Objective: To evaluate a modified curriculum for the 6-session Texas Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) promoting healthful home food environments and parenting skills related to obesity prevention. Design: Two-group randomized control trial; intervention versus usual EFNEP curriculum. Setting: Texas EFNEP classes. Participants:…

This multigenerational study empirically demonstrates the extent to which offspring whose parents experienced childhood abuse are at increased risk of being abused or neglected. Females with substantiated childhood sexual abuse and nonabused comparison females were assessed at six points spanning 18 years in a prospective, longitudinal study.…

Obesity is a health condition, but its consequences extend far beyond the realm of health. To illuminate an important route by which the experience of obesity can filter into the status attainment process, this study drew on nationally representative data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to test a social psychological…

To investigate the role of body size in social networks, this study estimated cross-nested multilevel network models (p2) with longitudinal data from the 16 saturated schools in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. As body mass index increased, the likelihood of being nominated by schoolmates as friends--but not the likelihood of…

Adolescent girls with body dissatisfaction (N = 481, SD = 1.4) were randomized to a dissonance-based thin-ideal internalization reduction program, healthy weight control program, expressive writing control condition, or assessment-only control condition. Dissonance participants showed significantly greater decreases in thin-ideal internalization,…

The Kaiser Family Foundation released a report entitled "Kids and Media Use" in the United States that concluded that children's use of media--including television, computers, Internet, video games, and phones--may be one of the primary contributor's to the poor fitness and obesity of many of today's adolescents. The present study examines the…

Increasing dropout rates in senior high school physical education, particularly among females, and unhealthy activity and obesity levels in youth have led to recommendations to assess potential contributing factors in physical education participation. Drawing from gender, body image, and social-cognitive theory, this study investigated relations…

Objective: To determine prevalence and correlates of overweight among adolescents attending alternative high schools (AHS). Methods: AHS students (n=145) from 6 schools completed surveys and anthropometric measures. Cross-sectional associations were assessed using mixed model multivariate logistic regression. Results: Among students, 42% were…

This paper examines the inexorable rise of "health" as regulative discourse, highlighting its class and cultural dimensions. With reference to the policy content of recent obesity reports, analysis suggests that contemporary concerns around obesity are but a modern variant of earlier eighteenth and nineteenth century child saving crusades whose…

We explored the hypotheses that adolescents have more negative obesity stereotypes than children and that age differences in obesity stereotypes are mediated by weight attributions, body esteem, and appearance idealization. Hispanic- and Caucasian-American children completed measures of appearance idealization, body esteem, and attributions about…

Examined effects of frequency, time, and method of assessment on reports of psychological functioning in 28 obese women who lost an average of 19.2 kilograms in 6 months. Results showed that method of mood assessment may determine the answer to the question of whether dieting is associated with adverse psychological consequences. (NB)

Implemented a behavioral treatment program for obesity using an interactive microcomputer system small enough to be carried by subjects. Subjects receiving the computer-assisted treatment lost approximately 2.5 times as much weight as controls and their rate of weight loss equaled that for more elaborate behavioral treatments. (MCF)

Investigated the effects of dieting and exercise on resting metabolic rate (RMR) in overweight women (N=10). Results showed that dieting lowered RMR by nearly double that expected on the basis of resulting weight loss; and that exercise caused RMR to rise to a level appropriate to prevailing body weight. (LLL)

Subjects (N=414) averaging 51 pounds overweight were followed by telephone questionnaire for the first 12 weeks of their Weight Watchers participation. Dropouts (N=101) reported lower self-efficacy at the beginning of their memberships and were less likely to feel successful in weight control although their weight loss did not differ…

Investigated effects of hypnosis as a treatment for weight loss among women. The primary hypothesis that hypnosis is an effective treatment for weight loss was confirmed, but seven concomitant variables and the use of audiotapes were not significant contributors to weight loss. (Author/ABB)