Feminism and Health in the Decade of Behavior

National health data are presented to demonstrate that important issues of women's health are linked to inequality and to the generalized oppression of women. Health issues of violence, reproductive health, coronary health, and mental health are reviewed as they relate to women of color and diverse ethnicity as well as to women in general. Feminist principles are applied to these issues, pointing out inequalities in assessment, treatment and access to care, bias in research and lack of research on topics particularly relevant to women and minorities, and limitations in the education and training of health care providers. It is imperative that these problems, which are not solely biological, be addressed in light of systems-level analysis that includes a feminist lens. Guided by feminist principles and sensibilities, the relevance of behavioral and social science is outlined for research, training, assessment, intervention, evaluation, and overall social change.     

Food, mood, and attitude: reducing risk for eating disorders in college women.

Food, Mood, and Attitude (FMA) is a CD-ROM prevention program developed to decrease risk for eating disorders in college women. Female 1st-year students (N = 240) were randomly assigned to the intervention (FMA) or control group. Equal numbers of students at risk and of low risk for developing an eating disorder were assigned to each condition. Participants in the FMA condition improved on all measures relative to controls. Significant 3-way interactions (Time x Condition x Risk Status) were found on measures of internalization of sociocultural attitudes about thinness, shape concerns, and weight concerns, indicating that at-risk participants in the intervention group improved to a greater extent than did low-risk participants. At follow-up, significantly fewer women in the FMA group reported overeating and excessive exercise relative to controls.     

Young children use pedagogical cues to modulate the strength of normative inferences

Young children understand pedagogical demonstrations as conveying generic, kind‐relevant information. But, in some contexts, they also see almost any confident, intentional action on a novel artefact as normative and thus generic, regardless of whether this action was pedagogically demonstrated for them. Thus, although pedagogy may not be necessary for inferences to the generic, it may nevertheless be sufficient to produce inductive inferences on which the child relies more strongly. This study addresses this tension by bridging the literature on normative reasoning with that on social learning and inductive inference. Three‐year‐old children learned about a novel artefact from either a pedagogical or non‐pedagogical demonstration, and then, a series of new actors acted on that artefact in novel ways. Although children protested normatively in both conditions (e.g., ‘No, not like that’), they persisted longer in enforcing the learned norms in the face of repeated non‐conformity by the new actors. This finding suggests that not all generic, normative inferences are created equal, but rather they depend – at least for their strength – on the nature of the acquisition process.     

FEMINIST CONTRIBUTIONS TO HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY

A brief review of health psychology shows that the early leadership began what has come to be a major alternative to traditional medical models of diagnosis and treatment. Numerous women were involved with these implementations and changes in the field. Many of the key developments within health psychology—for example, behavioral prevention, compliance, coping, health promotion, locus of control, and social support—reflect essentially feminist principles that emphasize the legitimate authority and significance of the individual. Feminist principles of equity and inclusiveness are also represented in emerging concerns that the health needs of many underprivileged groups deserve more focused attention, and, additionally, that entirely new areas of health can be profitably examined within the framework of health psychology.