Loneliness,eating, and body mass index in parent–adolescent dyads from the Family Life,Activity, Sun,Health, and Eating study

Loneliness is a salient risk factor for obesity, emotional eating, and poor diet. Because adolescents and parents are embedded within a family unit, their experiences of loneliness may be associated with both their own and one another's behaviors. To examine the extent to which parent and child loneliness predict body mass index (BMI) and eating in parents and adolescents, an actor–partner interdependence model of loneliness, eating, and BMI in adolescent–parent dyads was analyzed. There were actor effects among adolescents such that greater loneliness was positively associated with emotional eating and BMI‐z, and there was an actor effect among parents such that higher loneliness was positively related to emotional eating. There was a partner effect among adolescents such that greater parental loneliness was positively associated with adolescent emotional eating, and there was a partner effect among parents such that higher adolescent loneliness was positively associated with parental emotional eating. There were several actor–partner effects for loneliness and junk food in dyads with boys. Findings highlight the importance of dyadic models of loneliness in adolescent–parent dyads.     

Neuropsychological Issues in the Assessment of Refugees and Victims of Mass Violence

Brain injury, stressor severity, depression, premorbid vulnerabilities, and PTSD are frequently intertwined in trauma populations. This interaction is further complicated when the neuropsychologist evaluates refugees from other cultures. In addition, the observed psychiatric symptoms reported in refugees and victims of mass violence may in fact not be the primary features of PTSD and depression but psychiatric symptoms secondary to the effects of traumatic brain injury. This paper reviews the occurrence of starvation, torture, beatings, imprisonment, and other head injury experiences in refugee and POW populations to alert treators to the presence of chronic and persistent neuropsychiatric morbidity, with implications for psychosocial adjustment. The concept of fixed neural loss may also interact with environmental and emotional stresses, and a model of neuropsychological abnormalities triggered by traumatic events and influenced by subsequent stress will also be considered. Neuropsychologists working with refugees play an important role in assessing the possibility of traumatic brain injury with tools that are relatively culture-fair.     

中国老年人身体自我问卷编制及特点初探

该研究以293名年龄在60-97岁老人为研究对象,通过开放式问卷和探索性因素分析得到老年人的身体自我量表,包含六个因素:运动特征、相貌特征、功能特征、身材特征,性特征,行为特征。检验了量表内部一致性系数和严格平行模型的信度系数及两个效标,发现该量表具有较好的信度和效度。对老年人身体自我特征分析表明,研究中,老年人在总体上对身体较满意,且不存在性别、年龄和体型指数的差异。但在身材特征上,存在性别和年龄的交互作用,性别和体形指数的交互作用,性别、年龄和体形指数三者的交互作用。其它五个维度均不存在性别、年龄和体形指数的差异。     

Football hooliganism: comparing self‐awareness and social identity theory explanations

The emergence of research interest in group violence in general and football hooliganism in particular has been explained by various models generally relying on situational or individual differences accounts. Yet, these two research traditions have largely evolved independently, showing little or no interaction. In the present study (N = 109), we integrate measures of these two approaches and the results reveal that social identity was more predictive of self‐reported physical aggression than of loss of private and public self‐awareness. Moreover, attitudes towards violence were the most marked predictor variables of both physical and verbal aggression. In the discussion, the moderator effect of social identity and attitudes about violence on physical aggression is elaborated upon. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Impulsivity mediates the association between borderline personality pathology and body mass index

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is associated with obesity, a major risk factor for a number of chronic illnesses (e.g., cardiovascular disease). We examined whether impulsivity and affective instability mediate the association between BPD pathology and body mass index (BMI). Participants were a community sample of adults ages 55–64 and their informants. The Structured Interview for DSM-IV Personality measured BPD symptoms and the Revised NEO Personality Inventory measured self- and informant-report impulsivity and affective instability. Mediation analyses demonstrated that only higher self-report impulsivity significantly mediated the association between greater BPD pathology and higher BMI. A subsequent model revealed that higher scores on the impulsiveness (lack of inhibitory control) and deliberation (planning) facets of impulsivity mediated the BPD–BMI association, with impulsiveness exerting a stronger mediation effect than deliberation. Obesity interventions that improve inhibitory control may be most effective for individuals with BPD pathology.     

