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Feeling excited or taking a bath: Do distinct pathways underlie the positive affect-health link in the U.S. and Japan?

ABSTRACT: Feeling good is linked to better health in Western contexts. Recent studies show, however, that the affect-health link is not consistent across cultures. We suggest two reasons for such inconsistency. The first follows from research showing that North American (vs. East Asian) cultures tend to value high arousal positive (HAP) states, for example, excited, more than low arousal positive (LAP) states, for example, calm. The second is one we propose for the first time. Positive affective experience is manifest in internal feelings but also in affective practices, such as taking a bath (a highly valued affective experience in Japan) or a fitness workout (a highly valued affective experience in the United States). We hypothesized that the HAP feelings/practices-health link would be stronger in the United States versus Japan, and the LAP feelings/practices-health link would be stronger in Japan versus the United States. Using survey samples from the United States (N = 640) and Japan (N = 382), we examined how health outcomes are shaped by positive affective feelings and practices varying in arousal. In a first set of analyses, HAP feelings predicted better physical and biological health in the United States but not in Japan. No cultural differences were consistently found for the effect of LAP feelings on health. In addition, engaging in HAP practices predicted better physical and biological health in the United States whereas engaging in LAP practices predicted better physical health in Japan but not in the United States. These findings suggest that the pathways underlying the culture-health link are culturally variable. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

SUBMITTER: Clobert M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6656630 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Feeling excited or taking a bath: Do distinct pathways underlie the positive affect-health link in the U.S. and Japan?

Clobert Magali M Sims Tamara L TL Yoo Jiah J Miyamoto Yuri Y Markus Hazel R HR Karasawa Mayumi M Levine Cynthia S CS

Emotion (Washington, D.C.) 20190124 2

Feeling good is linked to better health in Western contexts. Recent studies show, however, that the affect-health link is not consistent across cultures. We suggest two reasons for such inconsistency. The first follows from research showing that North American (vs. East Asian) cultures tend to value high arousal positive (HAP) states, for example, excited, more than low arousal positive (LAP) states, for example, calm. The second is one we propose for the first time. Positive affective experienc ...[more]

PMID: 30676038

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Project description:BackgroundImpaired readiness may hinder purposeful advance care planning in cancer patients. To reduce barriers to participation in end-of-life decision-making, a collaborative intervention was developed combining a psycho-oncological approach of dignity-based and cognitive-behavioural interventions, followed by a standardised advance care planning-process.AimTo evaluate the novel collaborative advance care planning-approach by synthetising cancer patient and carer perspectives on communicational and relational effects.DesignAs a sub-project of a mixed-methods evaluation study, we conducted an inductive content analysis of qualitative interviews with advanced cancer patients and caregivers to deeply explore the focused impact of a collaborative advance care planning-approach on communication and relationship dynamics.Setting/participantsTwelve patients with advanced cancer and 13 carers who participated in a collaborative advance care planning-intervention.ResultsThe collaborative advance care planning-approach was consistently evaluated positively by participants. Transcriptions of the semi-structured interviews were coded, analysed and merged under three main themes concerning communicational and relationship dynamics: action readiness, content readiness and impact on future communication and relationship.ConclusionsThe novel intervention served to foster individual readiness - including action and content readiness - for advance care planning-discussions by addressing highly individualised barriers to participation, as well as specific end-of-life issues. In addition, societal readiness could be promoted. Although the brief psycho-oncological intervention could not fully meet the needs of all participants, it can be used to develop individual psychotherapeutic strategies to improve different facets of readiness. The collaborative advance care planning-approach might require more time and human resources, but could pioneer successful advance care planning.

Dataset Information

Feeling excited or taking a bath: Do distinct pathways underlie the positive affect-health link in the U.S. and Japan?

Publications

Feeling excited or taking a bath: Do distinct pathways underlie the positive affect-health link in the U.S. and Japan?

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