Certain sexual identity changes may improve weight and physical activity behavior; the direction of sexual identity change matters more for men than for women

Sexual fluidity and BMI, obesity, and physical activity. Julie Fricke, Maria Sironi. SSM - Population Health, Volume 11, August 2020, 100620. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2020.100620

Highlights
• Links between sexual fluidity and weight and physical activity are analyzed.
• Certain sexual identity changes may improve weight and physical activity behavior.
• The direction of sexual identity change matters more for men than for women.

Abstract: Analyzing reported changes in sexual identity over time is necessary for understanding young adult health risks. Utilizing waves 3 and 4 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, this paper studies the relationships between sexual identity changes and BMI, obesity, and physical activity among young adults in the U.S (N = 11,349). The results show that men who report a change toward a more homosexual identity have a significantly lower BMI and participate in more physical activity, while men who report a change toward a more heterosexual identity participate in less physical activity and have a higher BMI compared to those who did not report a change. For women, a change toward a more homosexual identity is significantly associated with more physical activity and lower odds of being obese compared to no change. The results suggest that specific sexual identity changes may also be linked to improvements in health.

Keywords: Sexual identityFluidityBMIObesityPhysical activity

4. Discussion

Analyzing reported changes in sexual identity over time is necessary for understanding young adult health risks, as sexual fluidity has been associated with various health-related consequences (B. Everett, 2015; Fish & Pasley, 2015; Ott et al., 2013). This work extends that current body of literature by arguing that specific sexual identity trajectories are associated with a lower BMI and obesity prevalence and increases in physical activity, which provides evidence that sexual fluidity may also be linked to improvements in health, in addition to the documented consequences. As such, particular findings of this work contradict our proposed hypothesis that characterize sexual identity change as a stressful life event that may negatively influence weight and physical activity for those who change toward more homosexual identities.

More specifically, results indicate that men who report a change toward a more homosexual identity have a significantly lower BMI on average compared to those who report no change and to those who report a change toward a more heterosexual identity. And post hoc analyses revealed that they are also less likely to be obese than those who report a change toward a more heterosexual identity. This is coherent with previous findings that sexual minority males are less likely to be overweight than heterosexual males (Conron, Mimiaga, & Landers, 2010). Similarly, men who report a change toward a more homosexual identity have a significantly greater average number of physical activities per week compared to those who do not report a change. While in contrast, men who report a change toward a more heterosexual identity report a significantly lower average number of physical activities per week than those who do not report a change.

These findings suggest that the direction of sexual identity change matters for men in regards to BMI and physical activity behavior, such that a change toward a more homosexual identity may be beneficial, while a change toward a more heterosexual identity may be harmful. This implies that body size and shape are at least as important to sexual minority men as compared to heterosexual men, which points to a growing body of literature that describes gay men as followers of the traditional masculinity ideology (Wade & Donis, 2007). It has been argued that sexual minority men aim to develop a muscular body to counteract memories of having a less athletic, or feminine, appearance during their childhood and adolescence (Rubinstein, 2003), or even to avoid harassment for violating masculine appearance norms (Watson & Dispenza, 2015). These results contradict our proposed hypothesis that a change toward a more homosexual identity has negative implications for BMI and physical activity. Further, these results for men partially confirm our hypothesis that a change in sexual identity is a stressful life event that adversely influences BMI, obesity, and physical activity. Future research should investigate why sexual identity change may present more of a challenge for men who change toward a more heterosexual identity.

For women, results indicate that those who report a change toward a more homosexual identity report a significantly greater average number of physical activities per week compared to those who do not report a change. Further, women who report a change toward a more homosexual identity are less likely to be obese, which is inconsistent with previous literature that repeatedly argues that sexual minority women are more likely to be obese than heterosexual women (Bowen, Balsam, Diergaarde, Russo, & Escamilla, 2006). However, post hoc analyses revealed that there is no difference among women who report a change toward a more heterosexual identity and those who report a change toward a more homosexual identity.

