Elissa S Epel

Biographic Data

ID85011
NAMEElissa S Epel
GIVEN NAMESElissa S
FAMILY NAMEEpel
SIGNATUREEPEL E S
AFFILIATIONSUniversity of California, San Francisco
ORCID0000-0002-9334-4720
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS61
TOTAL CITATIONS194
AUTHOR COUNT61
EDITOR COUNT0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR1993
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2025
H-INDEX7

  • Transforming Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine to Address the Climate Crisis

    Open AccessElissa S Epel, Kristi E White et al.ARTICLEAnnals of Behavioral Medicine2025References: 83

    OBJECTIVE: The climate crisis poses the largest threat to human health and survival and has been a public health emergency for many years. It is causing harmful consequences for physical and mental health and is amplifying existing health inequities. In this call to action, we highlight the relevance of the health psychology and behavioral medicine communities in addressing the health impacts of climate change. METHOD: We identify mitigation and …

  • New Directions in Geroscience

    Lisbeth Nielsen, Anna L Marsland et al.ARTICLEPsychosomatic Medicine2024

    The “geroscience hypothesis” posits that slowing the physiological processes of aging would lead to delayed disease onset and longer healthspan and lifespan. This shift from a focus on solely treating existing disease to slowing the aging process is a shift toward prevention, including a focus on risk factors found in the social environment. Although geroscience traditionally has focused on the molecular and cellular drivers of biological aging, …

  • Did a workplace sugar-sweetened beverage sales ban reduce anxiety-related sugar-sweetened beverage consumption during the Covid-19 pandemic

    Open AccessLaurie M Jacobs, Laurie Jacobs et al.ARTICLEPublic Health Nutrition2024

    Objective: Workplace sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) sales bans can reduce SSB consumption. Because stress and anxiety can promote sugar consumption, we examined whether anxiety among hospital employees during the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with changes in SSB consumption and explored whether this relationship varied by exposure to a workplace SSB sales ban. Design: In a prospective, controlled trial of workplace SSB sales bans, we examined …

  • Stress-induced eating in rural adolescents

    Open AccessLori A Francis, Brandi Y Rollins et al.ARTICLEAppetite2024References: 60

  • Food insecurity, poor diet, and metabolic measures

    Open AccessDorothy T Chiu, John E Parker et al.ARTICLEAppetite2024References: 56

  • Is it me or my child? The association between maternal depression and children's behavior problems in mothers and their children with or without autism

    Open AccessDanielle S Roubinov, Danielle Roubinov et al.ARTICLEFamily Process2023

    Bidirectional associations between maternal depression and child behavior problems have been reported in prior research, however, few studies examine these relations across varied family contexts. This study examined parenting stress and child diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as moderators of bidirectional associations between maternal depression and child behavior problems over time. Our sample included 86 mother–child dyads who repor…

  • Behavioral Medicine Research Council (BMRC) Statement Papers

    John M Ruiz, John Ruiz et al.ARTICLEPsychosomatic Medicine2023

    Psychosomatic Medicine, founded in 1939, is the official organ of the American Psychosomatic Society. It publishes experimental and clinical studies dealing with various aspects of the relationships among social, psychological, and behavioral factors and bodily processes in humans and animals. It is an international, interdisciplinary journal devoted to experimental and clinical investigation in behavioral biology, psychiatry, psychology, physiol…

  • A Lens on Caregiver Stress in Cancer

    Y Kim, Jue Lin et al.ARTICLEPsychosomatic Medicine2023

    OBJECTIVE: Family members are typically the primary caregivers of patients with chronic illnesses. Family caregivers of adult relatives with cancer are a fast-growing population, yet the physical consequences of their stress due to the cancer in the family have been poorly understood. This study examined the bidirectional relations of the perceived stress of family caregivers of individuals recently diagnosed with cancer and leukocyte cellular ag…

  • Acute and Chronic Stress Associations With Blood Pressure

    Hio Wa Mak, Amie M Gordon et al.ARTICLEPsychosomatic Medicine2023

    OBJECTIVE: This study examined the within- and between-person associations of acute and chronic stress with blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) using an app-based research platform. METHODS: We examined data from 31,964 adults (aged 18-90 years) in an app-based ecological momentary assessment study that used a research-validated optic sensor to measure BP. RESULTS: Within-person associations revealed that moments with (versus without) acute s…

  • Controlled trial of a workplace sales ban on sugar-sweetened beverages

    Open AccessJamey M Schmidt, Elissa S Epel et al.ARTICLEPublic Health Nutrition2023

    Objective: To examine the effectiveness of a workplace sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) sales ban on reducing SSB consumption in employees, including those with cardiometabolic disease risk factors. Design: A controlled trial of ethnically diverse, full-time employees who consumed SSB heavily (sales ban n 315; control n 342). Outcomes included standardised measures of change in SSB consumption in the workplace (primary) and at home between baseline…

  • Author Correction

    Open AccessLaura D Kubzansky, Elissa S Epel et al.ARTICLENature Human Behaviour2023

  • Prosociality should be a public health priority

    Open AccessLaura D Kubzansky, Elissa S Epel et al.ARTICLENature Human Behaviour2023Cited by: 2References: 14

  • Improving the Language Specificity of Stress in Psychological and Population Health Science

