Body-image attitudes and psychosocial functioning in Euro-American and Asian-American college women.

Euro-American (n = 94) and Asian-American (n = 72) college women were compared on multiple dimensions of body image, including global body satisfaction, preoccupation with appearance, satisfaction with individual body parts or features, and weight concern, and psychosocial functioning, including self-esteem, public self-consciousness, social anxiety, and public body consciousness. Both groups reported similar scores on these variables and showed similar patterns of correlations between body-image and psychosocial variables. Despite similar global body satisfaction, there were group differences in satisfaction with individual body parts or features, with Asian-American women reporting lower satisfaction with six parts or features and higher satisfaction with one feature. Stepwise multiple regression analyses predicting global body satisfaction from individual body parts or features suggested that both the specific body parts or features most salient to global body satisfaction and the relative influence of these parts or features varied as a function of ethnicity. Implications of these findings for research and practice are discussed.

Effects of lesion variables and emotion type on the perception of facial emotion.

The purpose of this study was to consider the effects of valence, motoric direction (i.e., approach/withdrawal), and arousal on the perception of facial emotion in patients with unilateral cortical lesions. We also examined the influence of lesion side, site, and size on emotional perception. Subjects were 30 right-hemisphere-damaged (RHD) and 30 left-hemisphere-damaged (LHD) male patients with focal lesions restricted primarily to the frontal, temporal, or parietal lobe. Patient groups were comparable on demographic and clinical neurological variables. Subjects were tested for their ability to match photographs of four facial emotional expressions: happiness, sadness, fear, and anger. Overall, RHD patients were significantly more impaired than LHD patients in perceiving facial emotion. Lesion side, but not site, was associated with motoric direction and valence dimensions. RHD patients had specific deficits relative to LHD patients in processing negative and withdrawal emotions; there were no group differences for positive/approach emotions. Lesion size was not significantly correlated with accuracy of emotional perception.

Emotion processing in the visual and auditory domains by patients with Alzheimer's disease.

The ability to process emotional information was assessed in 42 individuals: 23 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 19 healthy elderly controls. Four tasks assessed the ability to recognize emotion in audiotaped voices, in drawings of emotional situations, and in videotaped vignettes displaying emotions in facial expression, gestures, and body movements. Hemispheric dominance for processing facial expressions of emotions was also examined. There were no consistent group differences in the ability to process emotion presented via the auditory domain (i.e., nonverbal sounds, such as crying or shrieking, and speech prosody). Controls were, however, significantly better than the AD patients in identifying emotions depicted in drawings of emotional situations and in videotaped scenes displaying faces, gestures, and body movements. These differences were maintained after statistically adjusting for the visuospatial abilities of the participants. After a statistical adjustment for abstraction ability, some of the tasks continued to differentiate the groups (e.g., the emotional drawings task, the videotaped displays of faces), but others did not. These results confirm and extend previous results indicating that AD patients do not have a primary deficit in the processing of emotion. They suggest that the difficulties of the AD patients in perceiving emotion are secondary to the cognitive impairments associated with AD.

Facial asymmetry during emotional expression: gender, valence, and measurement technique.

The purpose of the current study was to examine 49 extant experiments of facial asymmetry during emotional expression in normal adult males and females in regard to gender, valence, and measurement technique. When facial asymmetry was evaluated by trained judges or muscle quantification, facial expressions were left-sided, a finding implicating the right cerebral hemisphere in emotional expression. However, when self-report experiential methods were utilized, the valence hypothesis received some support. Although there was some indication in single-gender studies of greater facial lateralization for males than for females, studies involving both males and females yielded no systematic asymmetry patterns as a function of gender.

Weight, weight-related aspects of body image, and depression in early adolescent girls.

This investigation assessed the hypothesis that early adolescent girls with more negative weight-related body images would report higher levels of depressive symptoms. The Beck Depression Inventory was administered, and measures of objective weight and four dimensions of weight-related body image were obtained: self-reported weight, subjective classification of weight from very underweight to very overweight, satisfaction with weight, and concerns about weight. The results indicated that the more subjective and personal measures of weight-related body image discontent--weight dissatisfaction and weight concerns--were associated with increased depressive symptoms, even controlling for objective weight status. These results are discussed in relation to the ontogenesis of body image and the place of body image in personality and the development of depression.

Effects of coping style and negative body image on eating disturbance.

