Relationship Between Body Image and Body Mass Index in College Men

Objective and Participants: The authors examined cognitive and affective dimensions of body image of a randomized sample of 188 college men on the basis of body mass index (BMI). Methods: They conducted chi-square tests and ANOVAs to determine differences between 4 BMI groups (underweight, normal weight, overweight, and obese) on demographics and body image measures. Results: The authors found significant differences in regard to total body image (p < .001), weight or shape concern (p < .001), and body dissatisfaction (p < .001). BMI was significantly correlated with negative body image. Overweight and obese participants reported significantly higher levels of negative body image than did normal- and underweight participants. Overweight participants reported significantly higher weight and shape concerns than did underweight, normal-weight, and obese participants. In regard to body dissatisfaction, underweight, overweight, and obese participants reported significantly higher levels of body dissatisfaction than that reported by normal-weight participants. Conclusions: BMI may be an important factor in identifying potential body image disorders in college-aged men.     

A Socioeconomic Scale for Canada: Measuring Occupational Status from the Census

Cet article présente une nouvelle échelle professionnelle pour la classification nationale des professions (CNP) au Canada. En premier, l'on discute le contexte historique dans lequel la production des échelles des professions, faites par des sociologues aux Canada et aux États-Unis, s'est réalisée. La méthodologie de la récente échelle Nam–Powers–Boyd utilisée aux États-Unis est ensuite appliquée au recensement des professions de 2001. Celle-ci sert à créer des scores des statuts professionnels pour les titres professionnels de la classification nationale des professions (CNP 2001) à Statistiques Canada. Ces scores soulignent les inégalités démographiques et socio-économiques qui existent parmi les groupes au Canada. L'article se termine par une discussion des débats courants concernant l'utilisation des scores composites professionnels.
This paper provides a new occupational scale for the Canadian National Occupational Classification system. The historical context for occupational scales produced by sociologists in Canada and the United States is first discussed. The methodology used in the recent Nam–Powers–Boyd scale in the United States then is applied to the 2001 census of occupations to construct occupational status scores for the occupational titles found in the National Occupational Classification for Statistics (2001) at Statistics Canada. The occupational status scores highlight inequalities existing among groups in Canada along demographic and socioeconomic dimensions. The paper concludes with a discussion of current debates over the use of composite occupational scores.     

Race‐Ethnicity,Union Status,and Change in Body Mass Index in Young Adulthood

This study used data from three waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health and fixed effects regression to consider whether associations between change in union status and change in body mass index (BMI) were moderated by race‐ethnicity. The results indicated that intimate unions were differentially associated with gains in BMI along racial‐ethnic lines, especially for women. When compared with White women, marriage was associated with larger increases in BMI for Black, Hispanic, and Multiracial women, and cohabitation was associated with larger increases for Black and Hispanic women. In contrast, marriage and cohabitation were associated with less weight gain for Asian when compared with White women. Among men, racial‐ethnic differences in the relationship between union status and BMI were similarly patterned but less pronounced. The results suggest that marital status further exacerbates racial‐ethnic disparities in BMI from adolescence to young adulthood.     

Sleep Quality and Body Mass Index in College Students: The Role of Sleep Disturbances

Abstract

Objective: Obesity and its comorbidities have emerged as a leading public health concern. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and sleep patterns, including duration and disturbances. Methods: A convenience sample of 515 college students completed an online survey consisting of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and self-reported height and weight to calculate BMI. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed using components of the PSQI as predictors of overweight (BMI ≥ 25). Results: One-third of the participants had BMI ≥ 25, and 51% were poor-quality sleepers (PSQI > 5). Controlling for age and sex, only sleep disturbances were associated with overweight (odds ratio = 1.66, 95% confidence interval [1.08, 2.57]). Conclusions: Sleep disturbances, rather than sleep duration, predicted overweight among young adults; this is consistent with the most recent evidence in the literature. These findings support expanding the scope of wellness programs to promote healthy sleep among students.     

Predicting 1-Year Change in Body Mass Index Among College Students

Objective: Despite beliefs about weight gain in college, few researchers have evaluated this phenomenon. Participants: Participants were 18- to 31-year-old students at a midwestern university. The dependent variable was body mass index (BMI) change. Methods: The authors extracted predictor variables from a Health Risk Appraisal. These included clinical, medical history, medical usage, medications, pain or chronic conditions, perceptual measures, and behavioral factors. The authors performed an ordinal regression technique separately by gender. Results: No predictors were significant for men. Women in the BMI gain group were (1) more likely to consume alcohol, use maladaptive coping behaviors, eat foods low in fiber, and consume caffeine; and (2) less likely to be stress-free, to eat cruciferous vegetables, and to refrain from eating high-cholesterol foods. Conclusions: The lack of research on predictors of and interventions for reducing BMI gain among college students warrants more research.     