Results for women contradict our hypothesis that a change toward a more homosexual identity is a stressful life event that adversely influences obesity and physical activity. It may be the case that such a change is indeed a stressful life event, but the experienced mental health challenges do not impede physical activity behavior or actions to prevent obesity among women. Instead, they may motivate individuals to exercise, whereby exercise acts as a type of coping mechanism (Frederick & Ryan, 1993). Alternatively, as women are more likely than men to change their sexual identity (Diamond, 2015; Dickson et al., 2003; Ott et al., 2011) and are argued to be more comfortable with their self-concept and related expression (Baumeister, 2000; Savin-Williams & Cohen, 2004), a change in sexual identity may be considered “liberating” as opposed to stressful, thereby encouraging women to engage in positive health behaviors. Further, it may result in gaining community, social status, and social or emotional resources, as opposed to losing them. An additional explanation could be that sexual minority women in this sample may not have experienced minority stress (e.g. discrimination and harassment) in physical activity settings, thus encouraging them to exercise (the same can be said for men who change toward a more homosexual orientation).

The inclusion of depression as a control variable did not change our results in any of the regression analyses, which indicates that depression does not explain the negative associations between changing toward a more heterosexual identity and BMI and physical activity for men. This suggests that a different mental health mechanism (or different mechanism altogether) may be at work that accounts for the undesirable BMI and physical activity results. Possible other mechanisms may focus on social factors (e.g. social support), as changes in sexual identity are associated with loss of community, loss of social status, and decreased access to social or emotional resources (Ott et al., 2011). Future research should aim to identify these other mechanisms.

In regards to limitations, this analysis relies purely on self-reported sexual identity and physical activity, BMI, and obesity information, and self-report measures have limitations in accuracy and can be prone to certain biases, such as social-desirability bias (Wolfson et al., 2003). But Add Health respondents answer sensitive questions by computer (computer-assisted personal interviewing, ‘CAPI’), which may limit this. Add Health is one of the few datasets that allows for an analysis of sexual identity change, as it asks about sexual identity at multiple time points. However, as of now, the data only allows for the consideration of one change. If possible, future research should investigate whether results vary when more than one change in identity occurs. Additionally, due to the small sample sizes of the subgroups that experienced specific changes, we settled for a dichotomous conceptualization of fluidity, which disregards the starting point from which the change originated and the health implications for non-sexual individuals (e.g. those who move from mostly straight to bisexual). However, future research (if feasible) should take into account the more nuanced categories of sexual orientation, including bisexuality, because recent work recognizes that it is often those categories that have worse health outcomes (Lindley et al., 2012; Mereish, Katz-Wise, & Woulfe, 2017).

Low to moderate alcohol consumption among middle-aged or older adults may be associated with better total cognitive function

Association of Low to Moderate Alcohol Drinking With Cognitive Functions From Middle to Older Age Among US Adults. Ruiyuan Zhang et al. JAMA Netw Open. 2020;3(6):e207922. Jun 29 2020. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.7922

Key Points
Question  Does an association exist between current low to moderate alcohol drinking and cognitive function trajectories or rates of cognitive decline from middle to older age among US adults?

Findings  In this cohort study of 19 887 participants from the Health and Retirement Study, with a mean follow-up of 9.1 years, when compared with never drinking, low to moderate drinking was associated with significantly better trajectories of higher cognition scores for mental status, word recall, and vocabulary and with lower rates of decline in each of these cognition domains.

Meaning  Current low to moderate alcohol consumption among middle-aged or older adults may be associated with better total cognitive function.

Abstract
Importance  Studies examining the association of low to moderate drinking with various cognitive functions have yielded mixed findings.

Objective  To investigate whether associations exist between low to moderate alcohol drinking and cognitive function trajectories or rates of change in cognitive function from middle age to older age among US adults.