OBJECTIVE: Relationships among coping strategies, negative body image, and eating disturbance were studied. METHOD: Subjects were 128 college women; measures included the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26), the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS), and three indices of negative body image. RESULTS: Higher use of both emotion-oriented coping and avoidance-oriented coping via distraction was associated with higher EAT scores; higher use of emotion-oriented coping also was associated with more negative body image. Findings agree with data associating these coping styles with other measures of psychological distress and psychopathology. Task-oriented coping also was high, but unrelated to negative body image or eating disturbance. Hierarchical regression analysis yielded a significant interaction between emotion-oriented coping and negative body image: The higher the use of emotion-oriented coping, the less the level of negative body image appeared to affect EAT score. DISCUSSION: Both the main effect for coping and the interaction suggest that high use of emotion-oriented coping should be considered a risk factor for eating disturbance.

Effects of wellness, fitness, and sport skills programs on body image and lifestyle behaviors.

140 college women participating in one of three types of physical education classes (wellness, fitness, sport skills) responded to questions about body image, body-self relations, and lifestyle behaviors at the onset and conclusion of a 6-wk. program. Pre-post changes for the wellness classes involved the largest number of domains and included increased satisfaction with body and physical appearance, more positive assessment of physical fitness and health, higher orientation toward fitness and health, and reports of positive changes in lifestyle behaviors. Pre-post changes for the fitness classes were mainly in the fitness domain, including a more positive assessment of fitness, a higher orientation toward fitness, and an increase in fitness-oriented activities; increased satisfaction with body and physical appearance was also reported. Participation in sport-skills classes produced only one pre-post change, an increase in fitness-oriented activities. Possible reasons for the success of the wellness classes are discussed. Results suggest that participation in wellness classes provides students with a positive, proactive, empowered attitude toward their own health and well-being.

Neuropsychological aspects of facial asymmetry during emotional expression: a review of the normal adult literature.

This review focuses on facial asymmetries during emotional expression. Facial asymmetry is defined as the expression intensity or muscular involvement on one side of the face ("hemiface") relative to the other side and has been used as a behavioral index of hemispheric specialization for facial emotional expression. This paper presents a history of the neuropsychological study of facial asymmetry, originating with Darwin. Both quantitative and qualitative aspects of asymmetry are addressed. Next, neuroanatomical bases for facial expression are elucidated, separately for posed/voluntary and spontaneous/involuntary elicitation conditions. This is followed by a comprehensive review of 49 experiments of facial asymmetry in the adult literature, oriented around emotional valence (pleasantness/unpleasantness), elicitation condition, facial part, social display rules, and demographic factors. Results of this review indicate that the left hemiface is more involved than the right hemiface in the expression of facial emotion. From a neuropsychological perspective, these findings implicate the right cerebral hemisphere as dominant for the facial expression of emotion. In spite of the compelling evidence for right-hemispheric specialization, some data point to the possibility of differential hemispheric involvement as a function of emotional valence.

A new visual image rating scale for females: correlations with measures of relative fatness, weight dissatisfaction, and body-esteem.

A new Visual Image Rating Scale for females was developed from a computer-reconstructed photograph to produce figures with realistic three-dimensional contour and different types of fat and muscle distribution. Correlations between choice of figures selected by a group of college women on two occasions two weeks apart gave significant test-retest stability. To estimate the construct validity of the scale in assessing body satisfaction, at the time the scale was first administered 77 undergraduate women were asked to select the figure closest to their current physique and to complete the Body-esteem Scale. Figure selection was highly correlated with relative fatness as measured by Body Mass Index and with scores on the Weight Concern subscale of the Body-esteem Scale. The utility of the scale for women of color or for women of a wider range of age and socioeconomic status remains to be evaluated.

Premenarcheal expectations and postmenarcheal experiences of positive and negative menstrual related changes.

PURPOSE: Longitudinal examination of early adolescent girls' premenarcheal expectations and postmenarcheal experiences of positive and negative menstrual related changes. METHOD: Ratings of 14 positive and negative changes were made by 80 girls on three occasions: (1) in grade 6 when girls were premenarcheal, (2) at the test occasion within six months after each girls' own menarche, and (3) in grade 9 when girls were postmenarcheal. Premenarcheal girls rated expectations of changes, and postmenarcheal girls rated experiences of changes, for both premenstrual and menstrual phases. Girls also rated preparation for, and emotional response to, menarche and mothers' helpfulness on the first two occasions. RESULTS: Ratings for positive and negative changes were at similar levels premenarcheally and decreased at menarche; once menstruation became established, ratings of negative changes increased while those of positive changes decreased. Ratings for negative changes were higher in the menstrual phase, while ratings for positive changes were higher in the premenstrual phase. Premenarcheal expectations of changes contributed to the prediction of menarcheal experiences of changes. Premenarcheal expectations and menarcheal experiences, along with anticipated emotional response to menarche, contributed to the prediction of longer-term experience of negative changes; menarcheal experiences, along with preparation for and emotional response to menarche, contributed to the prediction of longer-term experience of positive changes. CONCLUSIONS: Both expectations about, and initial experiences of, menstrual cycle-related changes were associated with longer-term menstrual experiences. The different outcomes for positive and negative changes have implications for menstrual socialization, and provide the basis for some optimism about facilitating a more complex and multidimensional understanding of menstruation.

