title: Teasing apart the effects of cognition, stress, and depression on health.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To test whether cognitive vulnerability could explain the link between depression and poor health.
  
  
  METHODS
  A 4-week longitudinal design was used to examine health problems (eg, diabetes), health behaviors (eg, smoking), depressive symptoms, cognitive vulnerability, and life stress in a sample of 154 undergraduates.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Contrary to hypotheses, depressive symptoms, but not cognitive vulnerability, were associated with health problems. However, as predicted, cognitive vulnerability was a better predictor of prospective changes in specific health behaviors than were depressive symptoms. Unexpectedly, life stress was the best predictor of prospective changes in specific health behaviors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results are among the first to show that the factors associated with health problems are different than those associated with specific health behaviors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA.
authors.forename: Jenalee R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Doom
authors.forename: Gerald J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Haeffel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003071:Cognition; D003863:Depression / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*