Psychosocial adaptation to spinal cord injury: a dimensional perspective

From 313 individuals who sustained spinal cord injuries self-reported responses were examined on their psychosocial adaptation to disability and perceived quality of life. A multidimensional scaling analysis yielded a 2-dimensional structure of adaptation. The first dimension indicated adaptive versus nonadaptive reactions. The second dimension was suggestive of denial versus realization of the affect related to the medical impairment.     

Fat talk and self-presentation of body image: Is there a social norm for women to self-degrade?

The current investigations build upon previous ethnographic research, which identified a social norm for adolescent females to engage in “fat talk” (informal dialogue during which individuals express body dissatisfaction). In Study 1, participants were shown a vignette involving women engaging in fat talk dialogue and were subsequently asked to chose one of three self-presentational responses for a target female: (1) self-accepting of her body, (2) providing no information, or (3) self-degrading about her body. Male and female participants believed the target would be most likely to self-degrade, and that this would lead women to like her, while the self-accepting response would lead men to like her most. Study 2 used the same vignette but participants were asked to respond in an open-ended fashion. Participants again expected the target female to self-degrade. The present findings suggest college students perceive fat talk self-degradation of body image as normative.     

Body size dissatisfaction and avoidance behavior: How gender,age, ethnicity,and relative clothing size predict what some won’t try

Sixty-eight percent of U.S. adults are overweight/obese, and this epidemic has physical, psychosocial, and behavioral consequences. An internet sample of adults (N = 2997) perceiving themselves as larger than ideal in clothing size reported their body mass index (BMI), relative clothing size (RS; discrepancy between current and ideal size), and avoidance behaviors. Exploratory factor analysis of 10 avoidance items produced social avoidance and body display avoidance factors. A relative importance analysis revealed RS as a better predictor than BMI for avoidance. A hierarchical multivariate analysis of covariance found RS to predict both avoidance constructs. The relationship between RS and both avoidance constructs was stronger for women than men, and for younger as compared to older participants. Caucasians reported more body display avoidance than African Americans. This suggests that personal dissatisfaction with body size may deter involvement in varied life events and that women are especially avoidant of activities that entail displaying their bodies.     

Predicting ideal body mass index: what does clothing size have to do with it?

This study examined demographic and anthropometric variables as predictors of ideal body mass index (BMI) from cross-sectional, archival, self-reported data from the Psychology of Size Survey of 4014 U.S. residents collected in 2007. As hypothesized, ideal BMI can be predicted by a within gender hierarchical multiple regression analysis with the predictor variables of age, number of clothing sizes from ideal size, and current BMI; these variables account for 54.1% of variance in women's ideal BMI and 65.5% of variance in men's ideal BMI. Findings also demonstrated a logarithmic relationship between current BMI and ideal BMI, with increasing variance in ideal BMI for individuals with high current BMIs. These findings evidence the strong role of current body characteristics in the formation of ideals. Understanding how individuals conceptualize body ideals can inform researchers and practitioners alike, as this evidence has important implications related to both medical and psychological health.     

Examining “fat talk” experimentally in a female dyad: How are women influenced by another woman's body presentation style?

Fat talk, the verbal dissatisfaction that women express about their bodies, was studied in a female dyad whereby participants interacted with a female confederate who either self-derogated, self-accepted, or self-aggrandized. A 2 (participant body esteem: high vs. low) ×3 (confederate style of body image presentation) design was used. Results revealed that participants’ public disclosure of their body image varied according to confederate's style. Consistent with a reciprocity effect, participants disclosed the lowest public body image ratings in the self-derogate condition, with moderate ratings in the self-accept condition, and highest ratings in the self-aggrandize condition. Moreover, participants with low compared to high body esteem stated lower public body image. Participants’ judgments of the confederates’ likeability did not vary as a function of the confederate's body presentational style. Findings support the recursive nature of the social psychology of body image such that personal body image dissatisfaction is partially influenced by fat talk social norms.     

Expressing counselor empathy through the use of possible selves

The construct of possible selves, which represents the multifaceted aspects of an individual's self‐concept, is proposed in this theoretical article as a means by which employment and career counselors can extend greater empathy to their clients. The construct of empathy is reviewed first, followed by the construct of possible selves. Possible selves are suggested as a means to encourage greater perspective‐taking by both the client and the counselor, which reflects a greater empathic process.     

The Impact of Perceptions of Health Control and Coping Modes on Negative Affect Among Individuals with Spinal Cord Injuries

A wide range of demographic, medical, and personality and coping variables have been implicated as predictors of psychosocial outcomes following the onset of spinal cord injuries (SCI). The primary purpose of this study was to examine the role that perceptions of health control (internality, chance-determined, and other persons-determined) and coping strategies play in predicting respondents’ negative affect, namely, reactions of depression and anxiety [i.e., posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)], as outcomes of psychosocial adaptation to disability. A second purpose was to investigate the potential role that time since injury (TSI) plays in moderating the influence of coping on psychosocial outcomes related to SCI. Ninety five survivors of SCI participated in the study by completing a battery of self-report measures. Two sets of multiple regression analyses were employed to address the study’s goals. Findings indicated that after controlling the influence of gender, age, time since injury, and number of prior life traumas: (a) the use of disengagement coping successfully predicted both respondents’ levels of depression and PTSD; (b) none of the perceptions of control of one’s health significantly influenced psychosocial reactions to SCI, as indicated by depression and PTSD, although perceptions of chance control showed a moderate positive trend; and (c) time since injury did not moderate the relationships between coping and negative affect related to the onset of SCI. The implications of these findings to rehabilitation professionals are discussed.     

Psychosocial Adaptation to Chronic Illness and Disability: A Preliminary Study of its Factorial Structure

This study examined the factorial structure of psychosocial adaptation to chronic illness and disability in a sample of 313 individuals who sustained spinal cord injury (SCI). Three models were examined. The first model tested the hypothesis that psychosocial adaptation is composed of a single, global factor, in which positive (adaptive) and negative (nonadaptive) reactions define two opposing poles of the same dimension. The second model tested the validity of two distinguishable factors, representing adaptive and nonadaptive dimensions. The third model examined the relationship between the 2-factor model and a third dimension, that of denial. The data from the instruments measuring psychosocial adaptation to trauma and disability (the Reactions to Impairment and Disability Inventory and the Purdue Posttraumatic Stress Disorder-Revised) were submitted to a series of confirmatory factor analyses, and the results from the goodness of fit tests and fit indices provided strong support to the validity of the latter two models. The findings indicated that the structure of adaptation to SCI can be best conceptualized as representing two, moderately linked but clearly distinguishable, factors and that the construct of denial of disability further elucidates our understanding of the structure of adaptation to loss of body integrity.

The use of digital video recorders (DVRs) for capturing digital video files for use in both The Observer and Ethovision

Before switching a laboratory from analog to digital, for the recording of video files for use in Noldus software such as Ethovision and The Observer, researchers need to proceed with caution. There are obvious advantages in moving to digital recording for behavioral work, including increased storage capacity; no requirement to purchase video tapes; immediate search by date, time, or event; digital images are of higher quality; ability to view study sites remotely by Internet connection; and “smart” features, such as motion detection. But before you throw away your time-lapse video recorders, time code generators, and video multiplexors, there are some important cautions to take account of. Some research groups have bought digital surveillance systems on the assumption that they work with Ethovision and The Observer, only to be disappointed. The vast majority of systems depend on proprietary compression software that must then be converted to work properly in Ethovision or The Observer.