Design, Setting, and Participants  A prospective cohort study of participants drawn from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a nationally representative sample of US adults, with mean (SD) follow-up of 9.1 (3.1) years. In total, 19 887 participants who had their cognitive functions measured in the HRS starting in 1996 through 2008 and who had participated in at least 3 biennial surveys were included. The data analysis was conducted from June to November 2019.

Exposures  Alcohol consumption and aging.

Main Outcomes and Measures  Trajectories and annual rates of change for the cognitive domains of mental status, word recall, and vocabulary and for the total cognitive score, which was the sum of the mental status and word recall scores. Participants were clustered into 2 cognitive function trajectories for each cognition measure assessed based on their scores at baseline and through at least 3 biennial surveys: a consistently low trajectory (representing low cognitive scores throughout the study period) and a consistently high trajectory (representing high cognitive scores throughout the study period).

Results  The mean (SD) age of 19 887 participants was 61.8 (10.2) years, and the majority of the HRS participants were women (11 943 [60.1%]) and of white race/ethnicity (16 950 [85.2%]). Low to moderate drinking (<8 drinks per week for women and <15 drinks per week for men) was significantly associated with a consistently high cognitive function trajectory and a lower rate of cognitive decline. Compared with never drinkers, low to moderate drinkers were less likely to have a consistently low trajectory for total cognitive function (odds ratio [OR], 0.66; 95% CI, 0.59-0.74), mental status (OR, 0.71; 95% CI, 0.63-0.81), word recall (OR, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.69-0.80), and vocabulary (OR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.56-0.74) (all P < .001). In addition, low to moderate drinking was associated with decreased annual rates of total cognitive function decline (β coefficient, 0.04; 95% CI, 0.02-0.07; P = .002), mental status (β coefficient, 0.02; 95% CI, 0.01-0.03; P = .002), word recall (β coefficient, 0.02; 95% CI, 0.01-0.04; P = .01), and vocabulary (β coefficient, 0.01; 95% CI, 0.00-0.03; P = .08). A significant racial/ethnic difference was observed for trajectories of mental status (P = .02 for interaction), in which low to moderate drinking was associated with lower odds of having a consistently low trajectory for white participants (OR, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.56-0.75) but not for black participants (OR, 1.02; 95% CI, 0.74-1.39). Finally, the dosage of alcohol consumed had a U-shaped association with all cognitive function domains for all participants, with an optimal dose of 10 to 14 drinks per week.

Conclusions and relevance  These findings suggested that low to moderate alcohol drinking was associated with better global cognition scores, and these associations appeared stronger for white participants than for black participants. Studies examining the mechanisms underlying the association between alcohol drinking and cognition in middle-aged or older adults are needed.

A vast majority of vegans is politically motivated and aims to induce change in society at large; & politically motivated vegans live vegan more strictly & are more politically active than those of other motivations

Political Veganism: An Empirical Analysis of Vegans’ Motives, Aims, and Political Engagement. Deborah Kalte. Political Studies, June 19, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1177/0032321720930179

Abstract: Scholars increasingly argue that the vegan lifestyle reflects a broader pattern of how political behavior is becoming more individualized and private. Veganism is particularly viewed as an unconventional form of political participation, as it is conducted to address ethical concerns and to change market practices. However, this argumentation lacks detailed empirical data. By means of an original standardized survey of a purposive sample of 648 vegans in Switzerland, this study shows that (1) a vast majority of vegans is politically motivated and aims to induce change in society at large; (2) they are highly engaged in a broad variety of political activities; and (3) politically motivated vegans live vegan more strictly and are more politically active than vegans motivated by personal concerns. This study contributes to the understanding of political participation in current times, and the insights gained may prove useful to vegan movement groups or the food industry.

