This study explored whether the Interpersonal Theory of suicide informs our understanding of high rates of suicidality in autistic adults. Autistic and non-autistic adults (n = 695, mean age 41.7 years, 58% female) completed an online survey of self-reported thwarted belonging, perceived burden, autistic traits, suicidal capability, trauma, and…

Body dissatisfaction (BD) is a common experience among preadolescent girls and a robust risk factor and precursor to eating pathology (EP). Although the relationship between BD and EP has been well documented, there is less research exploring the factors that may make this relationship more or less pronounced. In the current study, we investigated…

Several studies suggest that college counselors believe anxiety has been rising in recent decades. However, these surveys do not allow counselors to give nuanced answers or explicate their reasons, leaving it unclear why counselors estimate such change and how they explain its etiology. Do counselors have more nuanced beliefs than surveys suggest?…

Background: Despite Latino youth being at increased risk of developing mental health problems, they are less likely to receive adequate treatment (Gonzales et al. in "Handbook of U.S. Latino psychology: developmental and community-based perspectives." Sage, Thousand Oaks, pp 115-134, 2009; Romero et al. in "Ethn Health"…

The current longitudinal study examined the role of cumulative social risk on children's theory of mind (ToM) and executive functioning (EF) across early development. Further, we also tested a cascade model of development in which children's social cognition at 18 months was hypothesized to predict ToM and EF at age 4.5 through intermediary…

Objective: To assess colorectal cancer screening (CRCS) prevalence and psychosocial correlates of CRCS among Latinos in South Texas. Method: Using multivariable analyses, we examined the association of perceived susceptibility, self-efficacy, pros and cons, subjective norms, knowledge and fatalism on CRCS among 544 Latinos (50 years and older).…

Prospective studies have identified factors that increase risk for eating pathology onset, including perceived pressure for thinness, thin-ideal internalization, body dissatisfaction, dietary restraint, and negative affect. Research also suggests that body dissatisfaction and dietary restraint may constitute prodromal stages of the development of…

Objective: South Asians living in western countries have increased risk for developing diet-related chronic disease compared to Caucasians of European heritage. To increase understanding of social and cultural factors associated with their food habits, this study examined the meanings of food, health and well-being embedded in the food practices…

With female collegiate athletes, we examined the relationship of eating pathology to body image concerns, weight pressures, sociocultural internalization, and mood state. Multivariate analyses revealed that the symptomatic and eating disorder groups were similar on seven of eight weight pressures, three of four mood states, on internalization, and…

Alaska Native youth suffer disproportionately from suicide. Some researchers explain this by pointing to social disintegration brought on by rapid social change, but few make the connection to an ongoing colonialism explicit. This paper articulates some of the ways that colonial discourses affect Inupiat young people's self-conceptions, perceived…

From a large school-based sample (N = 3,084), 49 Mainland Chinese adolescents (31 girls, 18 boys) who endorsed all DSM-IV criteria for bulimia nervosa (BN) or sub-threshold BN and 49 matched controls (31 girls, 18 boys) completed measures of demographics and sociocultural experiences related to body image. Compared to less symptomatic peers, those…

Carl Upchurch was born and raised in Philadelphia in the 1950's. His mother, uncle and grandmother socialized him during his early childhood. His grandmother was his primary caregiver and a prostitute, his father drifted in and out of his life, and his uncle died in a gunfight. All this shaped Upchurch as a person and led to his development of the…

Objective: The authors examined factors predicting college students' use of tanning beds. Participants and Methods: Undergraduate students (N = 745) at a large Northeastern university participated in the study by answering a survey measuring tanning behavior and other psychosocial variables, including sensation seeking, self-esteem, tanning image…

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,…

Social pressure to conform to the thin ideal is believed to play a decisive role in the development of eating disorders. In this field study at a college with only sophomore rush, 99 sorority women, 80 nonsorority women past their first year, and 86 first-year women completed three subscales of the Eating Disorders Inventory-2 (Garner, 1991), the…