Elite Colleges and Socioeconomic Status

Elite colleges have long been associated with socioeconomic reproduction, passing along elite social standing to children of middle and upper‐middle socioeconomic status (SES) parents. How has that role changed during the expansion of American higher education over the past 50 years? Have elite colleges and universities also become providers of socioeconomic mobility? In this essay, I outline recent demographic, admissions, and financial aid changes at these institutions and compare both in‐college experiences and college outcomes between low‐SES and more‐affluent students at elite colleges. I argue that although elite colleges and universities do include greater numbers of low‐SES students than in earlier generations and have great potential for even further inclusion, they remain far from serving as broad engines of socioeconomic mobility.     

Differences in Dietary Patterns Among College Students According to Body Mass Index

Objective and Participants: The authors surveyed 557 undergraduate students aged 18-56 years to assess weight status, health behaviors, and dietary variety. Methods: They used body mass index (BMI) to divide students into 4 weight categories: underweight (BMI < 19 kg/m²), healthy weight (19 kg/m² to 24.99 kg/m²), over-weight (25 kg/m² to 29.99 kg/m²), and obese (> 30 kg/m²). Results: Approximately 33% of respondents were overweight or obese, and 8% were underweight. Among the weight categories, the authors observed significant differences in diet (eg, cheese, pork, lamb, veal and game, fish, green leafy vegetables, other vegetables, and the cumulative total of all meats). Overall, 33% of the students consumed 1 fruit in 3 days. The authors found no differences among the weight categories related to eating fatty, sugary snacks. Conclusions: College administrators should create health promotion and skill-building programs to improve students' diet variety.     

Body Mass Index,Dieting, Romance,and Sexual Activity in Adolescent Girls: Relationships Over Time

Romantic relationships constitute an important, but understudied, developmental context for accommodation to pubertal change. Using a nationally representative sample of 5,487 black, white, and Hispanic adolescent females, this study examined associations among body mass index, current romantic involvement, and dieting. For each one point increase in body mass‐index (BMI), the probability of having a romantic relationship decreased by 6%. Further, involvement in a nonsexual romantic relationship—but not involvement in a sexual romantic relationship—was associated with a significant increase in the likelihood of dieting. Associations between relationship type and dieting did not vary by age, socioeconomic status, or race, but were stronger at higher BMIs. These findings confirm that weight has implications for romantic involvement, which is highly valued by adolescent girls, and that romantic relationships, in turn, are important contexts in which to consider psychological and behavioral accommodation to the physical changes of puberty.     

Socioeconomic Status and Mental Illness in Japan*

Abstract Since the pioneering work of Faris and Dunham (1938), a number of studies in the United States have documented an inverse association between socioeconomic status (SES) and mental illness both at the aggregate and the individual levels, and both for the treated and the general population. However, there are few studies of whether this relationship holds in other countries. This study examines socioeconomic characteristics and mental illness in Japan, which has a very different social stratification system from that of the United States. It was found that, at the aggregate level, the “inverse” association between socioeconomic characteristics and the rate of treated mental illness does not hold in Japan. Instead, the relationship is curvilinear: mental illness is higher in districts with large numbers of blue collar and upper white collar workers than in districts with large numbers of lower white collar workers. The effect of SES on mental illness operates through economic stress embedded in the macro social context. Because different social structures lead to different patterns of economic stress, the inverse relationship between socioeconomic status and mental health cannot be assumed to hold in all countries.     

Interactions Between MAOA Genotype and Receipt of Public Assistance: Predicting Change in Depressive Symptoms and Body Mass Index

Response to stress is determined in part by genetically-influenced regulation of the monoamine system. We examined the interaction of a stressor (receipt of public assistance) and a gene regulating the monoamine system (MAOA) in the prediction of change in adolescent depressive symptoms and body mass index (BMI). Participants were drawn from the National Longitudinal Study on Adolescent Health (AddHealth) genetically-informative subsample. We focused on males due to the fact that males only have one MAOA allele. Growth curve analyses were conducted to assess the association between public assistance, MAOA allele, and their interaction and the intercept and slope of depressive symptoms and BMI. The results indicated that among males, MAOA allele type interacted with receipt of public assistance in the prediction of rate of change in both depressive symptoms and BMI from early adolescence through early adulthood. Males with the short MAOA allele whose families received public assistance tended to experience increased growth in depressive symptoms and BMI. Implications of the findings for understanding the relations among stress, physiology, and development are discussed.     

