Browsing by Subject "Weight control"
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Item Utilizing clinical practice to inform research on the treatment of eating disorders(Texas Tech University, 2002-08) Haas, Heather LauraA substantial amount of research on the treatment of eating disorders has accmed in recent years. However, there is growing concern that clinicians do not actually use information from the research when treating clients with eating disorders. The purpose of this study was two-fold. First, clinicians who had varying degrees of experience in the treatment of eating disorders (N = 126) were surveyed regarding treatment practices used with their most recent eating disorder client. Second, a comprehensive content analysis of published treatment outcome studies on eating disorders (N = 76) was conducted. Results from the clinicians' description of their work with their client with an eating disorder were compared to the results from the content analysis in order to directly compare what is being done in clinical work to what is being advocated in the research. Chi-square analyses were used to identify specific components of treatments in clinical settings that are different from treatments in research settings. The results indicated that treatments of eating disorders in clinical settings are significantly different from treatments in research settings along several variables including the gender of the client, the type of eating disorder exhibited by the client, the treatment modality used, the format of the session (i.e., individual, group, or family), and the types of issues addressed in. therapy. Finally, logistic regression analyses were completed to determine whether certain client or therapist variables reliably predicted the use of empirically-validated treatments. Results indicated that there were no therapist or client variables that were related to whether or not a client received an empirically-validated treatment. The results of the study suggest a strong need for better collaboration between the scientist and the practitioner. Clinicians have much to leam from research regarding treatments that have been proven to be effective. Researchers have much to leam from clinicians conceming the types of complications and problems seen when working with clients. It is through the collaboration of researchers and clinicians that the effective treatments of eating disorders will progress.Item Weight control, self-perception, and self-esteem in adolescence : the role of schools and social comparison(2011-05) Mueller, Anna Strassmann; Muller, Chandra; Raley, R. Kelly; Frank, Kenneth; Hayward, Mark; Umberson, Debra; Crosnoe, RobertFor adolescents, body weight can be a complicated and sometimes difficult issue. Though the majority of adolescents report being aware of normative gendered body ideals, how adolescents incorporate or reject these ideals into their own weight-control decisions or sense of self can vary dramatically, largely in reaction to their social experiences with body ideals in the local, immediate contexts of their daily lives. The role of one such local context - schools - has remained largely unexplored in existing literature. Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) and multi-level modeling, I investigate the role high school weight cultures play in the development of adolescents’ weight-loss behaviors, overweight self-perceptions, and self-esteem. I employ social comparison theories, specifically the idea of who may serve as a likely target for social comparison - general others, similar others, or high status others - to develop hypotheses about which aspects of the school context may be associated with various aspects of adolescents’ body weight. Overall, my results indicate that there is a strong relationship between adolescents’ weight-loss behavior, self-perception and self-esteem and the weight-related culture in the school. For example, adolescent boys, on average, are significantly less likely to report perceiving themselves as overweight or engaging in weight-loss behaviors when they attend schools where there are many overweight boys in the student body. I also find that there is some variation within the school in terms of which peers are most salient to adolescents’ behaviors and self-perceptions. Both boys and girls are particularly impacted by the values and behaviors of similar others, when similarity is defined by same-sex adolescents of a similar body size. For example, on average, overweight adolescent girls are significantly more likely to report engaging in weight-loss behaviors when a higher proportion of overweight girls in their school also are engaged in weight-loss behaviors. The same pattern is found among adolescent boys. Overall, these findings suggest that meso-level social contexts - like schools - may be particularly important to how individuals incorporate macro-level beliefs or values - like gendered body ideals - into their own behaviors and self-concepts.