Matching Items (33)
Description
Appearance ideals are standards of beauty imposed by a culture or society, that are unrealistic and impossible to achieve. Research documents the existence of three appearance ideals, thin, muscular and hourglass ideals. The thin ideal is the pursuit of a very thin and low body weight. The muscular ideal is the pursuit of a toned and fit body. The hourglass ideal is the pursuit of a shapely body with bigger breasts and hips/buttocks than waist. These ideals are associated with disordered eating. However, no current study has examined the prevalence of all three ideals, or how the combination of ideals relates to dietary restraint, one example of a disordered eating behavior. This study was conducted on 505 undergraduate women at Arizona State University, who were completing research credit for a psychology course. The women participated in an online survey that assessed their demographics, each ideal, and dietary restraint. Results show that all combinations of ideals exist. Specifically, 41.5% of the sample endorse high levels of all three ideals, while 12.5% report thin and muscular ideals, 9.5% report thin and hourglass ideals, 9.9% report hourglass and muscular ideals, 8.4% report low levels of all three ideals, 6.4% report muscular ideal only, 6.4% report hourglass ideal only, and 5.6% report thin ideal only. Endorsing more than one ideal significantly associated with dietary restraint. Findings fulfill an important gap in the literature, suggest future directions for research, and have important clinical implications.
ContributorsByrd, Jordyn (Author) / Perez, Marisol (Thesis director) / Hernández, Juan (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
This study was designed to learn what students call various forms of cannabis. A survey was created with questions designed to understand students' knowledge of types of cannabis, methods of use, and potency. An introduction and methods section of the research paper is included.
ContributorsCollins, Ryleigh Anne (Author) / Meier, Madeline (Thesis director) / Perez, Marisol (Committee member) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
This study assessed the effects of running an eating prevention program on body image satisfaction/behavior and the leadership skills of collegiate women. The sample included a group of 43 undergraduate women who voluntarily chose to become peer-educators in the eating prevention program called the Body Project. Self-report questionnaires evaluating both the preoccupation with personal body image and general leadership skills were distributed and collected electronically. The results were analyzed to determine that being a peer leader in the Body project did not increase eating disorder symptoms but actually decreased the symptoms. It was also determined that being a peer educator had no effect on leadership skills. Therefore, being a peer leader is beneficial for reducing eating disorder symptoms, but not for advancing leadership skills.
ContributorsCamiliere, Taylor Marie (Author) / Perez, Marisol (Thesis director) / Cavanaugh Toft, Carolyn (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
In this study, potential differences in the manifestation and rates of eating disorders and symptoms (body dissatisfaction, weight and shape concerns, food restriction, and compensatory behaviors) in college women across sexual orientations were examined. The sociocultural model of eating disorders was also examined for these women across sexual orientations. The participants were organized into three different sexual orientation groups for analysis: heterosexual (group 1), bisexual, pansexual, and polysexual (group 2), and lesbian, gay, queer, transsexual, asexual, and other (group 3). Using cross-sectional data, it was revealed that there were significant group differences when comparing the three sexual orientation groups on loss of control over eating, but no significant group differences on body dissatisfaction, thin ideal internalization, and weight-related eating pathology, and total eating disorder symptoms scores. The sociocultural model was not predictive of eating disorder symptoms among non-heterosexual groups. Longitudinal analyses revealed that the sociocultural model of eating disorders prospectively predicts eating disorder symptoms among heterosexual women, but not non-heterosexual women. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses indicate that non-heterosexual women may be protected from societal pressure to subscribe to the thin ideal and its subsequent internalization. However, the comparison group of heterosexual women in our study may not have been completely representative of undergraduate women in terms of total eating disorder symptoms or eating pathology. Additionally, regardless of sexual orientation, our sample reported more total eating disorder symptoms and emotional eating than previous studies. These findings have both clinical and research implications. Future research is needed to determine what risk factors and treatment target variables are relevant for non-heterosexual women.
ContributorsNorman, Elizabeth Blair (Author) / Perez, Marisol (Thesis director) / Presson, Clark (Committee member) / Cavanaugh Toft, Carolyn (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
The Association Between Acne and Social Appearance Anxiety and Other Correlates Among Undergraduates
Description
The goal of the current study was to investigate the prevalence of SAA and body dissatisfaction among freshman undergraduate students between 18-20 years old suffering from self-reported acne. A total of 73 participants in an online survey were asked to complete the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Body Parts Satisfaction Scale (BPSS), and Social Appearance Anxiety Scale (SAAS). No significant correlation was found between acne severity and SAAS scores, but a significant, positive correlation was found between acne severity and body dissatisfaction. Moreover, acne sufferers had higher mean scores for the BPSS than non-acne sufferers indicating higher body dissatisfaction, but there was no significant difference in the scores for the SAAS between acne sufferers and non-acne sufferers. There was also no significant difference in correlations between acne severity and SAAS scores or BPSS scores between men and women, however, women had much higher mean scores for SAAS than men. In addition, scores for the SAAS and BPSS were found to have a significant, positive correlation with both depression and anxiety across the entire sample. There is paucity of research on the psychosocial effects of acne, more specifically social appearance anxiety (SAA), so further research is needed to replicate and extend the findings of the current study using a larger sample size ranging in acne severity.