Judging the differences between women's attractiveness and health: Is there really a difference between judgments made by men and women?

Perceived weight in the face and body size have been shown to be significant predictors of both attractiveness and health. Studies looking at the relationship between attractiveness, perceived health, and perceived weight in faces have found that individuals prefer a lower weight for attractiveness than for apparent health. Here, a group of twenty-four Asian participants were allowed to manipulate the apparent body mass indices (BMIs) of full-length photographs of young Malaysian Chinese women to enhance their perceived healthiness and attractiveness. Results showed that both men and women differentiated between attractiveness and health by preferring a lower BMI for attractiveness than health, suggesting a consistency in the preferred ideal BMI for attractiveness and healthy appearance across both sexes. Results also suggested that BMI provides important cues to judgments of attractive and healthy appearance.     

Why is low waist-to-chest ratio attractive in males? The mediating roles of perceived dominance,fitness, and protection ability

Past research suggests that a lower waist-to-chest ratio (WCR) in men (i.e., narrower waist and broader chest) is viewed as attractive by women. However, little work has directly examined why low WCRs are preferred. The current work merged insights from theory and past research to develop a model examining perceived dominance, fitness, and protection ability as mediators of to WCR-attractiveness relationship. These mediators and their link to both short-term (sexual) and long-term (relational) attractiveness were simultaneously tested by having 151 women rate one of 15 avatars, created from 3D body scans. Men with lower WCR were perceived as more physically dominant, physically fit, and better able to protect loved ones; these characteristics differentially mediated the effect of WCR on short-term, long-term, and general attractiveness ratings. Greater understanding of the judgments women form regarding WCR may yield insights into motivations by men to manipulate their body image.     

Effects of short-term fatigue on biomechanical and physiological aspects of double poling in high-level cross-country skiers

The study aim was to evaluate biomechanical and physiological alterations in double poling technique (DP) after a short-term fatiguing exercise. Eight high-level skiers performed a sub-maximal DP trial (20 km h⁻¹, 1°) before (PRE) and after (POST) a DP test to exhaustion while roller skiing on a treadmill. An integrated analysis of DP technique during PRE and POST included measurement of pole, joint, and centre of mass (COM) kinematics, poling forces, cycle timing, and metabolic parameters. Muscle fatigue in three upper-body muscles was assessed by calculating the Dimitrov’ fatigue index (FI_nms5) of specific electromyographic segments. FI_nms5 tended to increase in the latissimus dorsi and teres major muscles (P = 0.023 and P = 0.030, respectively) across consecutive DP cycles, as did blood lactate concentration (P = 0.001) and rating of perceived exertion (P = 0.005). The changes indicated a state of fatigue during POST and coincided with the reduction in poling force exertion capacity (P = 0.020). Pole, joint and COM kinematics did not differ between PRE and POST (P > 0.050), whereas recovery phase and cycle times were shorter at POST (P < 0.001 and P = 0.001, respectively). Short-term fatigue led to a reduction in poling force exertion capacity and cycle time in high-level skiers, without altering body and pole kinematics.     

The role of body mass index,weight change desires and depressive symptoms in the health-related quality of life of children living in urban disadvantage: Testing mediation models

Objectives: This study was undertaken to ascertain whether or not the body mass index (BMI) of urban disadvantaged children indirectly affects their health-related quality of life (HRQoL) through weight change desires and depressive symptoms and whether such mediation is conditional upon age and gender.

Design: A total of 255 children aged 7–12 years (50% male) were recruited from 7 schools in urban disadvantaged districts in Ireland using consecutive sampling. A prospective longitudinal design was employed whereby children completed, at two time points, the Kidscreen-27, the Children’s Depression Inventory, and the Health Related Behaviour Questionnaire, and had their BMI measured. The analyses involved multiple-, half-longitudinal- and moderated-mediation.

Results: Results showed that the depressive symptoms of children wanting to change their weight may have lead, in large part, to poorer HRQoL (specifically psychological well-being when considering longitudinal data) rather than weight status per se. The mediation effect of weight change desires occurred regardless of age or gender.

Conclusions: Childhood obesity programmes that traditionally focus on the negatives of obesity and the need to control weight may need to take a more positive approach to health and well-being by, for example promoting intuitive eating, an active lifestyle, body acceptance and good mental health.