How Migrant Status Affects Health Beyond Socioeconomic Status: Evidence from Austria

The debate on health inequalities usually focuses on the interplay between socioeconomic status (SES) and health, where it is widely accepted that the former influences the latter. However, little is known on whether the influence of SES on health is sufficient to explain the observed lower health statuses among various migrant groups in European countries. This paper presents a model that integrates the influences of SES and migrant status on health and tests its implications empirically for Austria. Several ordered logit regressions are performed, whose results show that particular migrant groups are disadvantaged with respect to health. In addition, the overall influence of migrant status on health is considerably stronger for women than for men, while health status of men is influenced by interactions between migrant status and occupational status.     

Associations Between Romantic Relationship Factors and Body Mass Index Among Weight Loss Surgery Patients

The current study utilized a sample of 183 patients, in romantic relationships, who were either pre‐ or post‐weight loss surgery (WLS), to assess (a) associations between romantic relationship factors and pre‐ and post‐surgery body mass index (BMI), (b) the positive and negative influences of obesity in romantic relationships, and (c) the influence of romantic relationship factors on BMI and the reciprocal. Correlations, confirmatory factor analysis, and multiple linear regression were conducted. Patients endorsed greater negative influence of obesity in their romantic relationships compared to positive influences, and their romantic relationship quality was predicted by several variables, including BMI, in pre‐ and post‐surgery patient groups.     

Labor Force Participation and Socioeconomic Status*

This study examined the relationship between labor force participation by more than one family member and the socioeconomic status of the family, as measured by the Census SES score. The data were derived from a special tabulation of the 1960 Census five percent sample tape. In general, labor force participation by more than one family member was associated with higher SES scores in both white and Negro families. Multiple wage earners in white families were associated with “above the middle” level scores, whereas in Negro families multiple wage earners appear to contribute to barely or almost attaining middle level scores.     

Socioeconomic Status and Early Adolescent Self-Esteem*

This study is a replication of a recent assessment of the relationship between social class and self-esteem, and the variables that intervene on this relationship. The purpose is to replicate the methods used to explore further this relationship by attempting to replicate the findings reported by Demo and Savin-Williams (1983) in another population. Only one of the four hypotheses tested received support thereby indirectly supporting the null relationship theory of no relationship between socioeconomic status and self-esteem. Implications of the findings also are addressed.     

Intergenerational Persistence of Skills and Socioeconomic Status

This paper describes how the socioeconomic status (SES) of parents relates to the formation and development of the skills and preferences of their teenage children, which have proven to be key to understanding differences in life outcomes. The study used data from a novel survey, conducted in Mexico, that recorded cognitive and non-cognitive skills and social preferences of both parents and children. It analyzed the relationship between the SES of parents and their children’s skills, and found that children’s skills were consistently related to parental skills, and that intergenerational persistence of skills was higher for cognitive than for non-cognitive skills or social preferences. It also found that the cognitive skills gap between the first and fifth quintile of SES was related mainly to characteristics like parents’ own skills, years of schooling, and aspirations for their children, but that these parental characteristics were less important in explaining non-cognitive skills and preferences.     

Exploring the abortion problem in Canada

A scale designed to measure attraction to sexual aggression is described, based on earlier work assessing self‐reported likelihood of committing rape. This scale's associations with measures of theoretically relevant attitudes, perceptions, and behavioral inclinations are examined in comparison with briefer measures, and with a number of other scales measuring attraction to various types of sexual interactions. These include conventional sex (e.g., heterosexual intercourse), homosexuality, bondage, unconventional sex (e.g., group sex), and deviant sex (e.g., pedophilia). Data supporting the longer and shorter versions of the attraction to sexual aggression scale are presented, showing internal consistency, test‐retest reliability, and discriminant and construct validity. As well, a number of issues raised by critiques of research in this area are addressed empirically.     

Role of National Divorce Rates in Moderating the Association Between Marriage Duration and Body Mass Index

The aim of this study was to investigate the moderating effects of the national divorce rate on the association between body weight and marriage duration. Previous studies argued that a high divorce rate at country level reduces the body weight of married people because of an increased risk of a return to the marriage market. To examine the association in question, this study used retrospective data from 14,083 middle-aged individuals in Europe. For women the divorce rate, the percentage change, and the trend of change did not moderate the positive association between body mass index and marriage duration. In contrast, for men a high divorce rate and a steady decline over time positively moderated the relation between body mass index and marriage duration.     

Socioeconomic Status and Health Disparity in the United States

Abstract

Low socioeconomic status (SES) has been associated with high rates of many chronic diseases. This study was a cluster analysis of data from 9,830 adults in the 1994-96 Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by the Individuals (1994-96 CSFII) in order to characterize more fully the biologic and social factors that might be associated with chronic diseases. The study employed cluster analysis to define three SES groups (low, middle, and high) based on income, education, age, gender, and race. A significant increase was found in self-reported diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, obesity, and stroke across these groups, being highest in the lowest SES group. Results revealed that health disparity in the U.S. may be substantial, with some population groups bearing a disproportionate burden of chronic diseases.