ContributorsHowe, Sara Katelyn (Author) / Perez, Marisol (Thesis director) / Jimenez-Arista, Laura (Committee member) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
College-aged women are at an increased risk for the development of subclinical levels of eating disordered symptoms, which have been correlated to lasting deleterious cognitive, physical, and academic effects. The Body Project (TBP) is a universal group-based eating disorder prevention program that targets undergraduate women and challenges thin ideal messages through cognitive dissonance. Burlingame, Strauss, and Joyce (2013) in a meta-analysis of group treatments proposed five factors that independently and congruently work to promote individual change in group treatments: formal change theory, patient characteristics, leader characteristics, structural factors, and small group processes. A host of literature within TBP exists surrounding four of these factors, however, little research has been conducted on the small group processes that moderate individual change within this eating disorder prevention program.
The current study was designed to replicate and extend previous findings on the prevalence of the lemming effect within TBP, as well as examine how the lemming effect is related to outcome of treatment at a 3-month follow-up. Thirty-two participants aged 18-24 were examined. Groups ranged from 3 to 21 participants, including peer leaders. Twenty-nine audio recordings of session one of TBP were coded for lemming effects by the main research, and ten were coded by blind raters for inter-rater reliability measures. Three scales, the Ideal Body Stereotype Scale-Revised (IBSS-R), the Body Parts Satisfaction Scale-Revised (BPSS-R), and the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q), were used to measure levels of thin-ideal internalization, body satisfaction, and frequencies of eating disordered (ED) behaviors, respectively.
Partial correlations revealed nonsignificant relationships between the number of lemming effects and the change in thin-ideal internalization and body satisfaction from baseline to follow-up. Additionally, a reliable change index revealed that the majority of change from baseline to follow-up was reliable for the IBSS-R, and the majority of change for the BPSS-R was unreliable. Lastly, chi-square tests of independence revealed nonsignificant relations between the number of lemming effects and change in ED behaviors.
Due to the small sample and lack of findings, future research would benefit from including a larger sample. This would enable larger power to detect effects and allow for more thorough statistical analyses to be performed to compare the relation of lemming effects to changes in outcome. However, this was the first study to look at the lemming effect variable as a small group process within TBP and added to the growing literature on how small group processes result in efficacious outcomes of treatment within group treatments.
The current study was designed to replicate and extend previous findings on the prevalence of the lemming effect within TBP, as well as examine how the lemming effect is related to outcome of treatment at a 3-month follow-up. Thirty-two participants aged 18-24 were examined. Groups ranged from 3 to 21 participants, including peer leaders. Twenty-nine audio recordings of session one of TBP were coded for lemming effects by the main research, and ten were coded by blind raters for inter-rater reliability measures. Three scales, the Ideal Body Stereotype Scale-Revised (IBSS-R), the Body Parts Satisfaction Scale-Revised (BPSS-R), and the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q), were used to measure levels of thin-ideal internalization, body satisfaction, and frequencies of eating disordered (ED) behaviors, respectively.
Partial correlations revealed nonsignificant relationships between the number of lemming effects and the change in thin-ideal internalization and body satisfaction from baseline to follow-up. Additionally, a reliable change index revealed that the majority of change from baseline to follow-up was reliable for the IBSS-R, and the majority of change for the BPSS-R was unreliable. Lastly, chi-square tests of independence revealed nonsignificant relations between the number of lemming effects and change in ED behaviors.
Due to the small sample and lack of findings, future research would benefit from including a larger sample. This would enable larger power to detect effects and allow for more thorough statistical analyses to be performed to compare the relation of lemming effects to changes in outcome. However, this was the first study to look at the lemming effect variable as a small group process within TBP and added to the growing literature on how small group processes result in efficacious outcomes of treatment within group treatments.
