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A brief measure of internalization of societal norms regarding appearance was developed and validated on six early adolescent female samples (mean ages 11.7-13.3) from three countries (US, Australia, India; total n = 2210). Internal consistency levels were uniformly high in all samples, ranging from 0.83 to 0.92. Convergent validity estimates were high in all samples. Level of internalization was significantly positively correlated with levels of body dissatisfaction and restriction for all samples. Internalization was also significantly positively correlated with bulimic behaviors and negatively correlated with levels of self-esteem for the four samples that included these variables. The findings indicate that the Sociocultural Internalization of Appearance Questionnaire - Adolescents (SIAQ-A) may be used to further explore a media influence cross-culturally, allowing for the investigation of the role of internalization as a potential risk factor for body image problems and eating disturbances in different contexts.

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OBJECTIVE: To assess the psychometric validity of versions of the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire (SATAQ) designed for use with middle school girls and boys. METHOD: As part of a larger study, the SATAQ was administered to 505 middle school children. To assess concurrent validity, scales concerning the use of Weight Control and Muscle Building Techniques as well as the Body Esteem Scale (BES) were also administered. Body mass index (BMI) was also calculated. RESULTS: Both the girls and boys versions of the SATAQ showed adequate validity. Two SATAQ subscales, Internalization and Awareness of societal ideals of thinness, were identified for girls. For boys, three SATAQ subscales were identified: Internalization and Awareness of a muscular, non-fat ideal and a scale tapping the the importance of a Muscular Look. The subscales and total score showed acceptable concurrent validity. Even after controlling for BMI, they contributed significant explained variance for the use of Weight Control Techniques in both boys and girls and use of Muscle Building Techniques in boys. Patterns of relationships among variables differed by gender. DISCUSSION: The results suggest that sociocultural influences play a role in the use of Weight Control and Muscle Building Techniques for middle school boys although their influence is not as strong as it is for the use of Weight Control Techniques by middle school girls. The SATAQ seems to be an adequate measure of the nature of some of these influences.

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As a test of a prevention effect, data were collected two years after boys and girls ages 9-11 completed ten one-hour lessons designed to improve nutrition and exercise patterns, enhance body esteem, and discourage unhealthy weight management. Body esteem, use of weight loss techniques, SATAQ scores, weight concerns, and program-related knowledge were compared among three groups of young adolescent girls and boys (N = 509; ages = 11-13): participants in the elementary school program (Smolak, Levine, & Schermer, 1998a, 1998b), control participants from the same elementary schools, and new control participants from schools not included in the original study. Compared to new controls, those adolescents who received the prevention program two years earlier were more knowledgeable, used fewer unhealthy weight management techniques, and had higher body esteem. The latter difference was particularly significant for girls. Original control participants had intermediate scores, suggesting a "spillover" effect. Scores on program-related knowledge were positively correlated with better body esteem and less frequent use of weight loss techniques, and lower SATAQ scores, particularly among the girls. Findings suggest that a curricular program using cognitive social learning and developmental principles may help prevent the development of negative body image and unhealthy weight management techniques in girls and boys as they move from late childhood to early adolescence. Important methodological implications of this study for the meaning of prevention also are discussed.

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OBJECTIVE: The relationship between athletic participation and eating problems is examined using meta-analysis. Both the risk and protective elements of athletic participation are considered. METHOD: Data from 34 studies were used to examine the overall relationship between athletic participation and eating problems. Relationships for specific sports, elite athletes, and various age groups are also examined. RESULTS: Athletes appeared to be somewhat more at risk for eating problems than nonathletes. This was especially true of dancers. Significant effects did not emerge for gymnasts. Elite athletes, especially those in sports emphasizing thinness, were at risk. Nonelite athletes, especially in high school, had reduced risk of eating problems compared to controls. Body dissatisfaction was lower in athletes. CONCLUSION: There appear to be circumstances under which sports participation by women constitutes a risk factor for certain elements of eating problems. In other situations, athletic participation may be protective against eating problems.

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OBJECTIVE: This study examined the relative contributions of mother's and father's direct comments about child's weight and modeling of weight concerns through their own behavior on child's body esteem, weight-related concerns, and weight loss attempts. METHOD: Parents, 131 mothers and 89 fathers, of fourth and fifth grade boys and girls completed a brief survey which included measures of their own dieting attempts, concerns about their own shape, complaints about their own shape, and beliefs about calorie-restrictive dieting as well as the frequency of their comments to their child about the child's weight. Children were surveyed using the Body Esteem Scale as well as questions about their weight-related concerns and weight loss attempts. RESULTS: Direct parental comments, especially by the mother, seemed to be more powerful influences than parental modeling of weight and shape concerns, although parental modeling did affect the child's beliefs and behaviors. Girls appeared to be more affected than did boys. DISCUSSION: Parental comments and modeling do appear to affect elementary school children's weight and shape-related attitudes and behaviors. Such parental behavior may be an appropriate target in prevention programs.

