Perceptions of Psychological Abuse Versus Physical Abuse and Their Relationship With Mental Health Outcomes.

Prior research has been limited in examining at what degree aggressive actions are initially perceived negatively. The present research examined whether anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms were associated with prior abuse or with being attributed to past or present relationships. Scales such as the Dating Relationship Profile (DRP) and hypothetical scenarios of abuse perpetration were used. This study hypothesized that acceptability ratings from hypothetical scenarios would predict answers on DRP items measuring whether physical or psychological abuse is considered acceptable in relationships. Specifically, gender would be a predictor variable. Convenience sampling of undergraduate psychology students from a comprehensive, metropolitan university in north Georgia was used and resulted in 291 respondents (n = 227 [78%] female, n = 64 [22%] male) whose ages ranged from 18 to 54 years (M = 20.57 years, SD = 5.12 years). The present research used a 2 × 2 between-subjects design examining gender and type of hypothetical scenario violence with perceptions of abuse as the dependent variable. A significant association between experience of abuse and attribution of anxiety, depression, and PTSD symptoms to past or present relationships and between experience of abuse and these symptoms was found. Results revealed a significant difference between acceptability ratings of psychological abuse and gender, with men perceiving psychological abuse as more acceptable.

Comparison of body composition measurement with whole body multifrequency bioelectrical impedance and air displacement plethysmography in healthy middle-aged women.

Our purpose was to evaluate accuracy of multifrequency bioelectrical impedance analysis (MFBIA) using air displacement plethysmography (ADP) as the criterion measure. Body composition of 27 women was assessed by ADP followed immediately by MFBIA. There was a strong relationship (p = .01) between ADP and MFBIA in absolute lean mass (r = 0.80), absolute fat mass (r = 0.99), percent lean mass (r = 0.91), and percent fat mass (r = 0.91). Although MFBIA consistently overestimated lean mass and underestimated fat mass compared with ADP, agreement between measurements was within 2%-3% body fat. An accurate assessment tool, MFBIA can be useful in clinical settings.