This investigation represents a multimodal study of age-related differences in experienced and expressed affect and in emotion regulatory skills in a sample of young, middle-aged, and older adults (N=96), testing formulations derived from differential emotions theory. The experimental session consisted of a 10-min anger induction and a 10-min sadness induction using a relived emotion task; participants were also randomly assigned to an inhibition or noninhibition condition. In addition to subjective ratings of emotional experience provided by participants, their facial behavior was coded using an objective facial affect coding system; a content analysis also was applied to the emotion narratives. Separate repeated measures analyses of variance applied to each emotion domain indicated age differences in the co-occurrence of negative emotions and co-occurrence of positive and negative emotions across domains, thus extending the finding of emotion heterogeneity or complexity in emotion experience to facial behavior and verbal narratives. The authors also found that the inhibition condition resulted in a different pattern of results in the older versus middle-aged and younger adults. The intensity and frequency of discrete emotions were similar across age groups, with a few exceptions. Overall, the findings were generally consistent with differential emotions theory.

Rates of prostate cancer screening are known to vary among the major ethnic groups. However, likely variations in screening behavior among ethnic subpopulations and the likely role of psychological characteristics remain understudied. We examined differences in prostate cancer screening among samples of 44 men from each of seven ethnic groups (N = 308; U.S.-born European Americans, U.S.-born African Americans, men from the English-speaking Caribbean, Haitians, Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, and Eastern Europeans) and the associations among trait fear, emotion regulatory characteristics, and screening. As expected, there were differences in the frequency of both digital rectal exam (DRE) and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests among the groups, even when demographic factors and access were controlled. Haitian men reported fewer DRE and PSA tests than either U.S.-born European American or Dominican men, and immigrant Eastern European men reported fewer tests than U.S.-born European Americans; consistent with prior research, U.S.-born African Americans differed from U.S.-born European Americans for DRE but not PSA frequency. Second, the addition of trait fear significantly improved model fit, as did the inclusion of a quadratic, inverted U, trait fear term, even where demographics, access, and ethnicity were controlled. Trait fear did not interact with ethnicity, suggesting its effect may operate equally across groups, and adding patterns of information processing and emotion regulation to the model did not improve model fit. Overall, our data suggest that fear is among the key psychological determinants of male screening behavior and would be usefully considered in models designed to increase male screening frequency. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2006;15(2):228 -37) Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among American men (1); there are striking ethnic differences in both its incidence and mortality (2). Compared with both European American (172.9 of 100,000) and Hispanic men (127.6 of 100,000), African American men (275.3 of 100,000) have the highest incidence of prostate cancer in the United States (3) and more than twice the mortality rate of European Americans (2). Conversely, although the incidence rates between 1995 and 1999 were f20% lower among Hispanic men, prostate cancer remains the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death within this group (4).Scientists know almost nothing about prostate cancer in Caribbean subpopulations. Research has, however, indicated that Jamaican men (who are often classified as ''African American'') may have an incidence rate that exceeds that of U.S.-born African Americans. One study of 2,484 men in Trinidad and Tobago, a major source of English-speaking Caribbean immigrants to the United States, suggested that the rate of prostate cancer may be as high as 10% (5), with a high number of abnormal screening findings (6). Research in Kingston, Jamaica likewise suggests that the incidence may be as high as 304...

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Objective We investigated the associations between reproductive and menstrual risk factors for breast cancer and mammographic density, a strong risk factor for breast cancer, in a predominantly ethnic minority and immigrant sample. Methods We interviewed women (42% African American, 22% African Caribbean, 22% White, 9% Hispanic Caribbean, 5% other) without a history of breast cancer during their mammography appointment (n = 191, mean age = 50). We used a computer-assisted method to measure the area and percentage of dense breast tissue from cranio-caudal mammograms. We used multivariable linear regression analyses to estimate the associations between reproductive and menstrual risk factors and mammographic density. Results Age was inversely associated with percent density and dense area, and body mass index (BMI) was inversely associated with percent density. Adjusting for age, BMI, ethnicity and menopausal status, later age at menarche (e.g., β = −7.37, 95% CI: −12.29, −2.46 for age ≥13 years vs. ≤ 11 years), and any use of hormonal birth control (HBC) methods (β = −5.10, 95% CI: −9.37, −0.84) were associated with reduced dense area. Ethnicity and nativity (foreign- vs. US-born) were not directly associated with density despite variations in the distribution of several risk factors across ethnic and nativity groups. Conclusions The mean level of mammographic density did not differ across ethnic and nativity groups, but several risk factors for breast cancer were associated with density in ethnic minority and immigrant women.