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Researchers have recently called for the development of primary prevention of eating disorders programs aimed at elementary school students. The present study reports on the development of a curriculum for fifth graders designed to encourage healthy eating, exercise, and body image while discouraging calorie-restrictive dieting, exercising for weight loss, and the development of body dissatisfaction. The program consisted of ten lessons taught by the classroom teachers. The influence of the curriculum on (1) knowledge about nutrition, body fat, and dieting; (2) attitudes about fat people and own body (body esteem); and (3) behaviors, including attempts at weight reduction, consumption of fruits and vegetables, and exercising, were evaluated in a pre-post controlled experimental design. There were 222 white public school children who participated in both the pre- and posttesting, 167 of whom were in the classrooms receiving the curriculum. Results indicated that knowledge was broadly improved by the curriculum. There were information improvements in terms of nutrition, effects of dieting, and causes of body fat. Attitudinal changes were less pronounced, although the curriculum did positively affect attitudes about fat people. Behavior, including eating patterns, exercise patterns, weight reduction attempts, and teasing of fat children, was not changed by participation in the curriculum.

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OBJECTIVE: To understand the developmental psychopathology of eating disorders, it is crucial to explain the large gender discrepancy in the rates of these disorders, especially anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. In this paper, meta-analysis was used to examine the relationship between gender role adherence and the existence of eating problems. METHOD: Of the 69 studies examined, 22 contained data deemed valid for the analyses. Measures of difference (d) and homogeneity were calculated. These studies used the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ) or the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) to measure gender role adherence. RESULTS: Findings indicated a small, heterogeneous positive relationship between femininity and eating problems and a small, heterogeneous negative relationship between masculinity and eating problems. Studies that used a clinical sample showed a larger discrepancy in masculinity scores between the eating-disordered and the control groups than did studies using surveys to identify eating problems. Six studies measured gender role traditionalism. The eating-disordered groups did not differ significantly on these measures compared to the control groups. DISCUSSION: Despite construct validity problems with the use of the PAQ and the BSRI in this area of study, data suggest that gender role is related to eating problems. Crucial aspects of femininity likely to be related to eating problems need to be operationalized and their link to eating disorders examined.

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As interest in eating disorders has grown, there has been an increased need for psychometrically sound measures of young children's eating attitudes and behaviors. The present report examines one promising measure, the children's version of the Eating Attitudes Test (ChEAT; (Maloney, McGuire, & Daniels. [1988]. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 5, 541-543; Maloney, McGuire, Daniels & Specker. [1989]. Pediatrics, 84, 482-489). Like the EAT-26, (Garfinkel & Garner. [1982]. Anorexia nervosa: A multidimensional perspective. New York: Brunner/Mazel), this is a 26-item self-report questionnaire. As part of a larger study, the ChEAT was administered to 308 middle school girls. Analyses indicated that the 26-item version had adequate internal reliability, both for the entire sample and for each of the three grades. However, a 23-item version had even better internal reliability. Concurrent validity was demonstrated for the 26-item version in that correlations between the ChEAT and independent measures of weight management and body dissatisfaction were significant. Again, the concurrent validity was slightly better for the 23-item version. Factor analysis of the ChEAT-26 yielded factors quite similar to those of the EAT-26. However, an additional ChEAT factor emerged that tapped restricting and purging behaviors. On the whole, the ChEAT emerged as a promising instrument for measuring disturbed eating attitudes and behaviors in middle school girls.

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Three predictions based on Levine and Smolak's (1992) developmental model of dieting and eating disturbances were tested: (1) Changes in pubertal status and/or dating status increase the probability of nonpathological dieting in middle school girls; (2) concurrent change in pubertal status, dating status, and academic stress increases the probability of subclinical eating disturbances in girls with a slender body ideal; and (3) the co-occurrence of modeling cues and direct messages from peers and/or family about the importance of weight, shape, and dieting increases the probability of these effects. Three hundred eighty-two girls were asked about menarcheal status, dating status, and academic stress, as well as attitudes about shape, eating behavior, and perceptions of peer and family pressures for slenderness. Results confirmed several of the predictions, suggesting that the interaction among cumulative developmental changes in early adolescence, adherence to a slender body ideal, and sociocultural pressures for thinness may be useful in distinguishing middle schoolers at risk for subclinical eating disturbances from both girls who do not diet and girls whose dieting is or will be "normative."

