Self-esteem and mental health characteristics especially among lean students surveyed by University Personality Inventory.

In recent years, various investigators have indicated an increase in the number of eating disorders. A similar tendency has been observed among university students. The purpose of the present study is to clarify the self-esteem and mental health characteristics of the lean students who suffer from latent eating disorders. We examined 2132 responses to the University Personality Inventory obtained from students who entered Nagoya University in 1995. We analyzed the mental health conditions of the lean students after categorizing the subjects into lean, normal and obese group by body mass index. As a result, the following results were obtained. Lean male students presented with more subjective symptoms than normal and obese students, and extremely lean male students had more subjective symptoms. Lean female students had fewer subjective symptoms than lean male students and no particular differences from normal female students. It is suggested that male and female students had different criteria for self-esteem with regard to body shape. The lean female students were medically ill and formed a latent or borderline latent group with anorexia nervosa. However, they had a similar degree of health awareness as normal students.

Associations between physical strength, cerebral function and mental health in independent-living elderly Japanese women.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the physical strength, cerebral function, and mental health conditions in elderly persons, and to examine the correlation between these functions. METHODS: The subjects were 151 independent-living elderly Japanese women, mean age 70 +/-5 years (+/-SD; range, 60 to 80 years), with normal abilities in daily life. The health check-up was conducted from April to May 1997. Physical strength was estimated by measuring seven activities. Cerebral functions were assessed by six sub-tests of the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB). Their mental health status was measured by four sub-scales of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ)-28. RESULTS: The physical strenght and almost all of the cerebral functions decreased with age. Social dysfunction and severe depression on the GHQ sub-scales also worsened with age. Physical strength was strongly correlated with cerebral functions after adjusting for the confounding effect of aging. There were also interrelations between physical strength and mental health. CONCLUSIONS: This study provided important information on the correlation between physical and mental status in elderly women. Future longitudinal studies with the intervention of physical training are required to determine whether a causal relationship exists between these factors.