The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of girls and boys about the effects that body-based harassment would have on girls' eating habits and engagement in physical activity. Five scenarios were read to focus groups comprised of 12- to 14-year-old students in grades 7 and 8. Each scenario represented behaviours that fall…

Involuntary images and visual memories are prominent in many types of psychopathology. Patients with posttraumatic stress disorder, other anxiety disorders, depression, eating disorders, and psychosis frequently report repeated visual intrusions corresponding to a small number of real or imaginary events, usually extremely vivid, detailed, and…

Given the recent focus on eating disorders in children, it is imperative that counselors consider eating concerns that affect children of all racial and ethnic groups and hence are effective in working with this population. The author discusses risk factors that potentially contribute to eating disorders in African American girls given their…

This study tested five proposed models of the relationship of negative affect and peer factors in early adolescent body dissatisfaction, dieting, and bulimic behaviors. A large community sample of girls in early adolescence was assessed via questionnaire (X[overbar] age = 12.3 years). Structural equation modeling (SEM) indicated that negative…

Initial research suggested that only European American women developed eating disorders (Garner, 1993), yet recent studies have shown that African American women do experience them (e.g., Lester & Petrie, 1998b; Mulholland & Mintz, 2001) and also may be negatively affected by similar sociocultural variables. In this study, we examined a…

Feeding problems are common problems seen in premature infants following their discharge from the NICU. However, the prevalence of feeding issues and failure to thrive among preterm infants in Taiwan is uncertain. All former studies of prevalence and identifications of feeding issues were from western countries. Those findings are therefore not…

This study aimed to explore the role of depression as a moderator of sociocultural influences on eating disorder symptoms. A sample of 509 adolescents (56% female) completed self-report questionnaires assessing depression, body dissatisfaction, drive for thinness, bulimic symptoms and sociocultural influences on appearance from family, peers and…

Background: The educational intervention of this Applied Dissertation consisted of a presentation during which self-selected volunteers were introduced to relevant literature focusing on less known factors causing the disease of obesity and contrasting from behavior. Purpose: The workshop was structured to address the problem statement:…

Thin-ideal (or media) internalization is an important eating disorder risk factor that has become a central target of many prevention programs. However, evidence for its valid assessment in young, mixed-gender, adolescent samples is limited, and the current study is the first to explore the psychometric properties of the 30-item Sociocultural…

A 15-year phenomenological case study of an exceptional female from age 15 through 30 was focused on exploring the subjective experience of development during adolescence and young adulthood, with attention to how giftedness and context interacted. The main focus became her response to trauma, which was revealed early in the study. Data, including…

Emotional eating occurs frequently in individuals with eating disorders and is an overlooked factor within addictions research. The present study identified the relationship between emotional eating, substance use, and eating disorders, and assessed the usefulness of the Emotional Eating Scale (EES) for individuals with concurrent eating disorders…

A relative large number of women on college campuses report experiencing eating afflictions. About 61% of college women indicated that they either occasionally or regularly used extreme measures to control their weight (Mintz & Betz, 1988). No clear consensus on the relative prevalence of eating disorder symptoms across ethnic groups has…

Various components of body image were measured to assess body image disturbances in patients with obesity. To overcome limitations of previous studies, a photo distortion technique and a biological motion distortion device were included to assess static and dynamic aspects of body image. Questionnaires assessed cognitive-affective aspects, bodily…

One community sample (N = 607) of youths generated self-reported responses to body dissatisfaction, from which the Adolescent Responses to Body Dissatisfaction (ARBD) inventory was constructed. A 2nd, similar sample (N = 830) completed this measure as well as measures of coping, body dissatisfaction, body mass index, depressive symptoms, and…

In Overeaters Anonymous (OA), the 12-step self-help program for compulsive overeaters, binge eating is regarded as a physical, spiritual, and emotional disorder. Consequently, the program proposes recovery through the adoption of a lifestyle that leads to physical, spiritual, and emotional well-being. A qualitative phenomenological study that…