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.     

Authorship trends in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis: An update

The Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA) is considered the flagship journal for the discipline of applied behavior analysis. Thus, popular research topics and other publication trends within JABA reflect the current cultural and scientific contingencies governing the field of behavior analysis. Researchers have previously quantified a number of authorship trends in JABA (and other behavior-analytic journals) across a number of variables, such as gender identity and sex of author, country of origin, or seniority within the field (Dunlap et al., 1998) to examine demographic and organizational factors associated with successful publication in JABA. These analyses ought to be conducted continuously to monitor trends and detect any potential biases (e.g., sexism). Accordingly, the purpose of the present investigation was to replicate previous research in this area (e.g., Dymond et al., 2000) and provide an update of current publication trends within JABA. Implications for future research and publishing practices are discussed.     

Abuse Experiences in a Community Sample of Young Adults: Relations with Psychiatric Disorders, Sexual Risk Behaviors, and Sexually Transmitted Diseases

This study documents significant associations among lifetime abuse experiences, psychiatric diagnoses, and sexual risk behaviors in a multiethnic community sample of young men and women (N = 1803) in South Florida. Self-report data were collected via structured interviews as part of a longitudinal follow-up of a larger school-based study. Participants were grouped according to extent of lifetime abuse experiences. Cumulative lifetime abuse experiences were associated with increased risk for a broad range of individual lifetime psychiatric disorders, as well as cumulative lifetime psychiatric disorders. Both cumulative abuse experiences and cumulative psychiatric disorders were independently associated with (a) higher levels of sexual risk behaviors and (b) higher risk for lifetime sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Implications for selective prevention of sexual risk behaviors and STDs among young adults with histories of abuse and psychiatric disorders are discussed.     

The Social Networks of Women Experiencing Domestic Violence

The research literature has demonstrated that battered women living in shelters experience impaired social support. This study examines this phenomenon among battered women living in the community. This study compared a group of pregnant battered women (n = 145) and a group of pregnant nonbattered women (n = 58) in terms of their structural [e.g., total number of supporters, network members in violent relationships with their partners (an index of homophily or nonhomophily) and functional (e.g., emotional)] social support. Four reasons for impaired support in battered women were proposed and examined, including social isolation, failure to disclose abuse, homophily, and low SES. Only homophily was related to impaired support among battered women. In addition, the relationship between structural and functional support and mental health outcomes (e.g., depression, self-esteem) was examined. Criticism, practical support, homophily, and disclosure were all significant predictors of mental health for battered women. Implications for community-based interventions are discussed in the context of current intervention strategies with battered women.     

Between Dream Cities and Reality: Personal Narratives of Ex-Soviets in Israel

Domestication of space is a major problem for migrants, particularly when they settle in a geographically remote country with a markedly different climate and culture. This paper analyzes attitudes to city life in the country of origin and in the new homeland in personal narratives of immigrants to Israel from the countries of the former Soviet Union. The material was drawn from in-depth unstructured interviews conducted in 1999–2002 and 2005–2006, and Israeli Russian-language Internet forums. Soviet Jews were predominantly city dwellers, and their immigration stories are permeated with explicit and tacit comparisons of the space of the two countries. The cities of origin are idealized, and their image has disintegrated into hospitable and warm cities of pre-emigration life on the one hand, and unfamiliar, alien cities of post-Soviet period on the other. In Israel many ex-Soviets chose to live in the so-called development towns. Attracted by relatively inexpensive apartments, the newcomers found themselves trapped in places where jobs are scarce and the quality of life has been recently dropping. In reflecting on various towns, interviewees focus on physical and symbolic dimensions, the most frequent being: big–small, center–periphery, exposed–protected, and powerful–weak. In contemporary Russian culture center is associated with job opportunities and entertainment, with high social status and good quality of life. In Israel the opposition center–periphery has retained its significance, yet the whole country is considered by many immigrants as deeply provincial, cut off from the rest of the world and devoid of opportunity for the young, the conviction that is supported by publications in the Russian-language media.

Making a Political Statement or Refusing to Grow Up—Reflections on the Situation of the Academic Youth in Postwar British Literature

The author attempts to apply the psychoanalytic concept of “prolonged adolescence” to two literary works, both of which are embedded in England’s postwar social and political climate. The discussion of John Wain’s Hurry on Down ([1953] 1979) and John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger ([1956] 1989), by necessity, involves a look at those factors responsible for shaping the cultural “mood” in those days. However, the author’s primary concern lies with how two particular (fictional) individuals, or antiheroes, deal with the frustration, which, although generally felt among contemporary academia, in their cases seems to hide a much deeper layer of mental insecurity and instability. In fact, we come to feel that the characters have not achieved a proper sense of identity (“self”) and are, from the point of view of maturity, delayed and, hence, “unfitted” to cope adequately with the external world. Having long achieved formal adulthood, they seem to have gotten “stuck” somewhere along the passage of growing up. Essential papers by Sigmund Freud and his daughter Anna, as well as a very early paper on the topic by Siegfried Bernfeld, are, among others, taken into account, as is the profound research done by Peter Blos on the subject in question.     

Protective Factors Against Suicide Attempt Risk Among African American Women Experiencing Intimate Partner Violence

Protective factors (hope, spirituality, self-efficacy, coping, social support–family, social support–friends, and effectiveness of obtaining resources) against suicide attempts were examined in economically, educationally, and socially disadvantaged African American women (100 suicide attempters, 100 nonattempters) who had experienced recent intimate partner violence. Significant positive associations were found between all possible pairs of protective factors. Bivariate logistic regressions revealed that higher scores on each of the seven protective factors predicted nonattempter status; multivariate logistic regressions indicated that higher scores on measures of hope or social support–family showed unique predictive value for nonattempter status. Further, the multivariate model accurately predicted suicide attempt status 69.5% of the time. Partial support was found for a cumulative protective model hypothesizing a linear relationship between the number of protective factors endorsed and decreased risk for suicide attempts. Implications of these findings for community-based preventive intervention efforts and future research are discussed.     

Different Ways to Hurt: An Elderly Woman's Narrative of Suffering

This article presents and interprets the case study of an elderly woman's story of suffering. It results from interviews conducted with African-American and Caucasian men and women, aged 70 and above, concerning their personal definitions, attributions, and theories about suffering. Elders' experiences of suffering were examined under the rubrics of gerontology, narrative, and religious studies. Key themes offered in this case study are: (a) How the life course unfolds because of or despite suffering, (b) what moral status an elder confers on past or present suffering, (c) how a personal sense of the sacred accommodates suffering, (d) how this particular respondent alters her identity based on assimilating the new information of suffering, and (e) how the story of suffering stands out against or blends in with the backdrop of the life story. The uniqueness of this case study also mirrors commonalities of elders' narratives of suffering, particularly those of women. This elder's story demonstrates that smaller individual suffering is rooted in the frame of the larger public world. It also illustrates that the language women use to attribute, define, and theorize suffering is embedded in relationships.