Compensatory Weight Control Behaviors of Women in Emerging Adulthood: Associations Between Childhood Abuse Experiences and Adult Relationship Avoidance

Abstract

Objective: To examine correlates of compensatory weight control behaviors among women in transition between adolescence and adulthood. Participants: The authors recruited a sample of undergraduate women (N = 759) at a large northwestern university during the 2009–2010 academic year. Methods: Logistic regression was used to assess relations among childhood abuse, psychosocial functioning, adult dating relationship factors, and women's endorsement of compensatory weight control behaviors. Results: The final model reliably distinguished between participants who endorsed versus denied use of compensatory behaviors (χ²[5, N = 747] = 36.37, p < .001), with global psychosocial functioning and relationship avoidance accounting for the most variance. Conclusions: These findings illustrate the importance of considering childhood abuse histories and adult relationships while assessing young women's compensatory weight control behaviors.     

Mental Health and Clinical Correlates in Lesbian,Gay, Bisexual,and Queer Young Adults

Abstract

Objective: This study examined the prevalence of mental health disorders and their clinical correlates in a university sample of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ) students. Participants: College students at a large public university. Methods: An anonymous, voluntary survey was distributed via random e-mail generation to university students during April and May of 2011. LGBQ students were compared with their heterosexual counterparts on psychological and physical status as well as academic performance. Results: LGBQ students reported worse depressive symptoms, higher levels of perceived stress, considered themselves less attractive, and were more likely to be overweight. LGBQ students were significantly more likely to report histories of affective, substance use, and certain anxiety disorders as well as compulsive sexual behavior and compulsive buying. Conclusions: The higher rates of many psychiatric conditions among LGBQ students underscore the need for universities to provide LGBQ students a nonjudgmental environment to discuss sexual orientation and health issues.     

Alternative Medicine and Herbal Use Among University Students

Abstract

Objective: This study sought to (1) examine perceived stress and resources to cope with stress as predictors of emotional eating during the transition to college and (2) determine whether body mass index (BMI) moderated the emotional eating-stress relationship. Participants: Participants were 97 college freshmen (73% female; BMI: M = 25.3 kg/m², SD = 5.7 kg/m²). Research was conducted in September 2012. Methods: Participants completed the Perceived Stress Scale, Emotional Eating Scale, and Eating and Appraisal Due to Emotions and Stress Questionnaire during the first month of college. Height and weight were measured objectively. Results: BMI moderated the relationship between perceived stress and emotional eating. Higher stress predicted greater emotional eating for the lower BMI groups, but not the highest group. Greater resources to cope with stress predicted lower emotional eating. Conclusions: Greater perceived stress and poorer resources to cope with stress may contribute to emotional eating during the transition to college. The relationship between perceived stress and emotional eating may vary by BMI.     

Predictors of college-student food security and fruit and vegetable intake differ by housing type

ABSTRACT

Objective: We assessed whether college-student characteristics associate with food security and fruit and vegetable (FV) intake and whether these associations differ in students in housing with and without food provision. Participants: 514 randomly-sampled students from a large, Midwestern, public university in 2012 and 2013 Methods: Ordered logistic regression tested how student characteristics associate with food security. Linear regression tested how student characteristics associate with FV intake. Analyses were stratified by housing type – that is, housing with food provision (dormitory, fraternity/sorority house, cooperative) vs. housing without food provision.Results: Only among those living in housing without food provision, males (p = 0.04), students without car access (p = 0.005), and those with marginal (p = 0.001) or low (p = 0.001) food security demonstrated lower FV intake. Conclusions: Housing with food provision may buffer the effects of student characteristics on food.     

Do “Clicker” Educational Sessions Enhance the Effectiveness of a Social Norms Marketing Campaign?

Abstract

Objective: Social norms campaigns are a cost-effective way to reduce high-risk drinking on college campuses. This study compares effectiveness of a “standard” social norms media (SNM) campaign for those with and without exposure to additional educational sessions using audience response technology (“clickers”). Methods: American College Health Association's National College Health Assessment questions are used to evaluate actual and perceived use. Additional survey questions assess individual exposure to the interventions. Results: The authors find “clicker” technology to be more effective than social norms poster media alone in reducing misperceptions of normative alcohol use for those students who attended clicker sessions. Conclusion: Poster SNM campaigns may be most effective when supported by group “clicker” heath-related sessions.     

