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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE New Study of Links Between Childhood Personality and Adult HealthHONOLULU, October 25, 2002 Is your personality in early childhood related to the risky behaviors you practice and the diseases you get decades later? That is the question asked by a new $2.5 million research project awarded by the National Institute on Aging to the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research Hawaii and Oregon Research Institute (Eugene, Oregon). More than 40 years ago, Dr. Jack Dignan, of the University of Hawaii, carried out a study in which first- and second-grade teachers on Oahu and Kauai provided in-depth personality assessments on more than 2,000 of their students. Students from Oahu and Kauai participated. These children, now in their late 40s, offer a unique opportunity to examine the relation of childhood personality to adult health and health behaviors. "It is very important to find out if there are connections between children’s personalities and their behavior and health as adults," said Thomas Vogt, MD, program director of the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research Hawaii and principal investigator of the Hawaii subcontract for the new study. "For example, if we find a high correlation between personality traits in childhood and smoking, excessive drinking, drug abuse, or unsafe sexual activity in later life, this will help us create better education and intervention programs." Dr. Dignan died in 1998 shortly after the National Institutes of Mental Health funded a grant to re-contact and survey the children he had studied so long ago. The survey work was completed by his colleagues, Dr. Lewis Goldberg of Eugene, Oregon and Dr. Sarah Hampson of the University of Surrey in England, both noted experts on human personality, and Drs. Anthony Marsella and Joan Dubanoski of the University of Hawaii, and by Dr. Vogt. The new study will involve several surveys, a physical examination, and laboratory tests over the next five years, and will provide an unprecedented opportunity to explore the relation of human personality to health and illness. The study is a collaboration between the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Honolulu and the Oregon Research Institute, with consultation from Dr. Marsella at the University of Hawaii. Dr. Vogt will direct the clinical aspects of the work, and Dr. Dubanoski will coordinate locating the individuals and inviting them to attend an examination at the Center for Health Research Hawaii clinic in the Dole Cannery building. The Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research Hawaii, established in 1999, is a non-profit research institute that conducts research in the public interest in a wide variety of medical and health care issues. It is a partnership among Kaiser Permanente Hawaii, the Hawaii Permanente Medical Group, and Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Health Research Northwest. Kaiser Permanente Hawaii is the state’s largest and most experienced health maintenance organization. Its 325 physicians and 4,000 employees serve 231,000 members statewide. Kaiser Permanente operates 16 outpatient clinics on Oahu, Maui, and Hawaii, and contracts with the Kauai Medical Group to provide care for its Garden Island members. CONTACT: Jan Kagehiro, Phone (808) 432-4983, Pager (808) 574-5093
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE UHM and Oregon Research Institute Collaborating on $1,000,000 GrantHONOLULU, October 11, 1999 The National Institutes of Health (NIH) have awarded a $1,000,000 grant to the Oregon Research Institute to collaborate with the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa to study lifestyle, health beliefs and health behaviors across cultures in Hawai‘i. Dr. Anthony J. Marsella, Professor of Psychology, is the principal investigator for the project in Hawaii. The Lifestyle, Culture and Health Project continues an important series of studies conducted over 30 years ago with 2,300 elementary school students on O’ahu and Kauai. These studies generated important research in health, education, and industry. The children in the original studies, all members of the Baby Boom generation, represent a broad range of cultural groups. Therefore, results of the present study will provide cross-cultural information relevant to health care policy and planning for the 78 million Baby Boomers nationwide. Hawai‘i’s high life expectancy also suggests that participants will contribute valuable information related to maintenance of optimal health and well-being across the life span. Researchers are currently seeking the participants from the original studies, who were students in 1965 in the first, second, fifth and sixth grades at Aikahi, Ka‘ewai, Kapunahala, Makaha, Noelani, Nu‘uanu, Wai‘ahole, and Wai‘anae elementary schools on Oahu. In addition, participants from Kauai were students in 1967 in the sixth grade at ‘Ele‘ele, Holy Cross, Kapa‘a, Kekaha, Koloa, St. Catherine, Waimea and Wilcox elementary schools. Individuals agreeing to join the present study will be paid for their participation. For further information, call Project Director, Dr. Joan Dubanoski at 956-8179, email at dubanosk@hawaii.edu, fax to 956-8142, or mail letters to the Lifestyle, Culture & Health Project at 2550 Campus Road, Crawford Hall 315F, UH Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822. Prospective participants will receive an invitation by mail in mid-October 1999 to join the study. Eligible individuals who do not receive an invitation may contact the project office to add their names to the mailing list of those who will receive a Lifestyle, Culture & Health survey in early November 1999. For More Information Contact:
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