Social ideological influences on reported food consumption and BMI

Background : The purpose of this study was to investigate relationships between ideological beliefs, perceptions of the importance of health behaviours, health attitudes, food consumption, and Body Mass Index (BMI). A behavioural model was hypothesized based on the Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein &amp; Ajzen, 1975). Methods : A survey was conducted among shoppers aged between 40 and 70 years at Eastland Shopping Centre, Melbourne, Australia. The hypothesized model was tested with this empirical data (n = 410) for younger (n = 151) and older (n = 259) age groups using structural equation modelling. Results : The findings generally support the study hypotheses. For both groups, egalitarianism had a direct and positive influence on perceptions of the importance of health behaviours. Materialism and masculinity impacted negatively on health attitudes, which positively influenced importance of health behaviours. Perceptions of importance of health behaviours impacted positively on the consumption of healthy foods such as vegetables and fruits, but negatively on consumption of unhealthy foods including sweets and fats. However, BMI was significantly influenced by the consumption of unhealthy foods (e.g., sugar and fats) only for the younger age group. Hence, the associations between beliefs, attitudes, consumption behaviours, and BMI outcomes differed between younger and older age populations. Conclusion : Social ideological beliefs appear to influence health attitudes and thereafter, the consumption of healthy and unhealthy foods and BMI via different pathways.<br /

Psychometric properties of the children's attributional style questionnaire

The structure of the Children's Attributional Style Questionnaire was examined for 359 children in Grades 5 and 6. Unsatisfactory internal consistency reliabilities ranged from .19 to .41 for the subscales and .54 for the overall measure. In addition, scree plots of the individual subscales resulted in a range of 2 to 4 factors per subscale and hence lacked evidence of unidimensionality

Developing a measurement model for coping research in early adolescence

The purpose of this study was the development of a measurement model for use in coping research in early adolescence. The results from a sample of 359 fifth-and sixth-grade children provided support for measures of children’s coping. Two higher order coping factors, productive and nonproductive coping, were found by using domain-representative parcels of coping strategies in confirmatory factor analyses. Parceling of random items found support for the unidimensional constructs of coping efficacy and family support. A four-factor measurement model incorporating coping efficacy, perceived family support, and the two higher order factors of productive and nonproductive coping behaviors was established. Implications of the finding of relative independence of the productive and nonproductive coping factors are discussed in terms of children’s coping research

School-research partnerships: a model for health promotion intervention programs in school settings

The intervention literature frequently suggests that effective research in health promotion programs is more likely to occur when researchers are cognizant of and responsive to the nature and needs of the host environment. This paper initially outlines the policies, responsibilities, needs and resources of the Victorian school system in the area of affective education. The Bright Ideas program (Brandon & Cunningham, 1999a, 1999b), a program that is embedded within the framework of rational emotive education and teaches optimistic thinking skills, was developed and implemented for students in 5th- and 6th- grade in Victorian primary schools in response to identified school needs. The expectation that school-based personnel take a more proactive role in the emotional education of all students, together with issues of cost effectiveness, resulted in a model in which classroom teachers and school psychologists jointly implemented the program. The findings from various studies that support the efficacy of the program and its method of implementation in increasing the coping resources of young people are then reported. Results support the feasibility of implementing school based low-cost programs that address the emotional health of young people when the program intervention goals are congruent with the goals of system

Linking intervention research to theory: evaluation of a resource-based model of coping in an early adolescent population

Abstract not available

Predicting depressive syndromes from self-reports of coping styles

Abstract not available

Developing coping resources in early adolescence: a mediational analysis of program effects

Abstract not available

A practical guide to structural equation modelling using Amos

Abstract not available

Using structural equation models to examine the coping resources and coping behaviours of young Australian adolescents

Abstract not available

Relationships between adolescents self-reports of coping styles and depressive syndromes

Abstract not available