    Alexandra D Crosswell, Elissa S Epel et al.ARTICLEPsychosomatic Medicine2022

  • Effects of Early Life Adversity on Pubertal Timing and Tempo in Black and White Girls

    Elio Dovere, Elissa June Hamlat et al.ARTICLEPsychosomatic Medicine2022

    Screening for early life abuse may help address health disparities related to earlier pubertal timing

  • The Effects of a Prenatal Mindfulness Intervention on Infant Autonomic and Behavioral Reactivity and Regulation

    Open AccessAmanda N Noroña‐Zhou, Amanda N Noroña-Zhou et al.ARTICLEPsychosomatic Medicine2022

    OBJECTIVE: Maternal health and wellness during pregnancy are associated with long-term health outcomes in children. The current study examined whether infants of women who participated in a mindfulness-based intervention during pregnancy that reduced levels of stress and depression, increased physical activity, and improved glucose tolerance differed on biobehavioral markers of psychopathological and physical health risk compared with infants of …

  • The role of interparental relationship variability in parent–child interactions

    Open AccessBrian P Don, Danielle S Roubinov et al.ARTICLEJournal of Marriage and the Family2022Cited by: 3References: 29

    Objective The goal of this study was to examine how variability in interparental relationship functioning predicts the quality of parent–child interactions in daily life among families in which a child had autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and families of neurotypical children. Background Parent–child interactions predict a host of key outcomes for children, and one contributor to the health of parent–child interactions is the quality of the relati…

  • Exploratory Analysis of Racial/Ethnic and Educational Differences in a Randomized Controlled Trial of a Mindfulness-Based Weight Loss Intervention

    Jennifer Daubenmier, Maria T Chao et al.ARTICLEPsychosomatic Medicine2021

    OBJECTIVE: People of color and lower socioeconomic groups have higher obesity prevalence, lose less weight compared with Whites and higher socioeconomic groups, and are underrepresented in randomized controlled trials of mindfulness-based interventions. We examined whether mindfulness approaches reduce disparities in weight loss interventions. METHODS: We analyzed data from a randomized controlled trial of 194 participants with obesity (41% parti…

  • Accomplishing breakthroughs in behavioural medicine research

    Open AccessKarina W Davidson, Simon L Bacon et al.ARTICLENature Human Behaviour2021References: 9

  • Mind wandering and stress

    Open AccessAlexandra D Crosswell, Michael Coccia et al.ARTICLEEmotion2019

    Buddhist philosophy and existing empirical evidence suggest that being engaged in-and accepting-the present moment is associated with greater well-being. However, engaging with the present moment experience and ignoring unwanted thoughts is difficult given the nature of our minds and the competing demands for our attention. This may be especially true when experiencing psychological stress, during which acceptance of current experience may be par…

  • More than a feeling

    Open AccessElissa S Epel, Alexandra D Crosswell et al.ARTICLEFrontiers in Neuroendocrinology2018

    Stress can influence health throughout the lifespan, yet there is little agreement about what types and aspects of stress matter most for human health and disease. This is in part because "stress" is not a monolithic concept but rather, an emergent process that involves interactions between individual and environmental factors, historical and current events, allostatic states, and psychological and physiological reactivity. Many of these processe…

  • Weight Loss Maintenance and Cellular Aging in the Supporting Health Through Nutrition and Exercise Study

    Ashley E Mason, FREDERICK HECHT et al.ARTICLEPsychosomatic Medicine2018

    OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to determine, within a weight loss clinical trial for obesity, the impact of intervention arm, weight change, and weight loss maintenance on telomere length (TL). METHODS: Adults (N = 194) with a body mass index between 30 and 45 were randomized to a 5.5-month weight loss program with (n = 100) or without (n = 94) mindfulness training and identical diet-exercise guidelines. We assessed TL at baseline and 3-, 6-…

  • Justice for all? Beliefs about justice for self and others and telomere length in African Americans

    Open AccessT Lucas, Jacqueline Woerner et al.ARTICLECultural Diversity & Ethnic…2018Cited by: 6References: 8

    Findings underscore that for racial minorities, health might be best protected when justice beliefs are both endorsed and rebuffed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved)

  • Advancing Research on Psychosocial Stress and Aging with the Health and Retirement Study

    Open AccessAlexandra D Crosswell, Madhuvanthi Suresh et al.ARTICLEThe Journals of Gerontology…2018Cited by: 7References: 8

    The HRS provides one of the most comprehensive assessments of psychosocial stress in existing population-based studies and offers the potential for a deeper understanding of how psychosocial factors are related to healthy aging trajectories. The next generation of research examining stress and trajectories of aging in the HRS should test complex longitudinal and mediational relationships, include contextual factors in analyses, and include more c…

  • Cross-border ties, nativity, and inflammatory markers in a population-based prospective study of Latino adults

    Open AccessJacqueline M Torres, Elissa S Epel et al.ARTICLESocial Science & Medicine2018References: 40

  • Socioeconomic Status, Financial Strain, and Leukocyte Telomere Length in a Sample of African American Midlife Men

    Open AccessJoshua M Schrock, Nancy E Adler et al.ARTICLEJournal of Racial and Ethnic…2018Cited by: 2References: 59