Keywords: veganism, political consumerism, lifestyle political consumerism, political participation, Switzerland

A specific dimension of Machiavellianism—amoral manipulation—and a form of narcissism that reflects a person’s belief in their superior prosociality predict more frequent virtuous victim signaling

Ok, E., Qian, Y., Strejcek, B., & Aquino, K. (2020). Signaling virtuous victimhood as indicators of Dark Triad personalities. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Jul 2020. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000329

Abstract: We investigate the consequences and predictors of emitting signals of victimhood and virtue. In our first three studies, we show that the virtuous victim signal can facilitate nonreciprocal resource transfer from others to the signaler. Next, we develop and validate a victim signaling scale that we combine with an established measure of virtue signaling to operationalize the virtuous victim construct. We show that individuals with Dark Triad traits—Machiavellianism, Narcissism, Psychopathy—more frequently signal virtuous victimhood, controlling for demographic and socioeconomic variables that are commonly associated with victimization in Western societies. In Study 5, we show that a specific dimension of Machiavellianism—amoral manipulation—and a form of narcissism that reflects a person’s belief in their superior prosociality predict more frequent virtuous victim signaling. Studies 3, 4, and 6 test our hypothesis that the frequency of emitting virtuous victim signal predicts a person’s willingness to engage in and endorse ethically questionable behaviors, such as lying to earn a bonus, intention to purchase counterfeit products and moral judgments of counterfeiters, and making exaggerated claims about being harmed in an organizational context.

From 2010... A combination of imperfectly competitive markets, family ownership of firms, regulations restricting management practices, & informational barriers allow bad management to persist

From 2010... Bloom, Nicholas, and John Van Reenen. 2010. "Why Do Management Practices Differ across Firms and Countries?" Journal of Economic Perspectives, 24 (1): 203-24. DOI: 10.1257/jep.24.1.203

Abstract: Economists have long puzzled over the astounding differences in productivity between firms and countries. In this paper, we present evidence on a possible explanation for persistent differences in productivity at the firm and the national level -- namely, that such differences largely reflect variations in management practices. We have, over the last decade, undertaken a large survey research program to systematically measure management practices across firms, industries, and countries. Our survey approach focuses on aspects of management like systematic performance monitoring, setting appropriate targets, and providing incentives for good performance. We explain how we measure management; identify some basic patterns in our data; then turn to the question of why management practices vary so much across firms and nations. What we find is a combination of imperfectly competitive markets, family ownership of firms, regulations restricting management practices, and informational barriers allow bad management to persist.

Can Short Psychological Interventions Affect Educational Performance? Less than one quarter yielded significant interaction effects & less than 3% showed significant improvements among women

Can Short Psychological Interventions Affect Educational Performance? Revisiting the Effect of Self-Affirmation Interventions. Marta Serra-Garcia, Karsten T. Hansen, Uri Gneezy. Psychological Science, July 1, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797620923587

Abstract: Large amounts of resources are spent annually to improve educational achievement and to close the gender gap in sciences with typically very modest effects. In 2010, a 15-min self-affirmation intervention showed a dramatic reduction in this gender gap. We reanalyzed the original data and found several critical problems. First, the self-affirmation hypothesis stated that women’s performance would improve. However, the data showed no improvement for women. There was an interaction effect between self-affirmation and gender caused by a negative effect on men’s performance. Second, the findings were based on covariate-adjusted interaction effects, which imply that self-affirmation reduced the gender gap only for the small sample of men and women who did not differ in the covariates. Third, specification-curve analyses with more than 1,500 possible specifications showed that less than one quarter yielded significant interaction effects and less than 3% showed significant improvements among women.

