Lifestyle Behaviors and Mental Health of American Adults

Abstract

Abstract:Summary. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that individuals reporting healthy lifestyle behaviors would also report better self-rated mental health. Logistic regression analyses were conducted utilizing SUDAAN on the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey data set. This descriptive analysis suggests that persons reporting poor mental health were more likely to report unhealthy lifestyle behaviors. This set of findings encourages careful design of experimental studies of empirically based associations of mental health and life style, using psychometrically sound measures. Then public health programs focused on change of health-related behaviors might he more suitably devised.

Heterogeneous Relationships between Labor Income and Health by Race/Ethnicity

“…This included demographic, lifestyle, and other factors shown in prior studies to be associated with mental and physical health (Chaney et al. ; Scott et al. ; Velten et al.…”

“…Other Exogenous Explanatory Variables. This included demographic, lifestyle, and other factors shown in prior studies to be associated with mental and physical health (Chaney et al 2007;Scott et al 2008;Velten et al 2014). For each head of the household, we measured the following health practices variables in each wave: number of chronic conditions categories (no condition, one condition, ≥2 chronic conditions); body mass index (BMI) (kg/m 2 ) (underweight [<18.5], normal [18.5-24.9], overweight [25.0-29.9], or obese [≥30.0]); smoking status (smoker, not a smoker); and alcohol use (user, nonuser).…”

Minding positive mental health : exploring theoretical explanations for positive mental health with Canadian national surveys

“…Previous research examining material inequalities with mental health have found that living with a partner, employment in white collar occupations, and no financial stress is associated with better mental health. For instance, Chaney and Chaney (2007), and Rohrer et al (2004), both found that married individuals had higher odds of good mental health than individuals who were divorced, separated and single. However, mental health in these studies was measured as the opposite of mental Previous mental health research has identified social support and stress as important social factors associated with positive mental health.…”

“…While the material, lifestyle behaviour and psycho-social theoretical frameworks of health inequality are common frameworks used to explore disparities in health they have not yet been applied Previous research measuring mental health has found that lifestyle behaviours such as smoking, physical activity and weight are associated with mental health. Non-smokers have consistently been found to have higher likelihoods of good mental health than smokers (Chaney & Chaney, 2007;Rohrer et al, 2004). Physical activity has also been consistently linked to greater likelihoods of good mental health, with those reporting weekly exercise having higher probabilities of good mental health than people who do not exercise.…”

“…BMI however is not as strongly linked to mental health. According to Chaney and Chaney (2007), there is little difference in the probability of good mental health between overweight, obese, or healthy BMIs. Conversely, Rohrer et al (2007) found that individuals with obese BMIs are less likely to report good mental health than those with healthy BMIs.…”