Genetic, Environmental, and Personality Determinants of Health Risk Behaviors

Course overview

Course Description: Genetic, Environmental, and Personality Determinants of Health Risk Behaviors provides a brief overview of the epidemiology of tobacco use, unhealthy diet, obesity, and physical inactivity in relation to health outcomes. The genetic and environmental determinants of these risk behaviors and their underlying motivational systems are discussed. The measurement of intermediate phenotypes, such as personality and temperament, is presented as a means of advancing the knowledge of the role of gene-environment interactions in risk behaviors and health. The course concludes with a discussion of the effects of emotional or motivational states as they affect health risk behaviors. This course is based upon material published by the National Academies Press for the National Academy of Sciences and is available as an open access article. This course on health risk behaviors and their determinants is designed for social workers, professional counselors, psychologists, nurses, and substance abuse counselors, who do clinical work. This course is appropriate for beginning, intermediate and advanced level practitioners who wish to develop their understanding of the determinants of risky health behaviors. The course material includes information related to genetics, the environment, and personality factors and their relationship to health risk behaviors. It may also be useful for licensed clinicians who require clinical continuing education courses for license renewal. Authors: Lyla M. Hernandez and Dan G. Blazer (Eds) Learning Objectives: This course will provide the practitioner with detailed information regarding determinants of health risk behaviors. Specifically, a professional will: •Describe health risk behaviors •Identify epidemiology and health consequences of tobacco use, unhealthy diet, obesity, and physical inactivity •Recognize how measuring intermediate phenotypes helps delineate the role of gene-environment interactions in risk behaviors and health Citation: Genes, Behaviors, and the Social Environment: Moving Beyond the Nature-Nurture Debate (2006). Committee on Assessing Interactions among Social, Behavioral, and Genetic Factors in Health. Lyla M. Hernandez and Dan G. Blazer, Editors. ISBN 0309660459. Visit us online for a full year of unlimited online CEUs.