve mood states and increase optimism about coping abilities. New studies will examine downward comparison as it occurs in two settings. The researchers will examine specific aspects of the downward comparison process, including when people choose to engage in it, what types of people are chosen as comparison targets, and what effect the process has on the perspectives of those who engage in it. Studies will look at how this type of social comparison affect individual's perceptions of deviance, coping abilities and problem severity. The effect it has on individual's perceptions of others who share their problem will also be studied. Downward comparison as it occurs naturally in community support groups for persons with medical and psychological problems will be investigated. This study will assess group members' preferences for (downward) social comparison targets (e.g., a desire to have in their group others who are coping better or worse with the same problem), and relate this preference to changes in optimism and mood and in self-perceptions of coping ability. The research should provide useful information about the process of downward comparison per se, as well as when it ocurs naturally and what effects it has on the people who engage in it and on their perceptions of others like themselves.

The purpose of the proposed research is to chart changes in alcohol consumption and its antecedents and consequences across important transition periods among adolescents. More specifically, we propose to examine how the (causal) links between a variety of cognitive, social, and personality variables, and alcohol use, and between alcohol use and alcohol-related problems, change over time as adolescents mature and make critical transitions toward independent living. Attention will be focused on four variables that have been identified in previous research as being important determinants of adolescent alcohol use. The first factor is cognitive, and has to do with adolescents' expectancies regarding alcohol consumption and their prototype of the typical teenage drinker. The second factor is the family. Previous research by the current investigators has indicated that parent-child relations influence adolescent "acting out, "including drinking and drinking-related problems. The third factor is peer influence, and has to do with the adolescents' perceptions of their peers' attitudes and behaviors, and the degree to which they are influenced by these perceptions. The fourth factor is personality variable that has consistently been related to alcohol consumption -- sensation seeking. Two basic assumptions underlie our research: First, adolescent drinking is primarily a group activity; thus, an approach that emphasizes its social nature is most useful. Second, we believe the four factors listed above and alcohol-related behaviors change over time in a reciprocal fashion, especially during "critical" transition periods (e.g., leaving the home). Thus, each of these factors influences adolescent alcohol use, and is also, in turn, influenced by that use. We will measure those interaction over time. Two studies are proposed in this project. Both will include assessments of the four factors, plus alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems, and will look at the interrelations of each of these variables. The first study consists of a longitudinal assessment of the four factors over a four year period in order to determine how changes in these factors contribute to alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems, and to examine the dynamic nature of the relations between these factors as adolescents make the transition from the family environment to college or the workplace. The second study will also be longitudinal, examining these same factors among college students who have reached legal drinking age, and are making the transition to the workplace. In both cases we will focus on a segment of the adolescent population that has traditionally received little attention from researchers interested in problem behaviors: those living in rural environments.

DESCRIPTION (Applicant's abstract): Taylor and Brown (1988) and others have suggested that positive illusions such as optimistic bias are normal and promote mental health and psychological well-being without compromising physical health. Others have argued, however, that such illusions are maladaptive vis a vis physical health because they lead to complacency regarding the potential negative consequences of engaging in risk behaviors and failure to adopt precautionary behaviors (cf., Baumeister, 1989). The proposed research is designed to conduct a series of three experimental studies of the effects of self-serving, esteem- maintaining cognitive strategies, the conditions under which these strategies are employed and an intervention designed to decrease their use. Study 1 will address the question of whether the self-serving cognitive strategies typical of individuals with HSE are associated with maladaptive behavior. More specifically, does the use of these strategies inhibit attention to information about the danger of a health risk behavior, and subsequently inhibit precautionary behavior? Study 2 is designed to investigate the role of reactance in the revelation between consideration of health risk behavior and the use of self-serving strategies. Study 3 will examine the risk of self affirmation (cf.Steele, 1988) to circumvent defensive reactions to information suggesting that one's health behavior is less than optional.

