Linda Gannon

Correlates of menopausal hot flashes

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationships of frequency, duration, and intensity of hot flashes with daily stress, ambient temperature, and caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine intake in menopausal women. Ten menopausal women suffering from hot flashes monitored these variables daily for 6 weeks. Intrasubject correlational analyses revealed significant relationships between hot-flash activity and stress for half of the sample; few women exhibited significant relationships between hot-flash activity and other variables. The results are discussed with respect to theoretical implications and treatment strategies.

A psychophysiological investigation of muscle-contraction and migraine headache

Abstract The function of the current study was to examine the psychophysiological responses and response stereotypy of three groups of subjects—migraine headache, muscle-contraction headache, low frequency headache controls—during rest, stress and post-stress adaptation periods. Each subject was interviewed and then exposed to several experimental conditions: a 15-minute rest condition, two stressors (cognitive and physical), and a post-stress adaptation period following each stressor. Dependent measures included frontal electromyogram (EMG), forearm EMG, earlobe blood volume pulse amplitude and heart rate. The results of this study were consistent with some previous research in finding no differences in EMG levels between muscle-contraction and control subjects, a significantly greater activation in cardiovascular measures for migraine subjects, and evidence for response stereotypy in the migraine headache group.

Attitudes Toward Menopause The Influence of Sociocultural Paradigms

This research examined the influence of sociocultural paradigms of menopause on attitudes toward menopause. Five hundred eighty-one women and men, between the ages of 18 and 85, were assigned to one of three groups distinguished by the context within which they expressed their attitudes toward menopause. The contexts were designed to reflect particular paradigms: one group described their attitudes toward three medical problems, including menopause; a second group described their attitudes toward three life transitions, including menopause; and a third group described their attitudes toward three symbols of aging, including menopause. Positive and negative subscales of the attitude questionnaires for menopause were analyzed for context and age/experience. Results indicated that the medical context elicited significantly more negative and fewer positive attitudes than did the other two contexts, particularly among older participants. In general, womens attitudes were more positive than were mens, and attitudes became increasingly positive with age and/or experience. The discussion includes the potential role of attitudes as mediating the impact of sociocultural paradigms on experience and behavior.

Psychophysiological correlates of induced headaches.

The psychophysiological correlates of induced headaches were examined. Subjects with frequent muscle-contraction headaches, frequent migraine headaches, or infrequent headaches were exposed to a 1-h cognitive stressor while multiple electromyographic and cardiovascular measures were monitored. The stressor was associated with significant changes in all psychophysiological measures. Eleven of 16 headache subjects and 2 of 8 control subjects developed headaches. Significant associations between several psychophysiological variables and headache occurrence were found and individual differences in the association between psychophysiological variables and headaches intensity were examined. The results were consistent with the hypothesized role of cardiovascular factors in the pathophysiology of muscle-contraction headache. This was the first controlled demonstration of headaches occurring as a function of environmental stressors.

Sex bias in psychological research. Progress or complacency

A total of 4,952 articles published in 1970, 1975, 1980, 1985, and 1990 in the areas of developmental, clinical, physiological, and social psychology were reviewed for the purpose of assessing various indicators of sexism in human psychological research. Significant changes in sex of first author, sex of participants, sexist language, and inappropriate generalization indicated that sexism has clearly diminished in the past two decades. Despite these improvements, however, the data revealed continued evidence of discriminatory practices, suggesting that efforts to eliminate sexism must be strengthened if psychology is to be a nonsexist discipline.

The mediating effects of psychophysiological reactivity and recovery on the relationship between environmental stress and illness

The present study investigated the association between psychophysiological reactivity and recovery and physical and psychological symptoms both directly and interactively with environmental stress. Symptoms, environmental stress, and psychophysiological reactivity to and recovery from a laboratory stressor were measured in 50 subjects. As in previous research, the results indicated a significant relationship between environmental stress and symptoms of illness. Although the data did not support a direct relationship between psychophysiological activity and illness, support for a buffering effect was found. Those individuals with greater physiological arousal to or slower recovery from a laboratory stressor exhibited a stronger relationship between environmental stress and symptoms than those who were less reactive or faster to recover. Implications of these results were discussed in the context of theoretical models relating stress and illness.

The Influence of Hardiness on the Relationship Between Stressors and Psychosomatic Symptomatology

Thirty male and 58 female students responded to questionnaires based on a 9-month period in a prospective study of the impact of hardiness, life events, and hassles on reports of somatic symptoms. The data were analyzed utilizing cross-lagged panel analyses, analyses of variance, and multiple regression analyses. The results suggested that life events, hassles, and symptoms were significantly related in a recursive, mutually interactive manner. Although life events shared a high degree of variance with hassles, hassles consistently contributed above and beyond life events in predicting somatic symptoms. In addition, hardiness tended to have additive and opposite effects to that of stressors in its impact on symptomatology. Finally, and perhaps most important, compared to lower-hardy individuals, those higher in hardiness tended to experience less frequent stressors and to perceive the minor events they did experience as less stressful.

Perimenstrual Symptoms: Relationships with Chronic Stress and Selected Lifestyle Variables

Of primary interest in the present study was the assessment of the association between several contextual factors, including chronic stress, exercise, alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine intake, and the self-report of perimenstrual symptoms. Two hundred and eleven women completed questionnaires designed to assess chronic stress, perimenstrual symptoms, and physical health. The results indicated that stress accounted for a significant amount of the variance in perimenstrual symptoms. Stress, however, accounted for a substantially greater amount of variance in scores on a general health measure than in self-reports of perimenstrual symptoms. Of those lifestyle variables assessed, only duration of current level of strenuous exercise was associated with perimenstrual symptoms to a meaningful extent.

The Psychophysiological Etiology of Muscle‐Contraction Headache

SYNOPSIS

Evidence for a psychological etiology of menstrual disorders: a critical review.

Past research which has been interpreted as support for a psychological etiology of menstrual distress is critically reviewed. This research is analyzed with respect to methodological issues such as the assessment of menstrual distress, the measurement of psychological parameters, and statistical procedures and with respect to experimenter bias apparent in the interpretation of results. It is concluded that the available empirical evidence is inadequate to support psychological causation of menstrual distress.