Current and ideal physique choices in exercising and nonexercising college women from a pilot athletic image scale.

An Athletic Image Scale including female physiques with and without muscular definition is currently in the developmental phase. With shading, contouring, and three-dimensionality not offered previously on figure-rating scales, this instrument was designed to examine an apparent growing interest on the part of women in atheletic body-image ideals. The athletic level of each figure on the scale was based on responses of a group of college women. The 30-figure pilot scale was then tested by rating current and ideal body-shape preferences of two groups of first-year college women, 65 who exercised regularly and 45 who engaged in no regular exercise. Analysis showed no relationship between current and ideal physique choice and exercise status. Most exercising and nonexercising women chose a mesomorphic ideal physique with upper-body muscularity unlikely to occur without substantial amounts of physical activity. The associations among exercise status, figure choice, subscale scores on the Eating Disorder Inventory, and Self-esteem Scale scores were also examined. Women choosing moderately mesomorphic figures as their current shape had the lowest Body Dissatisfaction scale scores on the Eating Disorder Inventory irrespective of exercise status. Current- and ideal-shape preferences were not related to self-esteem scores. The pilot Athletic Image Scale offered several figures which seemed to be relevant to women although it must be noted that the scale purposely emphasized particular physiques. Even so, it is important to recognize that greater than sixty percent of the women preferred images with athletic physiques which are not offered on figurerating scales presently in use.

Postprandial sympatho-adrenal activity: its relation to metabolic and cardiovascular events and to changes in meal frequency.

1. Sympatho-adrenal activity was measured after the consumption of a 3.15 MJ mixed meal. Whole-body noradrenaline spillover rates, forearm plasma noradrenaline spillover and adrenaline secretion rates were derived using isotope dilution methodology. Heart rate and blood pressure spectral analysis measurements were also made. The relation of sympathoadrenal activity to thermogenic and cardiovascular events was studied. Sympathetic nervous and thermogenic responses were measured for 120 min after the single 3.15 MJ meal and compared with those after three 1.05 MJ meals, given 30 min apart. 2. Whole-body and forearm plasma noradrenaline spillover, and the 0.1 Hz component of systolic pressure power all increased significantly postprandially, while the 0.1 Hz component of heart rate variability, an indirect index of cardiac sympathetic nervous activity, remained unaltered. Adrenaline secretion was unaltered postprandially. Whole-body plasma noradrenaline spillover and thermogenesis during the 120 min postprandial period were 37% and 36% higher after the single meal as compared with the multiple meals, although this was not statistically significant. 3. The sympathetic neural responses were delayed in relation to peak plasma insulin levels and sustained in the face of declining insulin levels. Energy expenditure increased significantly postprandially, but there was no direct quantitative relationship to plasma noradrenaline spillover. Forearm oxygen consumption did not increase postprandially despite significant increases in regional noradrenaline spillover. Thus, no close relation was demonstrated between postprandial sympathetic nervous activation and either insulin secretion or thermogenesis.

Early adolescent girls' understanding of menstruation.

Sixth grade girls (N = 224) were queried about their preparation for and expectations about menarche, their parents' roles in preparation, and their understanding of the biological basis of menstruation, characteristics of the menstrual cycle, menstrual hygiene, and menstrual-related physical and psychological changes. Although girls viewed themselves as prepared for menarche, and claimed they had discussed it with their mothers, their explanations of menstruation reflected at best incomplete knowledge, and more typically a variety of misconceptions or ignorance. In attempting to explain menstruation, they tended to focus on one particular element of the process (e.g., eggs or blood or the uterus), and were not able to integrate the elements into a comprehensive whole. Girls' knowledge of the location and function of reproductive structures was faulty, and most did not understand how they were interrelated. Girls associated a variety of negative physical and psychological changes with menstruation, indicating that although they had not yet learned the biology of menstruation, they already had learned and internalized the cultural stereotypes and myths about menstrual symptomatology. In view of reports of high levels of sexual activity, often at very young ages, and without protection, and the high risk for acquiring sexually transmitted diseases, the failure to adequately educate girls about their own anatomy and physiology has serious implications.

Preparing girls for menstruation: recommendations from adolescent girls.

