Executive Function and Health Behavior

Executive function;health behavior;Social & Behavioral Sciences

Vail, SarahCarlson, Michelle ;

Johns Hopkins University

关键词: Executive function;    health behavior;    Social & Behavioral Sciences;   

Others  :  https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/bitstream/handle/1774.2/60562/VAIL-DISSERTATION-2015.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=n

瑞士|英语

来源: JOHNS HOPKINS DSpace Repository

【 摘 要 】

Introduction: A growing field of public health research aims to understand the cognitive processes involved in health behavior; executive function (EF) has been the focus of recent attention (Dunn, 2010; Williams & Thayer, 2009). This dissertation is presented as three manuscripts aiming to explore the association, theoretical underpinnings, and methodological issues of EF as a salient construct for understanding health behavior. Methods: Manuscript 1 presents data collected from the Baltimore Memory Study on 926 community-dwelling older adults in Baltimore, MD. Multiple linear regression analysis examined the association of EF and a composite health behavior measure that included dietary intake, physical activity, smoking, and alcohol consumption. For manuscript 2, a literature review was conducted to identify empirical articles about EF and health behavior. Thirty-six articles were analyzed to examine EF measurement, theoretical approach, and findings. Two major theoretical perspectives were identified: 1) intention-based, rational actor models and 2) dual process models. Seventeen articles using these approaches were analyzed further in Manuscript 3.Findings: Analysis in Manuscript 1 detected a small but positive association between EF score and overall health behavior after controlling for several sociodemographic factors. Further analysis suggests that EF is also associated with physical activity, alcohol consumption, and smoking but not dietary intake. Literature review results in Manuscript 2 suggest a pattern of association between the EF/health behavior relationship and point to varied roles for EF on health behavior, many ways of measuring EF, and many theoretical explanations for this relationship.Analysis results in Manuscript 3 suggest two explanations for EF’s role in health behavior: as a moderator of the intention/behavior relationship and as a moderator of the relationship between associative processes and health behavior.Conclusions: These findings add to building evidence that EF may play a role in the health behaviors of older adults and suggest that EF may extend the ability to maintain health into older age. This area of study is nascent; as the field grows, researchers are encouraged to pay attention to the theoretical explanation for the EF/health behavior relationship, as well as the measurement and temporal relationship of EF and health behavior.