Looking Good Versus Feeling Good: An Investigation of Media Frames of Health Advice and Their Effects on Women’s Body-related Self-perceptions

The present research had two goals: (1) to document how health advice is framed on the covers of women’s health magazines, and (2) to investigate whether exposure to appearance frames (i.e., do something in order to look better) affected women’s body-related self-perceptions compared to health frames (i.e., to do something in order to feel better). Study 1, a content analysis of 426 cover headlines on the five highest-circulating women’s health magazines in the United States, revealed that appearance frames were just as prevalent as health frames. Study 2, an experiment conducted on 103 U.S. undergraduate women, showed that those assigned to appearance frames reported more body shame and appearance-related motivation to exercise than women assigned to health frames.     

Exposure to Sexually Objectifying Media and Body Self-Perceptions among College Women: An Examination of the Selective Exposure Hypothesis and the Role of Moderating Variables

Objectification theory (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997) contends that media that places women’s bodies and appearance at a premium can acculturate women to self-objectify (i.e., to view the self primarily in terms of externally perceivable attributes), or to feel anxious or ashamed of their bodies. However, another unexplored possibility is that antecedent levels of self-objectification, appearance anxiety, and body shame could drive the selection or avoidance of sexually objectifying media. The goals of the present study were two-fold: first, to test the directionality of the associations between exposure to sexually objectifying media and body self-perceptions (i.e., does exposure to sexually objectifying media predict body self-perceptions or vice versa); and second, to explore the possible moderating influence of thin-ideal internalization, global self-esteem, and BMI on the relations between exposure to sexually objectifying media and body self-perceptions. A 2-year panel study of female undergraduates was conducted. The results show that Time-1 trait self-objectification, appearance anxiety, and body shame all negatively predicted Time-2 exposure to sexually objectifying media. Moreover, Time-1 exposure to sexually objectifying media predicted an increase in Time-2 trait self-objectification, particularly among women who were low in global self-esteem.     

Heartbeat perception in social anxiety before and during speech anticipation

According to current cognitive models of social phobia, individuals with social anxiety create a distorted image of themselves in social situations, relying, at least partially, on interoceptive cues. We investigated differences in heartbeat perception as a proxy of interoception in 48 individuals high and low in social anxiety at baseline and while anticipating a public speech. Results revealed lower error scores for high fearful participants both at baseline and during speech anticipation. Speech anticipation improved heartbeat perception in both groups only marginally. Eight of nine accurate perceivers as determined using a criterion of maximum difference between actual and counted beats were high socially anxious. Higher interoceptive accuracy might increase the risk of misinterpreting physical symptoms as visible signs of anxiety which then trigger negative evaluation by others. Treatment should take into account that in socially anxious individuals perceived physical arousal is likely to be accurate rather than false alarm.     

Distraction and placebo: two separate routes to pain control

An explosion of recent research has studied whether placebo treatments influence health-related outcomes and their biological markers, but almost no research has examined the psychological processes required for placebo effects to occur. This study tested whether placebo treatment and cognitive distraction reduce pain through shared or independent processes. We tested the joint effects of performance of an executive working memory task and placebo treatment on thermal pain perception. An interactive effect of these two manipulations would constitute evidence for shared mechanisms, whereas additive effects would imply separate mechanisms. Participants (N = 33) reported reduced pain both when they performed the working memory task and when they received the placebo treatment, but the reductions were additive, a result indicating that the executive demands of the working memory task did not interfere with placebo analgesia. Furthermore, placebo analgesia did not impair task performance. Together, these data suggest that placebo analgesia does not depend on active redirection of attention and that expectancy and distraction can be combined to maximize pain relief.     