The belief that cognitions play an important role in health behavior has a long-standing history in social psychology. In his initial statement of dissonance theory, Festinger (1957) discussed the predicament of a hypothetical smoker who had recently learned that smoking was harmful. Festinger proposed that individuals who choose to continue smoking under these circumstances could deal with this information in two ways: They could deny the relation between their behavior and potential negative consequences, or they could engage in various cognitive strategies that would enable them to continue smoking (e.g., decide that the benefits of smoking outweigh the danger or that the risk is negligible in comparison with that of other activities). Either way, the cognition is likely to have a significant impact on the smokers' behavior and health. The last decade has seen an explosion of research on cognitive processes, like those described by Festinger, that are related to health behavior. In this domain some researchers have primarily addressed pressing societal problems, such as the HIV epidemic, while others have been primarily interested in theoretical issues. Until relatively recently, however, few social psychologists have designed research that served the dual purposes of making fundamental contributions to the development of theory relevant to health cognitions, while generating knowledge that is likely to have significant "real world" applications. This conference will bring together a select group of 15 to 20 established scholars to critically examine the theory, methods, empirical data, and applications of this relatively new and rapidly expanding area of scholarship, plus five promising junior investigators interested in health cognitions. There are three primary objectives of the conference. The first is to provide a forum for integrating the scientific literature on the relation between health cognitions and health behaviors. The second objective is to focus attention on methodologically rigorous research that has made both applied and theoretical contributions, thus promoting these studies as models for future research. The third objective is to provide an opportunity for junior investigators to interact with established scholars in this new field of health cognitions. In addition, conference participants will contribute to an edited volume characterized by this dual goal of theory development and meaningful application that should have a significant impact on the development of future research on health cognitions.

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Smoking is the most common preventable cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States. In efforts to block the initiation of adolescent smoking, a variety of public health measures have been implemented. Despite the success of these measures, a substantial minority of all adolescents still begin the initial 1- 3 year period f experimentation that can lead to regular daily smoking. Effective interventions to block the escalation of this initial smoking exist. However, the implementation and effectiveness of these interventions is hindered by 1) an inability of pediatricians and allied health professionals to detect the presence of the periodic use of cigarettes that characterizes this phase and 2) an inexact understanding of smoking initiation to co-morbid features such as risky sex and alcohol use. This failure deprives a substantial number of adolescents of an opportunity to stop the escalation of smoking and smoking related behaviors during a critical phase of development and education. Recently, we have shown that DNA methylation at AHRR may be a sensitive indicator of early onset adolescent smoking. However, our studies are incomplete in that we have not fully characterized the smoking dose response curve, the effect of other environmental influences, such as second hand smoke, on DNA methylation, and the relationship of DNA methylation to existing indicators of smoking status. In this R01 application, we propose to improve our ability to detect and comprehend the trajectory of smoking behaviors by serially examining a large longitudinal cohort of 450 adolescents at risk for smoking and their families over a two year period. We will determine DNA methylation, serum cotinine and exhaled carbon monoxide levels at multiple time points and exhaustively characterize their environments for potential confounding factors. We will analyze the resulting data with respect to the clinical variables to determine the relationship of DNA methylation to smoking related variables. This application could have high clinical impact, because it may identify a sensitive biomarker of nascent smoking in a population at high risk for complications from smoking and provide a research tool that may allow a wide range of researchers to revisit large existing data sets that focus on youth to investigate health effects of smoking exposure. It is highly feasible because our investigative team has a long history of conducting this type of longitudinal study and we are the discoverers of this biomarker of smoke exposure. It is innovative because unequivocally demonstrated sensitive biomarkers for nascent smoking do not yet exist. The investigative team is led by a well-established physician-scientist and two behavioral interventionists with experience in methylation studies. As a result of this research, we will establish the relationship of AHRR methylation to smoking consumption variables, other biomarker status and environmental exposures (e.g. second hand smoke) that can be used by other for clinical interventions and as a biomarker of smoking exposure for existing DNA collections from epidemiological studies.