Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes both ASU Theses and Dissertations, submitted by graduate students, and the Barrett, Honors College theses submitted by undergraduate students.
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Description
Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic musculoskeletal disorder characterized by widespread pain, fatigue, and a variety of other comorbid physiological and psychological characteristics, including a deficit of positive affect. Recently, the focus of research on the pathophysiology of FM has considered the role of a number of genomic variants. In the current manuscript, case-control analyses did not support the hypothesis that FM patients would differ from other chronic pain groups in catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) and mu-opioid receptor (OPRM1) genotype. However, evidence is provided in support of the hypothesis that functional single nucleotide polymorphisms on the COMT and OPRM1 genes would be associated with risk and resilience, respectively, in a dual processing model of pain-related positive affective regulation in FM. Forty-six female patients with a physician-confirmed diagnosis of FM completed an electronic diary that included once-daily assessments of positive affect and soft tissue pain. Multilevel modeling yielded a significant gene X environment interaction, such that individuals with met/met genotype on COMT experienced a greater decline in positive affect as daily pain increased than did either val/met or val/val individuals. A gene X environment interaction for OPRM1 also emerged, indicating that individuals with at least one asp allele were more resilient to elevations in daily pain than those homozygous for the asn allele. In sum, the findings offer researchers ample reason to further investigate the contribution of the catecholamine and opioid systems, and their associated genomic variants, to the still poorly understood experience of FM.
ContributorsFinan, Patrick Hamilton (Author) / Zautra, Alex (Thesis advisor) / Davis, Mary (Committee member) / Lemery-Chalfant, Kathryn (Committee member) / Presson, Clark (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Research on self-regulatory variables like mindfulness and effortful control proposes strong links with physical and mental health outcomes across the lifespan, from childhood and adolescence to adulthood and old age. One pathway by which self-regulation may confer health benefits is through individual differences in reports of and emotional responses to daily negative and positive events. Mindfulness is broadly defined as non-reactivity to inner experiences, while effortful control is broadly defined as attentional and behavioral regulation. Mindfulness and effortful control have both been conceptualized to exert their beneficial effects on development through their influence on exposure/engagement and emotional reactivity/responsiveness to both negative and positive events, yet few empirical studies have tested this claim using daily-diary designs, a research methodology that permits for examining this process. With a sample of community-dwelling adults (n=191), this thesis examined whether dispositional mindfulness (i.e., non-reactivity of inner experience) and effortful control (i.e., attention and behavioral regulation) modulate reports of and affective reactivity/responsiveness to daily negative and positive events across 30 days. Results showed that mindfulness and effortful control were each associated with reduced exposure to daily stressors but not positive events. They also showed that mindfulness and effortful control, respectively, predicted smaller decreases in negative affect and smaller increases in positive affect on days that positive events occurred. Overall, these findings offer insight into how these self-regulatory factors operate in the context of middle-aged adults’ everyday life.
ContributorsCastro, Saul (Author) / Infurna, Frank (Thesis advisor) / Doane, Leah (Committee member) / Davis, Mary (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018