An Existential Foundation for an Ethics of Care in Heidegger’s Being and Time

Martin Heidegger’s existential account of care in Being and Time (2010) provides us with an opportunity to reimagine what the proper theoretical grounding of an ethic of care might be. Heidegger’s account of care serves to deconstruct the two primary foundations that an ethic of care is often based upon. Namely, that we are inevitably interdependent upon one another and/or possess an innate disposition to care for fellow humans in need. Heidegger’s account reveals that both positions are founded upon an ontic (meaning factual existence), as opposed to an ontological (which refers to the nature of being), understanding of care. The distinctions between an ontic and ontological understanding of care are significant. Yet, I maintain that they are not completely incompatible. Both Heidegger and care ethicists contend that our existence with others is understood through a relational ontology. Furthermore, there are certain ontological structures from Heidegger which resonate with an ethic of care. Two key existential structures are leaping-ahead and being-guilty. These existential structures are latent in care ethics, and by explicitly revealing them I reinforce the connection between Heidegger’s account and care theory. Lastly, I develop the theoretical foundations of care ethics by proposing an existential ethic of care.

     

Organisational effects of neonatal and pubertal testosterone on sexually differentiated behaviours in the open-field and head-dip apparatus

On days 1 and 4 after birth rats were injected with 100 μg of testosterone propionate (TP) or vehicle, and at 35 days of age they were injected intramuscularly with 400 μg of testosterone oenanthate (TO), a long acting androgen, or the vehicle. There were four groups (oil-oil, TP-oil, oil-TO, TP-TO), each group subdivided by sex. Females treated with testosterone neonatally or at puberty were masculinised or defeminised on adult open-field behaviours, being less active and rearing less than oil-oil females; the oil-TO group also defaecated significantly more than controls. The TP-TO female group was indistinguishable from the oil-TO group. In a second experiment, sex differences were found in head-dipping behaviour as well as in activity and rearing. Females treated with TP or TO reared less and defaecated more than controls, and TP also decreased activity, but neither hormone treatment affected head-dipping behaviour. There is thus a peripubertal as well as a neonatal period when testosterone can act organisationally to masculinise or defeminise female rats. Potentiation between effects of neonatal and pubertal androgens was found on female body weights. TO alone had no effect, but TP-TO females were significantly heavier than controls at 90 days of age and by 130 days of age the TP-oil group was also heavier than controls.     

“You See It Everywhere. It’s Just Natural.”: Contextualizing the Role of Peers,Family, and Neighborhood in Initial Substance Use

The current study utilizes in-depth interviews with inner city African-American and Latino adolescents to understand how they negotiate initial substance use. We applied the social norms approach to explore the role of peers, family, and neighborhood on adolescents’ initial substance use. Utilizing data from 36 interview participants, our analysis revealed that extended family members were pivotal in providing adolescents with their initial alcohol; however, female adolescents were more likely than male adolescents to acquire marijuana from their male peers, for free. Understanding situational contexts underlying initial substance use is imperative for future interventions with this population.     

Perceived lack of training moderates relationship between healthcare providers’ personality and sense of efficacy in trauma-informed care

ABSTRACT

Background and Objectives: Medical patients often have trauma histories that are not routinely assessed, which can adversely affect health outcomes. Despite growing awareness of this issue, there is limited understanding of factors that influence provider competency in trauma-informed care (TIC). The study examined healthcare providers’ personality traits in relation to their sense of TIC efficacy, taking into account perceived barriers to TIC and professional quality of life.

Study Design: The study used cross-sectional survey methods to examine our central hypothesis that provider personality traits and perceived barriers to TIC would be associated with TIC-efficacy, and to explore interactions among study variables.

Methods: Survey data were collected from 172 healthcare providers examining TIC knowledge, TIC-efficacy, perceived barriers to TIC, personality traits, and professional quality of life.

Results: TIC-efficacy was positively correlated with “intellectence/openness” and inversely correlated with “neuroticism” and perceived lack of training as a barrier. “Intellectence/openness” interacted with perceived lack of training to predict TIC-efficacy, suggesting that providers with lower “intellectence/openness” report greater TIC-efficacy when lack of training is not perceived as a barrier.

Conclusions: Provider personality traits and perceived barriers to TIC appear related to providers’ TIC-efficacy. Implications for overcoming barriers to TIC through training and implementation are discussed.