The use of commitment techniques to support weight loss maintenance in obese adolescents

Objectives: Obesity is a rising problem in adolescents related to unhealthy behaviours. Commitment devises are one type of behavioural intervention that may help people change their behaviours. The current pilot trial tests whether commitment devices delivered via text message help adolescents maintain their recent weight loss.

Methods: During a 12-week pilot trial, adolescents who attended a weight loss camp were randomly assigned to either received text messages that contained only information, i.e. advice, about weight loss management (n = 13) or asked for them to commit to following the same advise (n = 14).

Results: The BMI of the adolescents in the commitment group did not change. In contrast, the BMI of adolescents in the information group increased. A linear regression revealed that group was a significant predictor of BMI change. A logistic regression revealed that adolescents in the information group were nearly eight times more likely to regain weight than those in the commitment group.

Conclusions: This is the first study with adolescents to show weight maintenance using a commitment device. The results suggest that commitment devices can help adolescents maintain their recent weight loss.     

Attentional Predictors of 5‐month‐olds' Performance on a Looking A‐not‐B Task

In the first year of life, the ability to search for hidden objects is an indicator of object permanence and, when multiple locations are involved, executive function (i.e. inhibition, cognitive flexibility and working memory). The current study was designed to examine attentional predictors of search in 5‐month‐old infants (as measured by the looking A‐not‐B task), and whether levels of maternal education moderated the effect of the predictors. Specifically, in a separate task, the infants were shown a unique puppet, and we measured the percentage of time attending to the puppet, as well as the length of the longest look (i.e., peak fixation) directed towards the puppet. Across the entire sample (N = 390), the percentage of time attending to the puppet was positively related to performance on the visual A‐not‐B task. However, for infants whose mothers had not completed college, having a shorter peak looking time (after controlling for percentage of time) was also a predictor of visual A‐not‐B performance. The role of attention, peak fixation and maternal education in visual search is discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Association between brain activation (fMRI), cognition and school performance in extremely preterm and term born children

The purpose of the study was to investigate a possible association between brain activation in functional magnetic resonance imaging scans, cognition and school performance in extremely preterm children and term born controls. Twenty eight preterm and 28 term born children were scanned while performing a working memory/selective attention task, and school results from national standardized tests were collected. Brain activation maps reflected difference in cognitive skills but not in school performance. Differences in brain activation were found between children born preterm and at term, and between high and low performers in cognitive tests. However, the differences were located in different brain areas. The implication may be that lack of cognitive skills does not alone explain low performance due to prematurity.     

Birth weight and stuttering: Evidence from three birth cohorts

PurposePrevious studies have produced conflicting results with regard to the association between birth weight and developmental stuttering. This study sought to determine whether birth weight was associated with childhood and/or adolescent stuttering in three British birth cohort samples.MethodsLogistic regression analyses were carried out on data from the Millenium Cohort Study (MCS), British Cohort Study (BCS70) and National Child Development Study (NCDS), whose initial cohorts comprised over 56,000 individuals. The outcome variables were parent-reported stuttering in childhood or in adolescence; the predictors, based on prior research, were birth weight, sex, multiple birth status, vocabulary score and mother's level of education. Birth weight was analysed both as a categorical variable (low birth weight, <2500 g; normal range; high birth weight, ≥4000 g) and as a continuous variable. Separate analyses were carried out to determine the impact of birth weight and the other predictors on stuttering during childhood (age 3, 5 and 7 and MCS, BCS70 and NCDS, respectively) or at age 16, when developmental stuttering is likely to be persistent.ResultsNone of the multivariate analyses revealed an association between birth weight and parent-reported stuttering. Sex was a significant predictor of stuttering in all the analyses, with males 1.6–3.6 times more likely than females to stutter.ConclusionOur results suggest that birth weight is not a clinically useful predictor of childhood or persistent stuttering.     

Burnout and depressive symptoms are not primarily linked to perceived organizational problems

In this 257-participant study (76% female; mean age: 44.84), we examined two ideas that are widespread among burnout researchers: (a) the idea that burnout is primarily related to occupational-level factors; and (b) the idea that burnout should be considered a sentinel indicator in research on negative occupational outcomes. We investigated the links between burnout and a series of generic and work-related variables, namely, depressive symptoms, neuroticism, extraversion, effort-reward imbalance in the job [ERI], social support at work (SSW), and turnover intention. Burnout was assessed with the Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure, depressive symptoms with the PHQ-9, neuroticism and extraversion with the NEO-Five Factor Inventory, ERI with the 10-item version of the Effort-Reward Imbalance Questionnaire, SSW with the Job Content Questionnaire, and turnover intention with a dedicated 3-item measure. Correlation, multiple regression, and relative weight analyses were conducted. Burnout was not found to be more strongly linked to organizational and work-contextualized variables than to personality traits. In addition, turnover intention was not associated to a greater extent with burnout than with ERI. Burnout and depressive symptoms were highly correlated and exhibited overlapping nomological networks. Overall, our findings question the way burnout has been generally conceived.     

