Multidimensional eating profiles associated with personality traits during emerging adulthood: A cluster-analytic approach

IntroductionPersonality traits can give a fuller understanding for eating behaviors, such as food choice, (un)healhty eating.ObjectiveTo examine eating styles with a multidimensional perspective considering cognitive, affective and conative (or behavioral) components of eating styles in emerging adulthood, and how they may be related to the Big Five and impulsivity traits.MethodsSelf-reported questionnaires were used to explore the association between the eating styles, Big five traits and facets of impulsivity among young French adults (n = 450; Mean Age = 20.84 years; SD = 2.4, with 79.6% of women).ResultsOn the basis of cluster analysis, six eating styles were identified: Healthier, Uninhibited, Dysregulated, Stress-related, Restrictive and Ethical restraint eaters. Results suggest that Uninhibited eaters reported lower scores on Conscientiousness and higher scores on Negative and Positive urgency. The Dysregulated group had lower scores on Extraversion, and high scores on Neuroticism, Negative urgency and Lack of premeditation. Restrictive eaters showed low levels of Openness and Lack of premeditation. The Ethical restraint style was characterized by low scores on Agreeableness and Positive urgency. The ability or inability to cope with both emotional distress and positive and negative impulsive behaviors was related to young adult's eating cognitions and behaviors.ConclusionConsidering the existence of subtypes of eaters and separate associated personality-related traits, an individual differences perspective (e.g., age, gender, disposition to control one's emotional experiences) should be incorporated.     

Influences on the Food Choice Behaviors of Adults With Severe Mental Illness

The objective of this research was to gain a deeper understanding of factors influencing the healthiness of food choice behaviors of community-dwelling adults with severe mental illness. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in an outpatient treatment facility with 20 program participants and 10 staff. Grounded theory analysis methods were used. Five dominant themes emerged: food availability, preference for simple food preparation, perceived cost of food, complexity of choice, and relative importance of healthy food choices. The theme of medication effects only emerged from staff interviews. This research can be useful to inform the design of nutrition interventions for this population.     

Am I guilty or not? Deontological guilt,uncertainty, and checking behavior

Literature suggests that checking behaviors are aimed at reducing feelings of uncertainty both in clinical samples with obsessive‐compulsive disorder and in general population. Previous studies also showed that deontological guilt is an emotion often associated with obsessive‐compulsive disorder. Thus, the aim of the current study was to investigate the differences in checking behaviors in the condition of high versus low uncertainty, by exploring the moderating role of deontological versus altruistic guilt. Participants were 108 undergraduate Italian university students who took part in a visual search task designed to elicit checking behavior. Ahead of the visual task, participants were administered one scenario in order to manipulate either deontological or altruistic guilt. The results showed that in the condition of uncertainty, compared with the condition of certainty, participants spent more time in checking behaviors and that such a difference was more consistent when participants experienced deontological rather than altruistic guilt. Limitations and further directions are discussed.     

Sociodemographic,Cognitive, and Emotional Determinants of Two Health Behaviors during SARS-CoV-2 Outbreak: An Online Study among French-Speaking Belgian Responders during the Spring Lockdown

To contain the SARS-CoV-2 infection rate, health authorities have encouraged the population to enhance protective behaviors such as physical distancing and handwashing. Behavioral sciences emphasize the role of sociocognitive determinants to explain health behaviors, while largely ignoring emotional factors. In a large online study (N > 4000), we investigated the role of sociodemographic, cognitive, emotional, and social factors that can facilitate or hinder handwashing and limitation of social contacts. Data were collected from March 18 until April 19, 2020, which corresponds to the spring lockdown and the first peak of the pandemic in Belgium. Logistic regressions showed that sociodemographic factors (gender, age, level of education) and the dimensions of the Theory of Planned Behavior (intentions, attitudes, perceived behavioral control and subjective norms) had a strong impact on health behaviors, but that emotional factors explained an additional part of the variance. Being more attentive/determined and frightened/anxious, along with scoring higher on health anxiety were related to a higher frequency of handwashing. In contrast, being enthusiastic/happy was related to lower adherence to limiting social contacts. Our results suggest that the type of predictors and the direction of associations depend on the type of health behavior considered. The role of specific emotional factors in addition to more classical predictors is discussed. The study offers new perspectives regarding the factors that are associated with the adherence to behaviors recommended to adopt when faced with a pandemic.     

