title: Longitudinal associations between health behaviors and mental health in low-income adults.
abstract: Although there are established relationships between physical and mental health, few studies have explored the relationship between health behaviors and mental health over time. To explore rates of health-compromising behaviors (HCBs) and the longitudinal relationship between HCBs and depression, anxiety, and stress, five waves of data were collected over 1 year from 482 patients at an urban public health clinic (47 % female, 68 % African-American, M age = 28). Smoking (61 %), binge drinking (52 %), illegal drug use (53 %), unprotected sex with non-primary partners (55 %), and fast food consumption (71 %) were common, while consumption of fruits or vegetables (30 %) and breakfast (17 %) were rare. Cross-lagged models identified within-time associations between HCBs and depression/anxiety and stress. Additionally, depression/anxiety and stress predicted later HCBs, but HCBs did not predict later mental health. Results suggest that targeting mental health may be important to promoting improvements across multiple health behaviors.
authors.affiliation: Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine, The Miriam Hospital, Coro West, Suite 309, 164 Summit Ave., Providence, RI 02906 USA ; Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Alpert Medical School, Brown University, Providence, RI USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Walsh
authors.forename: Theresa E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Senn
authors.forename: Michael P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Carey
keywords: Anxiety; Depression; Health behavior; Mental health; Perceived stress