Keywords: self-affirmation, gender gap, education, open data

Are Couples More Satisfied When They Match in Sexual Desire? Higher desire rather than matching in desire between partners predicted relationship and sexual satisfaction

Are Couples More Satisfied When They Match in Sexual Desire?: New Insights From Response Surface Analyses. James J. Kim et al. Social Psychological and Personality Science, July 2, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550620926770

Abstract: While sexual frequency and satisfaction are strong contributors to the quality and longevity of romantic relationships and overall well-being, mismatches in sexual desire between partners are common and have been linked with poorer satisfaction. Previous findings linking mismatches in desire with poorer relationship and sexual outcomes have typically been derived using difference scores, an approach that does not account for partners’ overall levels of desire. In a sample of 366 couples, we investigated whether partners who match in desire are more satisfied than desire-discrepant couples. Results of dyadic response surface analyses provided no support for a unique matching effect. Higher desire rather than matching in desire between partners predicted relationship and sexual satisfaction. These findings shed new light on whether the correspondence between partners’ levels of sexual desire is associated with satisfaction and suggest the need to focus on sustaining desire and successfully navigating differences rather than promoting matching in desire.

Keywords: close relationships, sexual desire, satisfaction

Brief History of Risk: Despite increasing life expectancy and high levels of welfare, health care, and public safety in most post-industrial countries, the public discourse often revolves around perceived threats

A brief history of risk. Ying Li, Thomas Hills, Ralph Hertwig. Cognition, Volume 203, October 2020, 104344. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104344

Abstract: Despite increasing life expectancy and high levels of welfare, health care, and public safety in most post-industrial countries, the public discourse often revolves around perceived threats. Terrorism, global pandemics, and environmental catastrophes are just a few of the risks that dominate media coverage. Is this public discourse on risk disconnected from reality? To examine this issue, we analyzed the dynamics of the risk discourse in two natural language text corpora. Specifically, we tracked latent semantic patterns over a period of 150 years to address four questions: First, we examined how the frequency of the word risk has changed over historical time. Is the construct of risk playing an ever-increasing role in the public discourse, as the sociological notion of a ‘risk society’ suggests? Second, we investigated how the sentiments for the words co-occurring with risk have changed. Are the connotations of risk becoming increasingly ominous? Third, how has the meaning of risk changed relative to close associates such as danger and hazard? Is risk more subject to semantic change? Finally, we decompose the construct of risk into the specific topics with which it has been associated and track those topics over historical time. This brief history of the semantics of risk reveals new and surprising insights—a fourfold increase in frequency, increasingly negative sentiment, a semantic drift toward forecasting and prevention, and a shift away from war toward chronic disease—reflecting the conceptual evolution of risk in the archeological records of public discourse.

Keywords: RiskDangerPublic discourseContent analysisTopic modelNgram Corpus

5. Discussion

Risk is a complex multidimensional construct. It takes a variety of forms in public discourse and has, accordingly, been investigated in various ways. Each approach focuses on some aspects of the discourse at the expense of others. One common approach has been to analyze media coverage of risk as a leading source of information for the general public and experts alike (see, e.g., Combs & Slovic, 1979, and various references in Young et al., 2008). Our approach consisted in a large-scale analysis of historical text corpora. Such corpora are attractive because they collate a vast array of perspectives on an extensive historical time window: in the case of the Google Book Ngrams Corpus, over 8 million books and 150 years. What did we learn about the risk-related discourse in English-speaking countries?

First, we found—consistent with Beck's (1992) diagnosis of post-industrialist Western societies as risk societies facing a wide variety of unique and human-made risks and with Giddens's (2013) idea that society is increasingly preoccupied with the future and its safety—that the word risk has become much more prevalent (Fig. 1A). There is evidence of an approximately fourfold increase in its usage since the 1950s. Beck also stressed that risks in the post-modern world are increasingly unknowable and unpredictable due to scientific and technological innovations having unanticipated consequences. It is possible that this process has contributed to our second major observation, namely, that the sentiments associated with risk have become much more negative, starting around 1900 and confirming Pinker's (2011) observation that humans have become increasingly preoccupied with the negative aspects of risk. Interestingly, the same does not apply to its close semantic relatives (Fig. 1C). What is also puzzling is that this change in sentiments is happening at a time when the semantics of risk have become increasingly associated with notions of quantification, reduction, and prevention—findings that also challenge the idea that the increase in negative sentiments has been caused by the unknowability of risks. In addition, we found that the risk categories to some extent reflect real-world changes in the prevalence and magnitude of the respective risks (see Fig. 4 and our analyses of nuclear proliferation and AIDS-related deaths). Finally, we also found a shift from macro-risks, such as war and battle, to more individual-specific, chronic risks such as disease (Holzmann & Jørgenson, 2000) as well as shift toward more variability in risk topics. The strong focus on modern diseases suggests that the public discourse is generally oriented toward the most prevalent causes of death and harm. This is noteworthy, as several authors have argued that people tend to be afraid of the wrong things (see Glassner, 2018; Renn, 2014; Schröder, 2018).