Reasoning Together Through Telling Stories: How People Talk about Social Controversies

Qualitative Sociology - We use focus groups of ordinary citizens talking about social controversies to analyze the role of storytelling in collective reasoning. Prior research has emphasized...     

Quantifying the Value of Collecting: Implications for Financial Advisers

This paper documents the extent to which collectors—specifically, those owning collectible classic US postage stamps—experience an opportunity cost associated with expenditures on their collection. Results show, based on stamp price, S&P 500, bond, and T-bill rate data over the period 1969 through 2013, that collectible stamps tend to underperform stocks and bonds on a risk-adjusted basis. Using estimates based on the Modigliani measure (M²), it was determined that collectors incur an opportunity cost when selecting collectible stamps over more traditional investments. However, it is known that collecting as a hobby provides sociological and psychological benefits. This paper adds to the literature by illustrating how collecting also provides psychic return benefits that can be valued similarly to investment returns. In this study, the foregone return rate of stamp collecting for those who allocate a significant percent of available resources to their collection equates to between 3 and 13 % on an annual basis.     

Beyond the urban stream syndrome: organic matter budget for diagnostics and restoration of an impaired urban river

In response to water quality standard violations linked to excessive organic matter (OM) and a lack of sampling data informing the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), an organic matter budget was created to quantify and identify sources of OM in the lower Jordan River (Salt Lake City, UT). By sampling dissolved, fine and coarse particulate OM, as well as measuring ecosystem metabolism at seven different sites, the researchers aimed to identify the origin of excess OM, and understand pathways by which different size classes of the OM pool are generated. The dissolved fraction (DOM; 94 %) was found to be the dominant form of OM transported within the river with fine particulate organic matter (FPOM; 6 %) the second most abundant, and coarse particulate organic matter (CPOM; 1 %) transport relatively insignificant in the overall OM budget. Primary production exceeded respiratory losses in the upper river, and this, along with OM inputs from two tributaries (where water reclamation facilities discharge into the river) delivered excess OM to the impaired lower reaches. Increasing stream metabolism index (SMI) with distance downstream (>1 in the lower river) further demonstrated that transport of excessive organic matter into the lower river was from upstream sources and not due to lateral inputs. This simple approach to characterizing the organic matter budget as it relates to water quality in the Jordan River was effective and could serve as a model for future studies attempting to quantify and identify sources of OM in urban ecosystems.     

Effects of testosterone replacement therapy withdrawal and re-treatment in hypogonadal elderly men upon obesity,voiding function and prostate safety parameters

Whether testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) is a lifelong treatment for men with hypogonadism remains unknown. We investigated long-term TRT and TRT withdrawal on obesity and prostate-related parameters. Two hundred and sixty-two hypogonadal patients (mean age 59.5) received testosterone undecanoate in 12-week intervals for a maximum of 11 years. One hundred and forty-seven men had TRT interrupted for a mean of 16.9 months and resumed thereafter (Group A). The remaining 115 patients were treated continuously (Group B). Prostate volume, prostate-specific antigen (PSA), residual voiding volume, bladder wall thickness, C-reactive protein (CRP), aging male symptoms (AMS), International Index of erectile function – erectile function (IIEF-EF) and International Prostate Symptoms Scores (IPSS) were measured over the study period with anthropometric parameters of obesity, including weight, body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference. Prior to interruption, TRT resulted in improvements in residual voiding volume, bladder wall thickness, CRP, AMS, IIEF-EF, IPSS and obesity parameters while PSA and prostate volume increased. TRT interruption reduced total testosterone to hypogonadal levels in Group A and resulted in worsening of obesity parameters, AMS, IPSS, residual voiding volume and bladder wall thickness, IIEF-EF and PSA while CRP and prostate volume were unchanged until treatment resumed whereby these effects were reversed. TRT interruption results in worsening of symptoms. Hypogonadism may require lifelong TRT.