Confirmatory factor analysis of eating disorder symptoms in college women

Recent studies have found that the eating disorders can best be conceptualized as multidimensional. Four factors have consistently emerged from factor analytic studies of eating disorder symptoms: dietary restraint, bulimic behaviors, neurotic personality characteristics, and body image/body dysphoria. Confirmatory factor analysis was utilized to determine if this four-factor structure of eating disorder symptoms would be found in a sample of college women. Principal components analysis extracted four factors which were supported with a confirmatory factor analysis procedure. These four factors were negative affect and body dysphoria, bulimic behaviors, restrictive eating, and body image. The negative affect and body dysphoria factor was positively correlated with the other factors (i.e., bulimic behaviors, restrictive eating, and body image). This factor structure was similar to the factor structure found in samples of patients with bulimia and anorexia nervosa, except that the factors were more highly intercorrelated in the nonclinical sample. Results suggest that the measures of eating disorder symptoms used in this investigation are measuring the same multidimensional constructs in clinical and nonclinical subjects.This paper is partially based upon the master's thesis of the first author.     

Sex bias in the diagnosis of personality disorders: A different approach

There has been considerable controversy regarding a possible sex bias in the diagnosis of personality disorders (PDs). However, prior research has at times confused a bias within clinicians who fail to adhere to the diagnostic criteria with a bias within the diagnostic criteria. Rather than assess whether females are more likely than males to be diagnosed with a respective disorder, the current study assesses whether the thresholds for the diagnosis of female-typed PDs are lower than the thresholds for male-typed PDs. Subjects completed two self-report inventories for the DSM-III-R personality disorders, and three inventories that assessed 30 aspects of personality dysfunction organized with respect to social dysfunction, occupational dysfunction, and personal distress. There was no indication that the diagnostic thresholds for personality disorders that occur more often in females is lower than the thresholds for the personality disorders that occur more often in males. The implications of these findings for the issue of sex biased diagnoses are discussed.     

An examination of the interactions between mothers and children with anxiety disorders

This study examined the association between parenting styles and mother and child anxiety. Maternal overinvolvement and negativity/criticism were evaluated during a speech preparation task (N = 135 dyads) and a Five Minute Speech Sample (FMSS) from mothers (N = 155). During the speech task interaction, mothers of anxious children (aged 4–16 years), regardless of their own anxiety, were observed to be more overinvolved than mothers of nonanxious children. Similarly, the FMSS showed that mothers of anxious children (aged 4–17 years) were more overprotective, self-sacrificing, or nonobjective than mothers of nonanxious children, irrespective of maternal anxiety status. No differences in maternal negativity were found on the speech task between any of the groups. However, the FMSS showed that mothers of anxious children were more critical than mothers of nonanxious children, regardless of maternal anxiety status. These results support the relationship between overinvolved, critical parenting and child anxiety, but suggest that maternal anxiety is not associated with increased overinvolvement or criticism. Theoretical implications are discussed.     

言语行为的关系框架理论视角:孤独症谱系障碍的新探索

语言功能异常是孤独症谱系障碍(ASD)的典型症状之一。1957年,斯金纳从行为学角度提出"言语行为",认为人们获得表达和理解语言的能力与学会走路、跳舞等行为的原理相同。2001年,海斯等人在斯金纳的基础上提出关于人类语言和认知的新视角——关系框架理论(Relational Frame Theory,RFT),澄清了语言的推衍性实质,认为言语行为是将一个刺激与其他刺激建立关系框架的过程。研究表明基于RFT的多范例训练可以提升ASD患者的推衍关系反应水平,且推衍关系反应与语言和认知功能的发展高相关。未来RFT的研究可以探索如何通过推衍关系反应训练修复ASD患者的语言和认知功能缺陷。     

Partners’ Attributions for Service Members’ Symptoms of Combat-Related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

The association of service members’ combat-related PTSD with partners’ distress is weaker when spouses/partners believe that service members experienced more traumatic events during deployment. Also, when simultaneously examining partners’ perceptions of all PTSD symptoms, perceptions of reexperiencing symptoms (the symptoms most obviously connected to traumatic events) are significantly negatively related to distress in partners. These findings are consistent with the notion that partners may be less distressed if they make external, rather than internal, attributions for service members’ symptoms. The present study explicitly tests this possibility. Civilian wives of active duty service members completed measures regarding their own marital satisfaction, their perceptions of service members’ combat exposure during deployments, their perceptions of service members’ symptoms of PTSD, and their attributions for those symptoms. External attributions were significantly positively associated with perceptions of combat exposure (r_p = .31) and reexperiencing symptoms (β = .33) and significantly negatively associated with perceptions of numbing/withdrawal symptoms (r_p = –.22). In contrast, internal attributions were significantly negatively associated with perceptions of reexperiencing symptoms (β = –.18) and significantly positively associated with perceptions of numbing/withdrawal symptoms (β = .46). Internal attributions significantly moderated the negative association of PTSD symptoms with marital satisfaction, such that the association strengthened as internal attributions increased. These findings are the first explicit support for an attributional understanding of distress in partners of combat veterans. Interventions that alter partners’ attributions may improve marital functioning.     

