Speaker: Prof. Aleksandra Luszczynska; SWPS University, Wroclaw, Poland, and University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, USA and her team

Time: 1pm-3:30pm, 1 November, 2019

Venue: 1113,Wangkezhen Building, Peking University

Abstract: This lecture presents developments in health psychology research, with a focus on dyadic approaches, sedentary behaviors, and enabling/cultivation theoretical models.

Karolina Zarychta will discuss findings from dyadic research showing the relationships between maternal eating styles and child eating styles, obtained in a dyadic longitudinal study conducted among 822 mother-child dyads. Next, she will present the prospective links between child and parental aversion of food and physical activity and respective health behaviors in children. Both parental and child cognitions should be considered when explaining child physical activity and child dietary behaviors.

Monika Boberska will present discoveries from a longitudinal dyadic study enrolling 879 parent-child dyads, explaining the role of parental practices (analyzed from parental and child perspective) as predictors of sedentary behaviors and body mass indicators among children. Child, not parental perceptions predict objectively measured body fat percentage. Next, she will discuss the links between sedentary behaviors and quality of life domains. Findings from a meta-analysis showed significant associations between sedentary behaviors and somatic or functional domains of quality of life but no significant associations with emotional (mental) or social domains. No moderating effects of age or health status were found.

Anna Banik will address the relevance of theory-based approach to determine the order in which social-cognitive determinants operate. Using data from a longitudinal study enrolling 104 non-small cell lung cancer patients she will show support for enabling hypothesis (social support predicts self-efficacy) but not cultivation hypothesis (self-efficacy predicts social support) across 14 indicators of quality of life. Next, she will present longitudinal findings obtained in 879 parent-child dyads, indicating that both enabling and cultivation hypotheses may be supported in a dyadic context, when explaining child and parental physical activity.

Bio: Aleksandra Luszczynska, PhD, is professor of psychology at SWPS University, Wroclaw Poland, and research associate professor adjoint at Trauma, Health, & Hazards Center at University of Colorado (USA). Prof. Luszczynska is specializing in health behavior change intervention development, implementation, and evaluation. She leads CARE-BEH Center (http://www.care-beh.eu/) at SWPS University. Her research was funded by national and international bodies (including European Union’s Horizon 2020 and Joint Programming Initiative). Before joining SWPS University, Prof. Luszczynska held positions at Freie Universität Berlin (Germany) and University of Sussex (England). She has published over 140 papers (cited over 4200, h-index 35; Web of Science) and has been internationally awarded for her research work with Fellowships and Scientific Awards (e.g., by European Health Psychology and International Association of Applied Psychology). She was President of Division of Health Psychology, International Association of Applied Psychology. Currently, she is editorial board member of 7 impacted journals and Editor-in-Chief of Applied Psychology: Health and Wellbeing. More information available at https://cutt.ly/Rw712E6.

Host: Prof. Yiqun Gan