ContributorsStadheim, Jenna Lynn (Author) / Perez, Marisol (Thesis director) / Doane, Leah (Committee member) / Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Higher education institutions have increasingly sought to diversify the ethnic makeup of freshmen classes (Covarrubias, Herrmann, & Fryberg, 2016) and rates of Latinx college attendance have been rising (Hall, Nishina, & Lewis, 2017). However, despite comparable levels of earned-credits, Latinx students have lower rates of college completion (Contreras & Contreras, 2015). One potential explanation may be disproportionate increases in stress, and in particular, discrimination experiences reported by Latinx students during the transition from high school to college (Hunyh & Fuligni, 2012). As such, the aim of the current study was to examine whether everyday discrimination in high school and college were associated with changes in adolescent well-being and academic adjustment over the college transition in a sample of Latinx adolescents. Study participants were 209 Latinx adolescents (85.1% Mexican descent, 62.1% 2nd generation; 35.6% male; Mage= 17.59) who completed questionnaire assessments during the spring or summer before entering college (T1) and again during the first semester of college (T2; 88.5% retention). In both high school and college, participants completed a modified version of the Everyday Discrimination Scale (T1 α=.88, T2 α=.89; Williams et al., 1997). Dependent variables included internalizing symptoms in college (depressive symptoms {α = .95}, anxiety symptoms {α = .88}, stress symptoms {α = .94}; DASS; Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995), and institutional records of college GPA. Correlation and regression analyses were conducted in SPSS 23 to examine associations between discrimination experiences (high school and college) and college internalizing symptoms and GPA, controlling for high school levels. Other covariates included immigrant generation status, sex, parent education (as a proxy for socioeconomic status), and whether the participant attended the focal higher education institution. Zero order correlations (Table 1) revealed that greater reports of discrimination in high school and college were associated with higher depressive symptoms, higher anxiety symptoms, higher stress, but not GPA in college (Table 1; all ps <.05). In multivariate analyses and after adjusting for covariates similar patterns emerged (Table 2). Greater reports of discrimination in college were associated with higher depressive symptoms (β = .18, p < .05), anxiety symptoms (β = .19, p <.05) and stress (β = .18, p <.05), but not GPA (β = -.04, ns). Everyday experiences of discrimination in high school were not significantly associated with college outcomes. In summary, our findings suggest that discrimination experiences among Latinx students in college, but not high school, are associated with increases in internalizing symptoms, including depression, anxiety and stress. Interestingly, discrimination experiences in high school and college were not associated with academic achievement in the first semester of college. Such findings suggest that higher education institutions should focus on global indicators of well-being during the Latinx college transition and seek to implement programs to: a) reduce stress associated with engaging in diverse college environments and b) reduce discrimination experiences on college campuses. Future research is needed for replication of these results and should also seek to further explore the trajectories of internalizing symptoms beyond the first semester of college.
ContributorsSills, Jessica (Author) / Doane, Leah (Thesis director) / Perez, Marisol (Committee member) / Castro, Saul (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor, Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
The purpose of this literature review is to examine the distinction between Binge Eating Disorder (BED) and Food Addiction (FA). There is confusion and debate regarding the two: some argue they are distinct and others argue they are too similar for FA to deserve its own diagnosis. It is important to examine differences and similarities because obesity is a growing public health problem, and determining the root cause of obesity may help with efforts to reverse the problem. In addition, developing effective treatment and prevention programs will be easier once specific risk factors and characteristics of FA and BED are established. This literature review includes empirical studies and other literature reviews looking at the overlap, unique personality correlates, and general psychopathology associated with both BED and FA. A consistent finding among studies that looked at impulsivity and FA was that negative urgency and lack of perseverance accurately predicted FA, relative to BED. Other consistent correlates of FA were negative affect, emotion dysregulation, and (negative) self-esteem. Treatment options for FA currently include a combination of addiction-based treatment and psychotherapy that is commonly used for BED (i.e. CBT, DBT). Based on my research review, it seems reasonable to conclude that FA does in fact differ from BED and that efforts to identify unique treatment targets for FA are needed.
ContributorsPigeon, Emma Johanna (Author) / Corbin, William (Thesis director) / Perez, Marisol (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
The Arizona healthcare system is changing and although its effects can be seen in almost every realm of the medical field, psychiatry is a specialty that is still experiencing hardship. There are scarce resources available for the ever-growing and struggling patient pool, especially in rural areas and minority populations. A comorbid cycle of untreated psychiatric illness contributes to the burden on emergency department and primary care medicine, as well as homelessness, crime, and suicide within the state. Arizona currently has a dismal spot in the rankings for American states with appropriate access to psychiatric resources, leaving many who need treatment without it. Compared to states with similar populations who are at the top of these rankings, Arizona spends more government money for behavioral health services, indicating a disparity in productivity and questioning monetary waste. Demographic statistics and other relevant scientific literature reveals that Arizona's psychiatric system lacks appropriate structure, and is failing the mental health care system both in monetary and societal constructs. These issues highlight the need for remedies and identify areas for future reform. Recommendations on such reform include permanent change in legislation and department models to improve crisis ward work, communication and networking during transition of care, integration of and access to continuum of care, and community education. They also include creating incentive and certification programs within the state in order to increase the number of available providers, especially in rural areas. These recommendations are directed to specifically reduce the burden of mental illness on emergency medical services, increase productivity, and decrease chronic untreated mental disease and monetary waste.
ContributorsHarding, Calen LeMay (Author) / Perez, Marisol (Thesis director) / Neal, Tess (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Introduction: The current study aimed to explore the prevalence rates of binge-eating and weight compensatory behaviors across sexual minority undergraduate men and women. Methods: The sample included 3411 undergraduate men and women from a large public university. Participants completed a self-report online questionnaire regarding various personality, social networking, and health behaviors. Results: Analyses showed no difference in binge-eating for women, but statistically significant differences across sexual orientation groups for weight compensatory behaviors. Analyses for men showed statistically significant differences between sexual orientation groups for objective-binge eating and self-induced vomiting. There were no differences among men for other behaviors. Discussion: These findings demonstrate both statistically and clinically significant differences across sexual orientation groups indicating that gender as well as sexual orientation bear a correlation to the propensity to engage in certain disordered eating behaviors.
ContributorsVon Schell, Anna Victoria (Author) / Perez, Marisol (Thesis director) / Ohrt, Tara (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05