This paper summarizes current evidence of social relations and health, looking specifically at how social integration and support are related to health behaviors and outcomes. The paper reports that social relations benefit health behaviors, including chronic illness self-management, and decrease suicidal tendency.
Understanding psychological factors that may be linked to disease can lead to innovative prevention and treatment efforts. This study examines a positive psychological characteristic—purpose in life—and its relationship to stroke.
This study examines the impact optimism has on serum lipids, including total cholesterol, LDL and HDL cholesterol, and triglycerides. This research found that optimism was positively correlated with HDL cholesterol and triglycerides, but was not associated with LDL cholesterol and total cholesterol.
Most children are born with the components of favorable cardiovascular risk—good blood pressure, lipid, and glucose levels; ideal body weight; and not smoking. If they can hold onto those assets, keep their weight down, and not get diabetes, they can avoid cardiovascular disease later. These researchers wanted to identify early psychosocial factors that safeguard and promote cardiovascular health into adulthood.
