Reducing behavioural risk factors for cancer: An affect regulation perspective

Abstract

Nearly half of all cancer deaths are attributable to preventable causes, primarily unhealthy behaviours such as tobacco use, alcohol use and overeating. In this review, we argue that people engage in these behaviours, at least in part, as a means of regulating their affective states. To better understand why people engage in these behaviours and how researchers might design interventions to promote the selection of healthier methods for regulating affect, we propose a conceptual model of affect regulation. We synthesise research from both the stress and coping tradition as well as the emotion and emotion regulation tradition, two literatures that are not typically integrated. In so doing, we indicate where researchers have made headway in understanding these behaviours as affect regulation and note how our model could be used to structure future work in a way that would be particularly advantageous to cancer control efforts.

Emotion, health decision making, and health behaviour

“…Suppression was unassociated with any sleep outcome, contrary to some previous work linking suppression to sleep (Vantieghem, Marcoen, Mairesse, & Vandekerckhove, 2016), but consistent with findings that rumination emerges as a more maladaptive strategy for health outcomes (Zawadzki, 2015). These findings are notable given theory that stress may influence how emotion (and presumably emotion regulation) contributes to health behaviours (Carpenter & Niedenthal, 2017), and maladaptive regulatory strategies are presumed to lead to negative outcomes (O'Leary et al, 2017). This study is a striking example of where future work would benefit from well-conceptualised mediation and moderation analyses promoted by Kiviniemi et al (2017).…”

“…For example, some are most useful when understanding healthy behaviour like physical activity (Van Cappellen, Rice, Catalino, & Fredrickson, 2017), while others focus on risky behaviour (O'Leary, Suri, & Gross, 2017). Some focus on physiological processes (Berkman, 2017;Carpenter & Niedenthal, 2017;Van Cappellen et al, 2017), whereas others have a more behavioural or psychological focus O'Leary et al, 2017). Some articles are more explanatory (Berkman, 2017;Carpenter & Niedenthal, 2017;O'Leary et al, 2017); other articles are more focused on translation Van Cappellen et al, 2017) -although all have some utility for both explanatory and translational functions.…”

“…Some focus on physiological processes (Berkman, 2017;Carpenter & Niedenthal, 2017;Van Cappellen et al, 2017), whereas others have a more behavioural or psychological focus O'Leary et al, 2017). Some articles are more explanatory (Berkman, 2017;Carpenter & Niedenthal, 2017;O'Leary et al, 2017); other articles are more focused on translation Van Cappellen et al, 2017) -although all have some utility for both explanatory and translational functions. These papers are illustrative for informing basic and applied work, and for contextualising the papers in the remainder of this issue.…”

“…The theoretical frameworks described in these papers are interconnected in ways, but also distinct, and may be useful for different purposes. For example, some are most useful when understanding healthy behaviour like physical activity (Van Cappellen, Rice, Catalino, & Fredrickson, 2017), while others focus on risky behaviour (O'Leary, Suri, & Gross, 2017). Some focus on physiological processes (Berkman, 2017;Carpenter & Niedenthal, 2017;Van Cappellen et al, 2017), whereas others have a more behavioural or psychological focus O'Leary et al, 2017).…”

“…By examining discrete emotion and stress concurrently but independently, the study suggests the possibility that fear may trigger defensive processing, while general stress may be linked to avoidance due to attenuated resources for coping with negative information. Examining emotion and stress separately allows for the possibility to address differential determinants of cancer information avoidance with models examining how worry or fear serves as a mechanism and with those examining the consequences of poorly managed stress (O'Leary et al, 2017). Emerson, Dunsiger, and Williams (2017) examine the complex temporal associations among exercise and positive affect using an ecological momentary assessment design and cross-lagged analyses.…”