Lived Experiences of Subclinical Eating Disorder: Female Students' Perceptions

The aim of this study was to obtain an “insiders' perspective” on the lived experience of Subclinical Eating Disorder (SED) in female university students. Participants were 30 white, undergraduate females from the Potchefstroom campus of the North-West University in South African, (age range 18 years 6 months to 22 years). Data were collected using focus group interviews, drawings, letter-writing and self-reflective researcher field notes (Brocki & Wearden, 2006; Morse, 2003). For the analysis, the constant comparative text analysis method (Willig, 2001) was used. Emergent themes from the analysis included four main categories namely: Intra-, Interpersonal, Existential and Body-image. Subcategories of these themes spanned the following: Personal Brokenness, Personal Shame, Perceived Personal Inadequacy and Enslavement, Existential Vacuum, Perceived Social Pressure, Perceived Social Isolation and Body-image Dysfunction. Results were indicative of underestimation of SED-severity, its detrimental impact on participants' psychological well-being and high risk for escalation into full-blown eating disorders. An integrated, risk-protective model of secondary prevention, contextualised within psycho-social developmental perspectives is essential to understand SED in young adults.     

Young men’s minimisation of their body dissatisfaction

Abstract

Objective: To examine men’s body dissatisfaction qualitatively.

Design: Forty-two British men aged 18–45 years took part in a two-session group intervention across 12 groups. The intervention was designed to improve body dissatisfaction by engaging them in a critique of the appearance ideal through written and behavioural exercises.

Main outcome measures/results: Analysis of the topics discussed during the intervention generated two core themes. Theme 1 showed that, in general, men minimised the existence of their own body dissatisfaction while (somewhat surprisingly) outlining the ubiquity and potency of the appearance ideal for men in general. Theme 2 involved men reporting the problematic impact of body dissatisfaction in their lives (despite earlier minimisation), such as social avoidance, strict eating and supplement regimes, or difficulty in situations where the body was exposed.

Conclusion: The results stress the need to acknowledge that men experience a range of impacts of body dissatisfaction beyond clinical presentations (such as disordered eating) that influence their everyday lives, while also recognising that they tend to minimise this dissatisfaction in conversation. These findings have important implications for advocacy and interventions to improve men’s body dissatisfaction.     

Lexical-semantic body knowledge in 5- to 11-year-old children: How spatial body representation influences body semantics

This study addresses the relation between lexico-semantic body knowledge (i.e., body semantics) and spatial body representation (i.e., structural body representation) by analyzing naming performances as a function of body structural topography. One hundred and forty-one children ranging from 5 years 2 months to 10 years 5 months old were asked to provide a lexical label for isolated body part pictures. We compared the children’s naming performances according to the location of the body parts (body parts vs. head features and also upper vs. lower limbs) or to their involvement in motor skills (distal segments, joints, and broader body parts). The results showed that the children’s naming performance was better for facial body parts than for other body parts. Furthermore, it was found that the naming of body parts was better for body parts related to action. These findings suggest that the development of a spatial body representation shapes the elaboration of semantic body representation processing. Moreover, this influence was not limited to younger children. In our discussion of these results, we focus on the important role of action in the development of body representations and semantic organization.     

Stereotypes and stereotyping: What's the brain got to do with it?

Influential social-psychological models suggest that perceivers frequently use information-processing strategies that result in the stereotype-based construal and treatment of other people. To elucidate in greater detail when, why, and how social encounters elicit stereotyping, researchers have begun to incorporate neuroscientific tools into their repertoire of investigative methods. The current article reviews these studies and considers their significance in light of existing theories of person perception, knowledge representation, and impression formation. Finally, using the concrete example of stereotyping, benefits and pitfalls of adopting a social neuroscience approach are discussed.     

The influence of embodiment on multisensory integration using the mirror box illusion

We examined the relationship between subcomponents of embodiment and multisensory integration using a mirror box illusion. The participants’ left hand was positioned against the mirror, while their right hidden hand was positioned 12″, 6″, or 0″ from the mirror – creating a conflict between visual and proprioceptive estimates of limb position in some conditions. After synchronous tapping, asynchronous tapping, or no movement of both hands, participants gave position estimates for the hidden limb and filled out a brief embodiment questionnaire. We found a relationship between different subcomponents of embodiment and illusory displacement towards the visual estimate. Illusory visual displacement was positively correlated with feelings of deafference in the asynchronous and no movement conditions, whereas it was positive correlated with ratings of visual capture and limb ownership in the synchronous and no movement conditions. These results provide evidence for dissociable contributions of different aspects of embodiment to multisensory integration.     