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This study investigated whether patterns of late adolescent separation-individuation from parents, as measured by the Psychological Separation Inventory (PSI), are different for anorexic-like and bulimic-like young women in college. It was hypothesized that anorexic-like women would display a pattern of underseparation from both mother and father. Bulimic-like women were expected to show a pattern of underseparation on the conflictual dimension of the PSI but overseparation on the other dimensions. A total of 198 college women completed the PSI, the Eating Disorder Inventory, and a DSM-III-R symptom checklist. Using that checklist, 19 women were classified as bulimic-like (BUN), 8 as like restricting anorexics (RAN), 11 as showing a pattern resembling both bulimia and restricting anorexia (BULAN), 109 as showing limited bulimic or anorexic behaviors (SOME), and 25 as having no eating disorder symptoms (NED). Results indicated some support for the hypotheses. BUN women were overseparated in terms of attitudinal independence from both parents and underseparated in that they experienced more guilt and conflict concerning separation than did the SOME or NED women. The anorexic-like women reported considerable guilt and conflict about separation and tended to be underseparated in general. The results point to the potential value of separation-individuation issues in the distinction between restricting anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.

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After selecting anthropometric parameters for preventive examinations of the population and elaborating a computer program, the authors analyzed a series of 1000 probands with respect to their nutritional state. The occurrence rate of latent and clinically manifest obesity was in the given series 22.70% in men and 15.49% in women when the classification according to the total fat percentage was applied. Measurements of circumference showed higher abdominal than thoracic circumference to occur in men only in clinically manifest obesity, whereas in women predominance of abdominal circumference was recorded in both types of obesity. On applying criteria of relative body weight, the occurrence rate of obesity amounted in men to 24.72% and in women to 28.83%. (Tab.6,Ref.19).

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The authors elaborated an automated preventive system and examined by means of it 1000 probands with regard to the incidence of cardiovascular and bronchopulmonary diseases and analyzed the results. In the submitted paper they present the results of an analysis of agreement of conclusions of examination made in the traditional way by the doctor and those obtained in the automated diagnostic preventive system. Agreement in the sense of a positive statement (presence of disease) was recorded in 54.1%, agreement in the sense of a negative finding (disease not detected) was recorded in 28.7%. Falsely negative conclusions (the doctor detected the disease, the system did not) were found in 5.6% and falsely positive conclusions (the doctor did not detect the disease, the system did) were found in 11.6% of the patients. The calculated sensitivity of the system is 0.90 and the specificity 0.72.

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The authors describe possibilities regarding the use of computing technique in the sphere of preventive examinations. They present examples of typical sub-systems and proposals for the whole system of preventive examinations. In the conclusion they describe the Czechoslovak medical computing technique which can be used for building a system of preventive examinations in this country.

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Onset latency, rise time, and amplitude measures of the acoustic reflex and auditory brain stem responses (ABRs) to clicks were elicited from normal subjects and subjects with multiple sclerosis (MS). The results indicated that MS subjects exhibited response abnormalities including prolonged rise times of the acoustic reflex and prolonged absolute latencies, interwave latencies and interaural latencies, and poor response stability of the ABR. The results of this study indicate that measurement of acoustic reflex dynamics can add to the diagnostic value of the test beyond measurement of acoustic reflex threshold and decay. The combination of complete acoustic reflex and ABR tests is a valuable contribution to the diagnosis of patients with MS who have no auditory symptoms.

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This study was undertaken to determine the effect of linguistic background on scores obtained by native and non-native subjects on two dichotic speech tests in American English, the staggered spondaic word (SSW) and the dichotic consonant-vowel (CV) tests. Thirty subjects whose native languages were either Hindi or Arabic were tested. Test findings were compared to results obtained from 10 native English-speaking subjects. The non-native English speakers showed abnormally high error scores on the SSW test while the native speakers performed with no errors on that test. Performance on the dichotic CV test was comparable for both the native English and the Hindi subjects, while the Arabic subjects performed significantly worse than the two other groups. These data indicate that tests of speech perception using English must be interpreted with caution when administered to non-native English speakers, and that neither the SSW nor the dichotic CV tests may be assumed to be free of linguistic bias.

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Computers experiences ever increasing possibilities in acquisition and evaluation of biosignals both for the experimental and practical application within the scope of executive health care institutions. The analysis and evaluation of biosignals on a computer is time-saving, and can involve quantitative parameters as well as mathematical methods which in the absence of computer techniques would be unmeasurable in practice. The paper describes the basic approaches to the solution of analysis automation, and to the computer evaluation of spirometric examination and ECG as proposed at the Research Institute of Medical Bionics in Bratislava. The technical and program system for evaluation of forces expiration within the scope of spirometric examinations and two systems of ECG evaluation are described. The first system utilizes the standard 12-lead ECG and Minnesota code, the second system processes vector-cardiogram derived from Frank's orthogonal leads under application of Pipberger's program.

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