Defining features of unhealthy exercise associated with disordered eating and eating disorder diagnoses

ObjectivesThe current study sought to compare different features of unhealthy exercise on associations with disordered eating and their ability to identify individuals with eating disorders. A secondary aim of the study was to compare prevalence and overlap of different aspects of unhealthy exercise and potential differences in their gender distribution.DesignCross-sectional epidemiological study.MethodsA community-based sample of men (n = 592) and women (n = 1468) completed surveys of health and eating patterns, including questions regarding exercise habits and eating disorder symptoms.ResultsCompulsive and compensatory features of exercise were the best predictors of disordered eating and eating disorder diagnoses compared to exercise that was excessive in quantity. Further, compulsive and compensatory aspects of unhealthy exercise represented overlapping, yet distinct qualities in both men and women.ConclusionsIncluding the compulsive quality among the defining features of unhealthy exercise may improve identification of eating disorders, particularly in men. Results suggest that the compensatory aspect of unhealthy exercise is not adequately captured by the compulsive aspect of unhealthy exercise. Thus, interventions that target unhealthy exercise behaviors among high-risk individuals, such as athletes, may benefit from addressing both the compulsive and compensatory aspects of unhealthy exercise. Future prospective longitudinal studies will aid in determining the direction of the association between these features of unhealthy exercise and the onset of eating pathology.     

Which children benefit from letter names in learning letter sounds?

Typical U.S. children use their knowledge of letters' names to help learn the letters' sounds. They perform better on letter sound tests with letters that have their sounds at the beginnings of their names, such as v, than with letters that have their sounds at the ends of their names, such as m, and letters that do not have their sounds in their names, such as h. We found this same pattern among children with speech sound disorders, children with language impairments as well as speech sound disorders, and children who later developed serious reading problems. Even children who scored at chance on rhyming and sound matching tasks performed better on the letter sound task with letters such as v than with letters such as m and h. Our results suggest that a wide range of children use the names of letters to help learn the sounds and that phonological awareness, as conventionally measured, is not required in order to do so.     

The Role of Family Functioning in Bipolar Disorder in Families

Investigated the association between family functioning and conflict and their links with mood disorder in parents and with children's risk for bipolar disorder. Participants were 272 families with a child between the ages of 5-17 years. Parents' history of psychiatric diagnoses and children's current diagnoses were obtained via semi-structured interviews. Parent report on the Family Assessment Device and the Conflict Behavior Questionnaire measured family functioning and conflict, respectively. Results revealed a small but significant indirect pathway from parental diagnosis of mood disorder to child bipolar disorder through impaired family functioning, via increased family conflict. Parental mood disorders were also significantly related to other negative outcomes in children, including unipolar depression and oppositional defiant disorder. Associations between parent diagnoses and family functioning changed depending on youth age, but not youth sex.     

Sociocultural correlates of compulsive exercise: is the environment important in fostering a compulsivity towards exercise among adolescents?

Sociocultural factors hypothesised to be influential in eating disorders were assessed for their relationship with compulsive exercise. A sample of 828 adolescent boys and girls completed measures assessing sociocultural messages to change body shape as well as pressure to be thin, and also measures of compulsive exercise and disordered eating. Results showed that the sociocultural influences differed slightly between boys and girls. Hierarchical regressions showed that, after controlling for disordered eating and BMI, messages to become more muscular and media pressure to be thin significantly predicted compulsive exercise in boys, while the same regression in girls reported only media pressure to be thin as a significant predictor of compulsive exercise. These findings demonstrate the influence of the media in boys’ and girls’ compulsive exercising, as well as highlight the influence of body shape messages to become more muscular on boys’ compulsive exercise.     

Reliability and validity of the Norwegian translation of the Child Eating Disorder Examination (ChEDE)

Frampton, I., Wisting, L., Øverås, M., Midtsund, M. & Lask, B. (2011). Reliability and validity of the Norwegian translation of the Child Eating Disorder Examination (ChEDE). Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 52, 196–199. The Child Eating Disorder Examination (ChEDE) is a valid and reliable semi‐structured interview, which measures eating‐disorder specific psychopathology in children and young adolescents. The instrument is an adaptation of version 12.0D of the original Eating Disorder Examination (EDE 12.0) for adults. The Norwegian translation of the ChEDE is currently the only instrument for assessing eating disorder psychopathology in Norwegian children and adolescents. This study aimed to investigate the psychometric properties of the Norwegian translation of the ChEDE 12.0. The Norwegian version of ChEDE 12.0 was administered to 15 Norwegian children with anorexia nervosa (AN), 15 children with diabetes mellitus type 1 (DM) and two groups of 15 age‐matched controls. The groups were compared using a matched pairs design. The results showed that the subscale scores of the AN group were significantly higher than those of the other groups, and the DM comparison group did not differ from its control group. The current AN group scored significantly higher on the Shape Concern subscale than the previous UK sample, with implications for construct validity or cross‐cultural effects worthy of further study. Inter‐rater reliability was generally high (r = 0.91 to 1.00), although there were significant differences between raters on specific items for individual participants. Alpha coefficients for each of the ChEDE subscales indicated a high degree of internal consistency. It was concluded that the Norwegian version of the ChEDE 12 has adequate psychometric properties and can be recommended for clinical and research use with young people with eating disorders in Norway.