Body-image and obesity in adolescence: a comparative study of social-demographic, psychological, and behavioral aspects

In current society, body and beauty's cult emerge as one of the main factors of adolescence. That leads adolescents to be dissatisfied with their own appearance, to psychological maladjustment, and nutritional disorders. This quantitative, exploratory, and cross-sectional research evaluates how adolescents perceive their weight and the prevalence of obesity in a sample of adolescents from the district of Viseu (Portugal). It also attempted to compare the relation of body-image and obesity with sociodemographic (school, sex, age, socioeconomic status, family functioning), psychological (self-concept, depression, school success) and behavioral aspects (physical inactivity). After data analyses, it was verified that the prevalence of obesity was 8.8% but 12.7% considered themselves obese. These adolescents had higher physical inactivity, poorer family functioning, a lower self-concept, and a higher depression index. The really obese adolescents were older and had poorer academic results. Obesity was higher in boys, but girls perceived themselves more as being obese. In conclusion, it is essential to evaluate weight perception in addition to body mass index (BMI), because the main problem could be related not only to being obese, but also to the perception of having a higher than ideal weight.     

Types of media violence and degree of acceptance in under‐18s

It is an established fact that almost every TV channel offers a high level of violent content. The object of this study is to check the degree of acceptance of this media violence in under‐18s. We will also check what cognitive and emotional effects the viewing of different types of violence has. A sample of 203 subjects aged 13 years from Madrid, Spain, viewed a clip from different films. Before and after the film, data were collected about their opinion on violence. Three viewing conditions were established according to the degree and type of violence shown and based on Berkowitz [(1996): Desclée De Brouwer]: action without violence, socially justified violence, and socially unjustified violence. Several ANOVAs were carried out revealing that violence is better valued and more attractive after watching the film sequences than before the showing. Aggr. Behav. 29:381–392, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Differential sucking by neonates of depressed versus non-depressed mothers

Forty-two neonates (M = 39-h old) of depressed and non-depressed mothers sucked on cold (50 °F) and warm (78 °F) nipples on alternating trials. Half the infants received the cold nipple on the first of the eight trials (20 s each) and the other half received the warm nipple first. Neonates of depressed mothers sucked twice as much as neonates of non-depressed mothers, suggesting arousal dysregulation, overactivity or greater hedonic behavior in the newborns of depressed mothers. Although the newborns did not show a preference for cold or warm nipples, a temperature order effect revealed that neonates who received the cold nipple on the first trial sucked significantly more on trials 2–8 than those who received the warm nipple on the first trial, suggesting that an initially cold nipple might elicit greater sucking. More research is needed on maternal mood effects and temperature of objects to determine how these factors affect neonatal sucking behaviors.     

Human values and social identities: A study in two collectivist cultures

The current study examines the value correlates of social identities (identification with in‐groups and geospatial units) in two collectivist cultures (Brazil, n = 471; Spain, n = 476). According to previous research, it was expected that subjects who score higher on social values would be more identified with the various traditional in‐groups and with the local geospatial units and that social identities would be predicted by different values among Brazilians and Spaniards. Subjects were undergraduate students (228 males; 719 females), with age ranging from 16 to 55 years (M = 21.9; SD = 4.57), from three states in Brazil (Paraíba, Distrito Federal, and São Paulo) and Spain (Pontevedra, Madrid, and Barcelona). They were administered the Individualism‐CollectivismQuestionnaire, the Basic Value Survey, the In‐group Identification Scale, the Geospatial Identification Scale, and a questionnaire with demographic questions (e.g., gender, age, religious affiliation). Results confirm that importance attributed to social values is correlated with traditional in‐group and local geospatial identification, and that values predicting social identities are different across cultures, especially in the case of values related to geospatial identification. Specifically, among the set of social human values, belonging and tradition were most important to explain social identities. Subjects that assigned more importance to privacy were less identified with traditional ingroups, independently of their national culture. Geospatial identification was based on the values religiosity and belonging for Brazilians, and tradition, social order, honesty, and power for Spaniards. In general, these findings corroborate previous ones, suggesting the existence of a common set of values to explain social identity, based on principally normative values (social order and tradition). Moreover, they indicate the specificity and complexity of the geospatial identification in Spain, where the values of honesty and power contribute to explaining it. In this country, it is possible that the determinants of geospatial identification surpass the social orientation endorsed by people.     

Student and faculty gender in ratings of university teaching quality

The aim of this study is to test the assertion that student and faculty gender, together with their possible interaction, have little or almost no real effect on student ratings of university teaching quality, taking into account the diversity of academic disciplines as a modulating variable. A sample of 1,304 student ratings from a university in Madrid, Spain, was selected out of a total of 236,862. The Complutense University Teachers Evaluation Questionnaire was administered to students at the Complutense University of Madrid for assessing teaching quality. This instrument operationalizes two main dimensions in evaluation of teaching in higher education: Teaching Competence and Motivational and Interactive Skills. When the results were analyzed, taking into consideration both possible statistical significance and effect size, they supported the proposed assertion. These results may have implications on certain areas of higher education.     

THE USE AND IMPACT OF PSYCHOLOGY IN VENEZUELA: TWO EXAMPLES

Two cases are presented to illustrate how psychological knowledge and technology have been used in Venezuela. The first case relates to the use of psychological technology in Venezuelan politics where it is possible to identify a change from “caudillismo” to a more democratic “voting against” political culture. There is evidence that imported political compaigning techniques and extensive use of polling have been a factor of some importance in such change. The second case refers to the activities of the Minister for the Development of Intelligence, who has started a group of projects to improve cognitive functioning in different age groups. These programs are too recent to ascertain their effectiveness; so data is reported on an opinionative evaluation of one of the projects, carried out among Venezuelan psychologists and pediatricians.     

A Systematic Review of the Validity,Reliability, and Clinical Utility of Developmental Trauma Disorder (DTD) Symptom Criteria

Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review - Exposure to complex trauma is a prevalent and costly public health concern. Though not yet included in the formal diagnostic systems, developmental...     

Using equivalence‐based instruction to teach piano skills to college students

The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effects of equivalence‐based instruction (EBI) on the emergence of basic music reading and piano playing skills. Six female college students learned to identify three musical chord notations given their respective dictated names. Participants also learned to play chords on the piano following the dictated name of the chord, and to play the chords to a song on a keyboard. Results are consistent with past research, in that stimuli became substitutable for each other and acquired a common behavioral function. Data suggest that EBI was an effective and efficient procedure to teach adults to read musical notation, as well as play chords and a song on a piano keyboard.