Patient drawings of their melanoma: A novel approach to understanding symptom perception and appraisal prior to health care

Although previous research showed that the thin ideal provided by the media affects body image and eating behaviour in young children, less is known about specific media contents that are related to body image and eating behaviour. This study tested the associations between watching soaps and music television and body dissatisfaction and restrained eating directly, and indirectly through thin ideal internalisation. We conducted a survey in class, in which 245 girls (aged 7–9) completed scales on their television watching behaviour, thin ideal internalisation, body dissatisfaction and restrained eating. Additionally, height and weight were measured. Watching soaps and music television often was associated with higher thin ideal internalisation, which in turn was associated with higher body dissatisfaction and restrained eating. Furthermore, a direct association between watching soaps and music television and restrained eating was found. If watching other types of children's programmes or maternal encouragement to be thin were included in the models, watching soaps and music television remained an important factor, especially with regard to restrained eating. Therefore, our results suggest that if young girls watch soaps and music television often, this is related to higher restrained eating and body dissatisfaction, directly or indirectly, through higher thin ideal internalisation.     

Personality and attitudinal correlates of healthy and unhealthy lifestyles in young adults

Abstract

The relationship between healthy lifestyle and personality and attitudinal variables was analyzed with data collected from 809 men and 996 women aged 18–30 years in England, Belgium, Finland and Norway as part of the European Health and Behaviour Survey. A health practices index was constructed on the basis of performance of sixteen behaviours including smoking, alcohol consumption, exercise, sleep time and a variety of dietary and preventive practices. Scores on the health practices index were higher in women than men, but in both sexes the index was normally distributed. Consistently healthy practices were positively correlated with extraversion and optimism, and negatively associated with neuroticism, psychoticism and chance locus of control beliefs. These effects were maintained after controlling for social desirability, but together accounted for only a modest proportion of the variance in the health practices index. The results are discussed in relation to the factors characterising health conscious and unhealthy lifestyles.     

Juggling roles and expectations: dilemmas faced by women talking to relatives about cancer and genetic testing

Health professionals do not inform their patients’ kin about BRCA1/2 test results or genetic testing without their written consent. Thus, the onus is on women attending genetic counselling to talk to relatives about the family history and their potential increased risk. This communication process within the family is largely unexplored and provides the focus of the present study. Fifteen healthy women attending a genetics clinic for predictive testing were interviewed prior to receiving their test result and again 6 months later. A grounded theory approach was used. Findings illustrate the dilemmas women faced in juggling social roles and expectations, which had an impact on communication within the family in the context of predictive genetic testing. Tensions between responsibilities towards themselves and others and their fulfilment of social roles had an impact on who women informed and on how they did so. These factors should be considered when assigning patients the role of information provider.     

Structural studies of ultrathin zirconia dielectrics

We present detailed structural and chemical studies on ultrathin zirconia films grown by ultraviolet oxidation and natural (no ultraviolet light) oxidation of Zr precursor metal layers on SiO2-passivated Si(100) wafers. Quantitative electron-energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) was used to obtain the chemical composition and electronic structure on an atomic scale. The EELS OK near-edge fine structure was used as a fingerprint to study the stoichiometry and composition variation in the dielectric stacks. X-ray absorption spectroscopy studies were performed in order to aid interpretation of the EELS results. The electronic structure data are correlated with the electrical performance of the films.     

Reaction time measures in deception research: Comparing the effects of irrelevant and relevant stimulus–response compatibility

Evidence regarding the validity of reaction time (RT) measures in deception research is mixed. One possible reason for this inconsistency is that structurally different RT paradigms have been used. The aim of this study was to experimentally investigate whether structural differences between RT tasks are related to how effective those tasks are for capturing deception. We achieved this aim by comparing the effectiveness of relevant and irrelevant stimulus–response compatibility (SRC) tasks. We also investigated whether an intended but not yet completed mock crime could be assessed with both tasks. Results showed (1) a larger compatibility effect in the relevant SRC task compared to the irrelevant SRC task, (2) for both the completed and the intended crime. These results were replicated in a second experiment in which a semantic feature (instead of color) was used as critical response feature in the irrelevant SRC task. The findings support the idea that a structural analysis of deception tasks helps to identify RT measures that produce robust group effects, and that strong compatibility effects for both enacted crimes as well as merely intended crimes can be found with RT measures that are based on the manipulation of relevant SRC.     

Mindfulness and acceptance-based group therapy versus traditional cognitive behavioral group therapy for social anxiety disorder: A randomized controlled trial

Recent research has supported the use of mindfulness and acceptance-based interventions for Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD).     

The evolution of a concept: The relationship between state and religion in the thought of Vladimir Jabotinsky, 1919–1940

Jabotinsky’s ideological evolution underwent a considerable shift, caused by both internal Zionist concerns and external political processes throughout the 1930s. His assessment of Judaism was no exception, yet at the same time one cannot ignore the consistency of his earlier evaluation of Judaism. The usual interpretation, based on a presumption of Jabotinsky’s maintenance of a secular world view in his private life while adhering to the idea of a greater role for traditional Judaism in public, oversimplifies the complexity of his approach. One has to bear in mind that Jabotinsky’s opinions cannot be identified with those of Menahem Begin, despite Begin’s aspiration to present Jabotinsky as his teacher. While the usual designation of Jabotinsky as an extremist might serve the purposes of both the Zionist left and right, an academic discourse should not ignore certain similarities of Jabotinsky’s opinions to mainstream Zionist thought. His newly discovered emphasis on the “sublime notions” embodied in religion was an attempt to counterbalance the ideological influence of the radical Revisionist Zionist trends with which he came to be associated by the mid‐1930s.     

The Old Catholic churches of the Union of Utrecht

Abstract

The Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht have different historical backgrounds. The Dutch Church has her roots in the Catholic Counter‐Reformation, the German‐speaking Churches in the protest‐movements against Vatican I, and the Polish Churches in the problems of emigrants to USA. However, they adhere in common to the conciliar and synodical tradition of the Catholic Church. They lay stress on the relative autonomy of the local church, the episcopal apostolic succession, and the Eucharist as the manifestation of the Church. The autonomy of the local church is not seen as detached from the universal Church or the responsibility to stay in or to restore Church unity. This leads to an ecumenical engagement which has resulted in full communion with the Anglican Churches and a doctrinal consensus with the Orthodox Churches. Reference back to the undivided Church is a key feature of Old Catholic ecclesiology, though this does not lead to uncomplicated ecumenical solutions.     

Reconceptualizing Cultivation: Implications for Testing Relationships Between Fiction Exposure and Self-Reported Alcohol Use Evaluations

ABSTRACT

This article responds to calls for conceptual clarification in the media effects domain by providing a definition for attitudinal cultivation effects. Our definition contains 5 core characteristics: the (a) linear effects of (b) repeated media exposure on (c) the evaluation as given by memory associations (d) strengthened by and (e) valenced in line with those media messages. We reason that, when accepting this definition, the cultivation hypothesis predicts effects of repeated media use on evaluations to primarily occur at the level of gut evaluations given by automatically activated memory associations. Corroborating this logic for the effects of alcohol use portrayals in television fiction, we find the relationship between fiction exposure and self-reported alcohol use evaluations to be (a) moderated by speed of expressing those evaluations and (b) mediated by responses to self-reports tapping into gut feelings. The implications of these findings for future media effects studies are discussed.