Étude de validation de la version française de l’Échelle d’Estime Corporelle (Body Esteem Scale) chez les adolescentes et les jeunes adultes

IntroductionThe literature of body image suggests that many women and young women suffer from body dissatisfaction and this dissatisfaction is an important risk factor for the development of eating disorders.ObjectiveThe aim of the study was to validate the French female version of the Body Esteem Scale (BES; Mendelson et al., 2001).MethodThis self-administered questionnaire assesses body esteem and includes three subscales: “Weight”, “Appearance” and “Attribution”. The questionnaire was given to a sample of 835 adolescent girls and young adults (mean age = 16.62 ± 1.50).ResultsExploratory factorial analysis yielded three factors “Weight”, “Appearance” and “Desire to modify and negative affect associated with the general appearance”, somewhat similar to those of the original validation study. The goodness-of-fit of the three factors model was satisfactory. Correlations were found between the three subscales of the BES, BMI and general self-esteem.ConclusionThe French version of the BES shows satisfactory psychometric properties and provides a useful tool for better understanding the psychological aspects of attitudes towards one's body. In France, very few questionnaires are available to measure body attitudes, despite the fact that the body dissatisfaction affects many adolescent girls and represents a risk factor for the development of eating disorders.     

Size effects and Hall–Petch relation in polycrystalline cobalt

The mechanical behaviour of polycrystalline hexagonal close-packed cobalt was investigated over a large range of grain size d in order to examine the occurrence of size effects. Crystallographic texture and amount of face centred cubic allotropic phase were maintained unchanged thanks to appropriate heat treatment procedures. The Hall–Petch (HP) relation exhibits two distinct behaviours from the very beginning of plastic strain levels. The conventional HP law is fulfilled for a number of grains across the thickness t higher than a critical value (t/d)_c = 14. For t/d lower than (t/d)_c, a multicrystalline regime is evidenced highlighting a strong reduction in flow stress. The high value of (t/d)_c is related to the low-stacking fault energy of cobalt in the basal plane. The size effect is predominant in the first work hardening stage where slip mechanisms and stacking faults predominate. In the second stage, driven by mechanical twinning processes, this effect is less sensitive. Finally, the size effect could also affect the end of the elastic stage, in link with nonlinear elasticity mechanisms.     

Parenting to prevent body dissatisfaction and unhealthy eating patterns in preschool children: A Delphi consensus study

Interventions to prevent body dissatisfaction and unhealthy eating patterns are needed in early childhood. Identifying effective parenting strategies would be useful for parents and prevention researchers. To develop expert consensus, an online Delphi study was conducted with experts (N = 28, M_age = 44.34) who rated statements describing potential parenting strategies gleaned from a systematic literature search. If 90–100% rated a statement as either Essential or Important, it was endorsed as a guideline. From a total of 335 statements 153 were endorsed. Despite some areas of disagreement, including whether parents should weigh their child or discourage weighing, experts were able to reach consensus on a wide range of issues, such as how to discuss healthy eating with children. The developed guidelines provide a novel and required resource for parents, and a framework for researchers developing interventions to prevent the onset of body dissatisfaction and unhealthy eating patterns in early childhood.     

The role of media and peer influences in Australian women's attitudes towards cosmetic surgery

The study aimed to examine the influence of media and peers on attitudes towards cosmetic surgery using a sociocultural framework. A sample of 351 Australian women aged 18–69 years completed measures of media exposure, friend conversations, internalisation of appearance ideals, appearance comparison, body dissatisfaction, and attitudes towards cosmetic surgery. Correlational analysis showed that almost all media and friend variables were significantly correlated with positive attitudes towards cosmetic surgery. A structural equation model based on the sociocultural model showed a good level of fit to the data. The effects of media exposure and friend conversations on body dissatisfaction and attitudes towards cosmetic surgery were mediated by internalisation. We concluded that media exposure and friend conversations affected attitudes towards cosmetic surgery both directly and indirectly. Our results contribute to the understanding of the sociocultural mechanisms underlying women's motivations for cosmetic surgery.     

Do These Norms Make Me Look Fat? The Effect of Exposure to Others’ Body Preferences on Personal Body Ideals

In this study we examined the influence of normative body ideals in the form of perceived peer preferences on personal body ideals and body dissatisfaction Participants (N = 146 female college students) were exposed to the purported preferences of peers representing either relatively thin or heavy body ideals. Along with the normative body ideal manipulation, the gender of the purported peers was manipulated. Participants then selected their ideal for their own body and body dissatisfaction was measured. Women selected a thinner personal body ideal in the thin norm condition than in the heavy norm condition. This effect was seen irrespective of the gender of the purported peers. Body dissatisfaction was not influenced by the manipulation. The malleability of body image and the influence of social factors on ideal body size are discussed.