Fear of negative appearance evaluation: Development and evaluation of a new construct for risk factor work in the field of eating disorders

Abstract The psychometric properties and correlates of a measure designed to assess fear of negative appearance evaluation are presented. In Study 1, 165 college females completed the Fear of Negative Appearance Evaluation Scale [FNAES; Thomas, C.M., Keery, H., Williams, R., & Thompson, J. K. (1998, November). The Fear of Negative Appearance Evaluation Scale: Development and preliminary validation. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy, Washington, DC] along with measures of body image, eating disturbance, and depression. Results replicated previous analyses indicating the presence of a single factor, good internal consistency, and significant association with measures of body image and eating disturbance. Additionally, the FNAES accounted for unique variance beyond that explained by general fear of negative evaluation, and other measures of body image and eating disturbance, in the prediction of body shape dysphoria, dietary restraint, and trait anxiety. Study 2 further examined the validity of the FNAES, finding it to correlate significantly with measures of social physique anxiety, body image, eating attitude, and mood. The FNAES did not significantly correlate with body mass index (BMI). Regression analyses found the FNAES to predict levels of body image, eating attitude, and mood beyond variance explained by social physique anxiety. The FNAES appears to measure a conceptually unique aspect of body image that has not been indexed by previous measures and may serve a useful role in risk factor and preventive work.

LPMLE3 : a novel 1-D approach to study water flow in streambeds using heat as a tracer

We introduce LPMLE3, a new 1-D approach to quantify vertical water flow components at streambeds using temperature data collected in different depths. LPMLE3 solves the partial differential equation for coupled water flow and heat transport in the frequency domain. Unlike other 1-D approaches it does not assume a semi-infinite halfspace with the location of the lower boundary condition approaching infinity. Instead, it uses local upper and lower boundary conditions. As such, the streambed can be divided into finite subdomains bound at the top and bottom by a temperature-time series. Information from a third temperature sensor within each subdomain is then used for parameter estimation. LPMLE3 applies a low order local polynomial to separate periodic and transient parts (including the noise contributions) of a temperature-time series and calculates the frequency response of each subdomain to a known temperature input at the streambed top. A maximum-likelihood estimator is used to estimate the vertical component of water flow, thermal diffusivity, and their uncertainties for each streambed subdomain and provides information regarding model quality. We tested the method on synthetic temperature data generated with the numerical model STRIVE and demonstrate how the vertical flow component can be quantified for field data collected in a Belgian stream. We show that by using the results in additional analyses, nonvertical flow components could be identified and by making certain assumptions they could be quantified for each subdomain. LPMLE3 performed well on both simulated and field data and can be considered a valuable addition to the existing 1-D methods

Adolescents' experience of comments about their weight – prevalence, accuracy and effects on weight misperception

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Weight comments are commonly received by adolescents, but the accuracy of the comments and their effects on weight misperception are unclear. We assessed the prevalence and accuracy of weight comments received by Chinese adolescents from different sources and their relation to weight misperception.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In the Hong Kong Student Obesity Surveillance (HKSOS) project 2006–07, 22612 students aged 11–18 (41.5% boys) completed a questionnaire on obesity. Students responded if family members, peers and professionals had seriously commented over the past 30 days that they were "too fat" or "too thin" in two separate questions. The accuracy of the comments was judged against the actual weight status derived from self-reported height and weight. Self-perceived weight status was also reported and any discordance with the actual weight status denoted weight misperception. Logistic regression yielded adjusted odd ratios for weight misperception by the type of weight comments received.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>One in three students received weight comments, and the mother was the most common source of weight comments. Health professional was the most accurate source of weight comments, yet less than half the comments were correct. Adolescents receiving incorrect comments had increased risk of having weight misperception in all weight status groups. Receiving conflicting comments was positively associated with weight misperception among normal weight adolescents. In contrast, underweight and overweight/obese adolescents receiving correct weight comments were less likely to have weight misperception.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Weight comments, mostly incorrect, were commonly received by Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong, and such incorrect comments were associated with weight misperception.</p