Many of these patterns observed are remarkable in part because they are monotonic: the notable increase in the frequency and negativity of the risk construct, and the increase in number of topics it encompasses. These changes are perhaps related to one another. One potential underlying mechanism is the social amplification of risk (Jagiello & Hills, 2018; Kasperson et al., 1988; Moussaïd, Brighton, & Gaissmaier, 2015): as information is transferred from one individual to another, people tend to share the more negative aspects of a risk at the expense of potential gains. In Jagiello and Hills (2018), an individual exposed to a balanced argument on nuclear power shared that information with another individual. As information was communicated from one individual to the next, the focus shifted increasingly to the downsides of nuclear power and away from its benefits. This pattern is consistent with the substantial evidence that negative information has more influence on decision making than positive information (Baumeister, Bratslavsky, Finkenauer, & Vohs, 2001; Ito, Larsen, Smith, & Cacioppo, 1998; Rozin & Royzman, 2001). A second, related factor is that this effect may be further amplified by increasing communication over the period of our analysis. As Herbert Simon (1971) noted, “a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention” (pp. 40–41). With the unprecedented amounts of information now available, all other things being equal, the absolute amount of negative information has increased. In this environment, information that is better at being received, remembered, and reproduced has a selective advantage (Hills, 2019). This mechanism may apply particularly to information on prominent risks, which may self-reinforce more rapidly via intensified social communication (Jagiello & Hills, 2018).

What can be concluded from our results about the state of the public discourse on risk? First and foremost, our analysis can offer only a glimpse of this complex and multi-dimensional construct. Yet, we found results that were both disconcerting and reassuring. Primarily, the increasing prevalence of the word risk is an indicator of its growing significance, which is in itself a double-edged sword. Classifying something as a potential risk is likely to burden it with negative sentiments. Yet, branding something a risk also appears to imply the chance of changing our fortune in relation to it. Importantly, the text corpus analyses suggest that risk categories track real threats over the 20th and 21st century, shifting from violent death to chronic disease and major risks for morbidity and mortality in the modern day. In this sense, the risk discourse reflects changes in threats as well as changes in the potential to mitigate them.

Degree of attitude moralization moderates the consistency of attitude reports over time with more moralized attitudes being more stable; that stability varies by topic

The Stability of Moralized Attitudes Over Time. Andrew Luttrell, LaCount J. Togans. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, July 2, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167220935737

Abstract: When people perceive a moral basis for an attitude, that attitude tends to remain durable when directly challenged. But are moral concerns only influential in the moment or does moralization also signal an attitude that endures over time? Five longitudinal studies considering attitudes toward 19 different topics tested whether attitudes are more stable over time when people report that they are more morally based. Across studies, we find support for the hypothesis that degree of attitude moralization moderates the consistency of attitude reports over time with more moralized attitudes being more stable. These effects of moralization also hold when controlling for other metacognitive predictors of attitude strength, including certainty, ambivalence, importance, knowledge, ease of retrieval, and self-definition. An analysis of all studies together supports the reliability of the hypothesized effect but also suggests that it varies by topic. Implications for models of attitude moralization and attitude strength are discussed.

Keywords: attitude stability, moralization, attitude strength, longitudinal studies