Health communications can be an effective way to increase positive health behaviors and decrease negative health behaviors; however, those at highest risk are often most defensive and least open to such messages. For example, increasing physical activity among sedentary individuals affects a wide range of important mental and physical health outcomes, but has proven a challenging task. Affirming core values (i.e., self-affirmation) before message exposure is a psychological technique that can increase the effectiveness of a wide range of interventions in health and other domains; however, the neural mechanisms of affirmation's effects have not been studied. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine neural processes associated with affirmation effects during exposure to potentially threatening health messages. We focused on an a priori defined region of interest (ROI) in ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC), a brain region selected for its association with self-related processing and positive valuation. Consistent with our hypotheses, those in the self-affirmation condition produced more activity in VMPFC during exposure to health messages and went on to increase their objectively measured activity levels more. These findings suggest that affirmation of core values may exert its effects by allowing at-risk individuals to see the self-relevance and value in otherwise-threatening messages.self-affirmation | fMRI | behavior change | VMPFC | physical activity

BackgroundDistrust in the Internet as a source of health information remains common among older adults. The influence of this distrust on Internet use for health-related purposes, however, is unclear.ObjectiveThe objective of our study was to explore how older adults’ trust in the Internet influences their online health-related activities, and to identify potential targets for improving health-related Internet resources for older adults.MethodsData were obtained from a nationally representative, random digit-dial telephone survey of 1450 adults 50 years of age and older in the United States. A model was developed to conceptualize the hypothesized relationships among individual characteristics, distrust, and avoidance of the Internet as a health resource. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the association between trust in online health information and use of the Internet for health-related purposes. Additional multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify the key characteristics associated with trust in online health information, adding sequentially the variables hypothesized to account for distrust among older adults: sociodemographic and health characteristics, inexperience and technical difficulties with the Internet, negative feelings toward the Internet, and lack of awareness about the sources providing the health information found online.ResultsThe mean (SD) age of the study population was 63.7 (10.6) years. Of the 823 (56.8%) Internet users, 628 (76.3%) reported using the Internet as a health resource. Trust in the Internet as a source of health information was associated with using the Internet for a number of health activities, including searching for information about a specific health condition (adjusted OR 4.43, P < .001), purchasing prescription drugs (adjusted OR 2.61, P = .03), and talking with a health care provider about information found online (adjusted OR 2.54, P = .002). Older adults (age ≥65 years) were less likely to trust the Internet as a source of health information (OR 0.63, P = .04), even after adjusting for other sociodemographic characteristics and health and function. This age effect was only slightly attenuated (adjusted OR 0.69, P = .13) after adjusting for inexperience and technical difficulties with the Internet, but it disappeared entirely (adjusted OR 0.96, P = .91) after adjusting for other hypothesized contributors to distrust (including finding the Internet confusing because it provides “too much information,” and lacking awareness about the source providing health information found online).ConclusionsWebsite design features that clearly identify the source and credibility of information and minimize confusion may build trust among older adults and offer an opportunity to increase the utility of the Internet as a health resource for this population.

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The purpose of the study was to examine the association between attitudes toward fast food and the frequency of fast‐food intake in adults. This study is a cross‐sectional evaluation of random digit‐dial telephone surveys to identify patterns of eating away from home and attitudes toward it. Participants included 530 adults (94% white, 65% women, 70% married, 42% with college educated). Attitudes toward fast food was measured using an 11‐item, 4‐dimensional scale: perceived convenience of fast food (α = 0.56); fast food is fun and social (α = 0.55); fast food perceived as unhealthful (α = 0.45); and dislike toward cooking (α = 0.52). Frequency of fast‐food intake was found to be significantly associated with age (odds ratios (OR) = 0.981, P = 0.001), gender (men > women), and marital status of the participants (single > married/partnered and divorced/separated/widowed). Additionally, frequency of fast‐food intake was also found to be significantly associated with perceived convenience of fast food (OR = 1.162, P < 0.001) and dislike toward cooking (OR = 1.119, P < 0.001) but not with perceived unhealthfulness of fast food (OR = 0.692, P = 0.207). These findings suggest public education regarding the unhealthfulness of fast food may not influence fast food consumption. Interventions targeting the issue of convenience and quick or efficient preparation of nutritious alternatives to fast food could be more promising.