Conducting a qualitative research on suicide in Ghana using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA): A reflection after a decade

Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) set of guidelines allow a researcher to gain access to the meaning of a phenomenon (e.g. suicide) through the individual person's lived and personal experiences. In this paper I have discussed that the ethical challenges that confront researching suicide in Ghana the challenges of pursuing an idiographic rigor using the IPA may arise from the pervasive normative self-construal within Ghanaian communities. Though I admit the IPA has been useful in various studies within the African context, I have also interrogated such idiography within the normative social arrangement of such setting where sociocentric perspectives abound. This essay is a reflexivity on the IPA in a normative context after a decade, where suicidal behaviour is strongly proscribed and personhood is deeply shared. I have recommended that one way of addressing this challenge is to use a ‘funnel’ approach in interviewing from the general: the community, to the particular: the individual.     

Effects of Physical Appearance Social Comparisons and Perceived Attainability of an Ideal Body on Body Dissatisfaction and Weight-Management Behaviors Among Young Japanese Women

This study was designed to test a model in which tendencies to engage in physical appearance social comparisons and perceived ideal body attainability interact to predict body dissatisfaction, and are associated with weight-control behaviors (WCBs) as past studies have rarely examined perceived attainability in their analytic models. College women (N = 297) from two universities in Japan completed a paper-and-pencil survey. A path analysis revealed that appearance comparisons were positively associated with body dissatisfaction over and above the effects of body mass index and self-esteem. Body dissatisfaction, in turn, was positively related to low-risk, moderate-risk, and high-risk WCBs. There was a significant interaction effect between appearance comparison and attainability, but the nature of the interaction was the opposite from our expectation: the positive association between appearance comparison and body dissatisfaction was more pronounced among women who reported higher confidence in attaining an ideal body, whereas this association was nonsignificant for those with low confidence in attaining an ideal body. Finally, perceived ideal body attainability was directly and positively related to low-risk and moderate-risk WCBs.     

Perceived Control Mediates the Relation Between Parental Rejection and Youth Depression

Previous research suggests that both perceived parental control and rejection may be linked to youth depression. However, research has not definitively determined which dimension matters more, nor examined mediation within a clinical sample. We used a sample of clinically referred youth (aged 7-17) to determine (a) which parenting dimension is more closely associated with youth depression, and (b) whether youngsters' perceptions of control mediated the association. Perceived parental rejection was strongly linked to depressive symptoms (perceived parental control was not); youth perceived control did in fact mediate the association, and robustly so across gender and age groups. The findings suggest a developmental process in depression, plus potential foci for prevention and treatment programs.     

Ethical Issues and At-Risk Behaviors in Marriage and Family Therapy: A Qualitative Study of Awareness

This exploratory study investigated perceptions of and relationship with professional ethics of therapists-in-training. A focus group of marriage and family therapy doctoral students explored self-awareness and at-risk behaviors regarding ethical competence and compliance. A grounded theory analysis of data is presented as a conditional matrix, which offers a theory of development between therapists and their perception of ethics. The Practitioner-Relationship Ethics Model represents findings of interaction between confidence in ethical principles, field experience, use of justification, and at-risk behaviors. Implications and limitations of these findings are presented, as are suggestions for research.     

A Mediated-Moderation Model of Maternal Parenting Style,Association with Deviant Peers,and Problem Behaviors in Urban African American and European American Adolescents

We examined a model positing that association with deviant peers mediates the relation between perceived maternal parenting style, represented by the dimensions demandingness, responsiveness, and their interaction, and problem behaviors in an urban sample of 82 African American and 56 European American young adolescents. Regression analyses revealed that the data are consistent with a model where association with deviant peers mediates the relation between maternal responsiveness and problem behaviors for European Americans and African American males. In addition, a responsiveness by demandingness interaction was found for European Americans. Only the relation between association with deviant peers and problem behaviors was supported for African American females. The results suggest that ethnic and gender variables might interact with pathways from parenting to association with deviant peers and problem behaviors and that the dimensions of parenting might not be equal in their salience.     

Psychological Adjustment and Knowledge About Hereditary Hemochromatosis in a Clinic-Based Sample: A Prospective Study

This study assessed psychological adjustment and quality of life relative to population-based norms and knowledge about hereditary hemochromatosis in a sample of 101 patients who attended a hemochromatosis clinic. Participants were assessed prior to their clinic visit, and two weeks and 12 months after attendance, using self-administered questionnaires. Mean Mental Health Component Scores from the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) (45.3, 95% CI 43.2, 47.4) were as compromised as those found amongst stroke victims (45.9, 95% CI 42.8, 49.0) who had participated in a national health survey. Recall of the genetic testing result was less than optimal, in that only 69.3% of those with genetic testing results knew whether they carried one or two mutations. This study demonstrates that patients would benefit from routine assessment of psychological distress and referral to mental health professionals of those whose levels of distress suggest a need for clinical intervention. Results also show that patients may benefit from strategies aimed at improving recall of genetic testing results.