This study asked adolescent girls who had been menstruating for one to three years how they would prepare younger girls for the event, and how they would advise parents to prepare their daughters. To this end, 157 9th-grade girls rated their own experience of menarche (in terms of preparation, initial response, parents' roles, and sources of information) and answered four open-ended questions. The girls emphasized the need for emotional support and assurance that menstruation was normal and healthy--not bad, frightening, or embarrassing. They stressed the pragmatics of menstrual hygiene and the subjective experience of menstruation (how it would actually feel), while down-playing the biological aspects and the link between menstruation and self-definition as a woman. Most girls had talked about menstruation with their mothers, but few had discussed it with their fathers. They saw mothers as critically important but often unable to meet their needs. Many girls felt uncomfortable talking about menstruation with fathers, wanting them to be supportive but silent; others believed that fathers should be excluded completely. Responses suggested several ways early preparation could be revised, including a shift in focus from the biology of menstruation to the more personal, subjective, and immediate aspects of the experience. Responses also supported a conceptualization of menstrual education as a long-term, continuous process, beginning well before menarche and continuing long after.

Advanced pubertal development and eating disturbance in early adolescent girls.

This study assessed the hypothesis that early adolescent girls with advanced pubertal development would be at increased risk for eating disturbance compared with less-advanced peers. Sixth-grade girls differing in levels of pubertal development responded to the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI); to questions about weight-related concerns and dieting; and to measures of body image and appearance satisfaction. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated from measured weights and heights, and used as a measure of body fatness. Also assessed were the relative contributions of physical variables (e.g., body fatness) and psychological variables (e.g., body image) to eating- and weight-related concerns. Results supported the hypothesis that more advanced pubertal development was associated with an elevated level of eating disturbance. Analyses suggested that although normal pubertal increases in fatness and weight initially might induce eating-related concerns, it is the psychological response to these changes, in the form of more negative body image, that ultimately becomes more important for promoting eating disturbance.

Perception of affect in patients with dementia of the Alzheimer type.

The ability to perceive affect was examined in 19 patients with Alzheimer's disease and in 19 control subjects. Nine tasks were given. All participants were asked to recognize facial emotion, to provide verbal labels of facial emotion, and to identify emotion portrayed in drawings or in verbal descriptions of emotional situations. The results indicate that there are significant differences between patients with Alzheimer's disease and control subjects on all of the tasks. However, when test scores were adjusted for the cognitive abilities of the subjects, few of the tests continue to differentiate the groups. These results suggest that the deficits of patients with Alzheimer's disease on perception of affect tasks are likely to be the result of their cognitive defects and not the result of a primary impairment in the perception of emotion.

Perceptions of weight and attitudes toward eating in early adolescent girls.

Sixth grade girls (n = 206) responded to questions about their weight, body image, dieting practices, and attitudes toward weight and eating. Results suggested that feeling too fat and wishing to lose weight were becoming normative for young adolescent girls in that the majority of girls wished to weigh less and said that they dieted at least occasionally. For most girls, weight concerns had emerged between the ages of 9 to 11. A sizeable proportion of girls seemed to have adopted a "dieting mentality," claiming to be avoiding fat, counting calories, thinking excessively about food, feeling guilty after eating and overeating, and exercising to lose weight. Such practices were common even among girls who did not describe themselves as overweight or who were satisfied with their appearance. The emergence of these attitudes and behaviors at increasingly younger ages is of grave concern, as several of them are risk factors for the development of serious eating disorders.

Depressive symptomatology among very early maturing girls.

This study investigated whether menarche is associated with depression when its onset is at the very early extreme of the normal age range. Girls who were postmenarcheal at the beginning of the sixth grade, comprising less than 10% of a sample of girls in that grade, were classified as very early maturers; their scores on the Beck Depression Inventory, short form (BDIs), were compared with those of their premenarcheal peers. Additionally, postmenarcheal seventh graders, who comprised 30% of a sample of girls in that grade, were compared to their premenarcheal peers on the BDIs. Results were that postmenarcheal sixth graders were significantly more depressed than their premenarcheal peers, but that postmenarcheal and premenarcheal seventh graders did not differ significantly. The results suggest that very early menarche is associated with higher levels of depression than more normative menarcheal timing.

A preliminary characterization of lexical emotional expression in right and left brain-damaged patients.

Disorders in nonverbal communication of emotion have been documented in patients with right hemisphere pathology; lexical expression of emotion is virtually unstudied. In this preliminary investigation, emotionally laden slides were used to elicit discourse from right brain-damaged (RBD), left brain-damaged (LBD), and normal control (NC) subjects. New techniques were developed to examine the ability of these subjects to express emotion in words; formalistic and pragmatic analyses of the discourse were conducted. RBDs, relative to NCs and LBDs, were less successful in using words to convey emotion and produced words of lower emotional intensity. LBD aphasics, despite their linguistic deficits, were comparable to NCs in conveying emotional valence. The data tend to support the speculation that the right hemisphere is dominant for lexical expression of emotion. This study has implications for the neuropsychological investigation of language, emotion, and the brain.