An Open Trial Examining Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills and Behavioral Weight Loss for Adults With Emotional Eating and Overweight/Obesity

Third-wave cognitive behavioral interventions for weight loss have shown promise. However, sparse data exists on the use of dialectical behavior therapy for weight loss. Adapted dialectical behavior therapy skills programs may be especially well suited for adults who engage in emotional eating and are seeking weight loss. Dialectical behavior therapy is skills-based, shares theoretical links to emotional eating, and is effective in treating binge eating. The current study examined the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of Live FREE: FReedom from Emotional Eating, a 16-session group-based intervention. A total of 87 individuals expressed interest in the program, and 39 adults with overweight/obesity (BMI ≥25) and elevated self-reported emotional eating were enrolled. Live FREE targeted emotional eating in the initial sessions 1–9, and sessions 10–16 focused primarily on behavioral weight loss skills while continuing to reinforce emotion regulation training. Assessments were administered at baseline, posttreatment, and 6-month follow up. Enrolled participants were primarily female (97.4%) and Caucasian (91.7%). Treatment retention was strong with participants attending an average of 14.3 sessions and 89.7% of participants completing the intervention. On average, participants lost 3.00 kg at posttreatment, which was maintained at follow-up. Intent-to-treat analyses showed improvements in key outcome variables (self-reported emotional eating, BMI, emotion regulation) over the course of the intervention. Combining dialectical behavior therapy skills with conventional behavioral weight loss techniques may be an effective intervention for adults with overweight/obesity who report elevated emotional eating.     

The Light = Healthy Intuition

This research documents a “light = healthy” intuition, such that consumers perceive foods that weigh less are healthier than their heavier counterparts with the same serving size. Subsequently, consumers consume a larger quantity of lighter-weight foods. The intuition is based on a coactivation of two meanings of the word “light”: light in physical weight and light in calorie content. An implicit attitude test finds support for this association between physical weight and food healthiness. ​Subsequently, physically lighter foods are perceived to be healthier because they are assumed to contain fewer calories. In line with the proposed coactivation mechanism, the intuition is bidirectional, where consumers also expect healthier foods to weigh less. Consequently, they discredit health claims issued for heavier foods. Finally, it was found that activating a competing intuition is effective at debiasing the “light = healthy” intuition.     

Out of one's mind: a study of involuntary semantic memories

The study of memories that pop into one's mind without any conscious attempt to retrieve them began only recently. While there are some studies on involuntary autobiographical memories (e.g., ) research on involuntary semantic memories or mind-popping is virtually non-existent. The latter is defined as an involuntary conscious occurrence of brief items of one's network of semantic knowledge. The recall of these items (e.g., a word, a name, a tune) is not accompanied by additional contextual information and/or involvement of self-a standard feature of involuntary autobiographical memories. The paper reports several diary and questionnaire studies which looked into the nature and frequency of occurrence of these memories. The data show that people do experience involuntary semantic memories which tend to occur without any apparent cues while being engaged in relatively automatic activities. Possible mechanisms of involuntary semantic memories are discussed (e.g., very long-term priming), and the results of the study provide information on the possible duration of the priming effects in everyday life. Related theoretical and methodological issues and future avenues of research in this neglected area are outlined.     

Children's judgements and emotions about social exclusion based on weight

This study examined children's judgements and emotions associated with weight‐based social exclusion using an ethnically diverse sample of one hundred and seventeen 9‐ and 13‐year‐old children. Children were interviewed about three scenarios depicting weight‐based exclusion in athletic, academic, and social contexts. Children's judgements of exclusion, emotions attributed to the excluder and excluded targets, and justifications for judgements and emotions were examined. Overall, children judged weight‐based exclusion to be wrong for moral reasons. However, they viewed weight‐based exclusion in athletic contexts as less wrong compared with academic contexts, and they used more social‐conventional reasoning to justify judgements and emotions attributed to excluders in athletic contexts compared with academic and social contexts. Children also expected excluded targets to feel negative emotions, whereas a range of positive and negative emotions was attributed to excluders. In addition, older children were more accepting of weight‐based exclusion in athletic contexts than in academic and social contexts. We discuss the results in relation to the development of children's understanding of, and emotions associated with, exclusion based on weight.