Eating and exercise disorders in young college men

The authors used the computerized Eating and Exercise Examination to investigate eating, weight, shape, and exercise behaviors in a convenience sample of 93 male college students. One fifth of the men worried about their weight and shape, followed rules about eating, and limited their food intake. Between 9% and 12% were unhappy with their body shape, felt fat, and seriously wanted to lose weight. Exercise was important for the self-esteem of 48% of the students. Thirty-four percent were distressed when they could not exercise as much as they wanted, 27% followed rules about exercising, and 14% worried about the amount of exercise they were doing. The respondents met clinical diagnoses for objective binge eating (3%), self-induced vomiting (3%), bulimia nervosa (2%), and exercise disorders (8%). Although 9% reported disordered eating, none had sought treatment. Health professionals should be aware that eating and exercise disorders may be present in college men and that screening may help in the early identification of these problems.     

A confidence interval for the median of a finite population under unequal probability sampling: A model-assisted approach

This paper presents a method for constructing confidence intervals for the median of a finite population under unequal probability sampling. The model-assisted approach makes use of the _L1$L_1$-norm to motivate the estimating function which is then used to develop a unified approach to inference which includes not only confidence intervals but hypothesis tests and point estimates. The approach relies on large sample theory to construct the confidence intervals. In cases when second-order inclusion probabilities are not available or easy to compute, the Hartley–Rao variance approximation is employed. Simulations show that the confidence intervals achieve the appropriate confidence level, whether or not the Hartley–Rao variance is employed.     

CEO grandiose narcissism and firm performance: The role of organizational identification

This study reconciles the positive and negative sides of CEO grandiose narcissism by examining the role that CEO organizational identification plays in moderating the effect of CEO grandiose narcissism on top management team (TMT) behavioral integration. We first distinguish between grandiose and vulnerable narcissism and we then draw on upper echelons theory and executive personality research to hypothesize and test a model in which CEO grandiose narcissism is positively related to TMT behavioral integration when CEOs are high in organizational identification. The relationship is expected to be negative when CEOs do not identify strongly with their organizations. TMT behavioral integration, in turn, predicts subsequent firm performance. Findings based on multi-source data from a sample of 97 CEOs and their firms supported the hypotheses. These results highlight the complex nature of CEO grandiose narcissism – namely, that the construct has both positive and negative aspects as it relates to top management team dynamics and firm performance and that the relationship is affected by CEOs' identification with their organizations.     

Automatically Detected Nonverbal Behavior Predicts Creativity in Collaborating Dyads

In the current study we administered a creative task in which two people collaboratively generated novel strategies to conserve resources. During this task, the nonverbal behavior of 104 participants in 52 pairs was tracked and recorded using the Kinect computer vision algorithm. We created a measure of synchrony by correlating movements between the two dyad members, and showed that synchrony occurred—that is, correlations decreased when we increased delay between the recorded movements of pair members. We also demonstrated a link between nonverbal synchrony and creativity, as operationalized by the number of new, valid ideas produced. Linear correlations demonstrated a significant relationship between synchrony and creativity. Finally, models using synchrony scores as input predicted whether dyads were high or low in creativity with a success rate as high as 86.7 % in the more exclusive subsets. We discuss implications for methodological approaches to measuring nonverbal behavior and synchrony, and suggest practical applications which can leverage the current findings.     

Elderly women show neither a shortage of strategies nor an overreliance on drugs in handling aging and in dealing with minor health problems

Women 65 years old and over make up the fastest growing population segment in North America. They are, particularly among the underprivileged, known to be heavy consumers of prescribed and over-the-counter drugs. The objective of this study was to identify the role of medication in underprivileged elderly women's strategies for aging well and dealing with minor health problems. A qualitative study was conducted among 40 women aged 65 to 75. Results show that elderly women seldom mention resorting to medication to "age well" although they report using this strategy to deal with minor health problems. Overall, the elderly women mentioned a wide range of strategies to cope with aging and minor health problems, which suggests that they are well equipped to face the challenges of aging.     

Brave New Worlds: Philosophy,Politics, and Science in Human Biotechnology

Advances in biotechnology have important applications to the core demographic concerns of human reproduction and longevity, raising a number of difficult ethical issues. In the debate over those issues, however, the voices of demographers and other social scientists are nearly silent. In the United States the dominant bioethical arguments currently heard come from a conservative political and ideological position, represented, for example, by the President's Council on Bioethics and in particular by its chairman, Leon Kass. A critical discussion of Kass's writings identifies the philosophical roots of that position and highlights its logic and limits. Kass's specific arguments on cloning can be challenged by applying them to an earlier and revolutionary technology, birth control; his views on death and dying would argue for curtailing investment in life‐extending technology. Conservatism of this kind ignores social science perspectives and forecloses opportunities for social change.     

Gambling Accessibility: A Scale to Measure Gambler Preferences

Geographic closeness of gambling venues is not the only aspect of accessibility likely to affect gambling frequency. Perceived accessibility of gambling venues may include other features such as convenience (e.g., opening hours) or “atmosphere”. The aim of the current study was to develop a multidimensional measure of gamblers’ perceptions of accessibility, and present evidence for its reliability and validity. We surveyed 303 gamblers with 43 items developed to measure different dimensions of accessibility. Factor analysis of the items produced a two factor solution. The first, Social Accessibility related to the level at which gambling venues were enjoyed because they were social places, provided varying entertainment options and had a pleasant atmosphere. The second factor, Accessible Retreat related to the degree to which venues were enjoyed because they were geographically and temporally available and provided a familiar and anonymous retreat with few interruptions or distractions. Both factors, developed as reliable subscales of the new Gambling Access Scale, demonstrated construct validity through their correlations with other gambling-related measures. Social Accessibility was moderately related to gambling frequency and amount spent, but not to problem gambling, while, as hypothesised, Accessible Retreat was associated with stronger urges to gamble and gambling problems.     

Relationship among differentiation of self, relationship satisfaction, partner support, and depression in patients with chronic lung disease and their partners

The purpose of the present study is to test the relationships among differentiation of self, relationship satisfaction, perceived partner support, and depression in a sample of patients with chronic lung disease (CLD) and their partners. The sample consisted of 52 patients with CLD and their partners. Hierarchical multiple regression was used for data analysis. The results indicate that (a) patients' differentiation of self is significantly lower than partners' differentiation of self, (b) patients' relationship satisfaction is positively correlated with partners' relationship satisfaction, (c) patients' relationship satisfaction predicts perceived partner supportive behavior, (d) perceived partner unsupportive behavior predicts patients' depression, (e) partners' differentiation of self predicts partners' relationship satisfaction, (f) partners' relationship satisfaction predicts partner supportive behavior, and (g) partners' differentiation of self and relationship satisfaction predicts partners' depression. The study serves to highlight the fact that the patient is part of a system, and that taking the system into account is relevant to the well-being of both the patient and the partner, in particular for patients with CLD, a heretofore unstudied population. The results of such studies have significant implications for couple and family therapists.     

Social cognitive neuroscience and leadership

We provide an overview of how the emerging field of social cognitive neuroscience can be linked to leadership theory and practice. A number of challenges are addressed, including theory development, as well as technical, measurement and methodological issues. In addition, we review recent leadership research that involves neuroscience applications, as well as areas that are closely related to leadership, such as emotional regulation and ethical reasoning and decision-making. Consideration is also given to how neuroscience might inform leadership development processes. We conclude with a discussion of the institutional challenges in conducting leadership research that incorporates neuroscience, and we consider potential limitations of such applications.