Fear of Being Laughed at in Children and Adolescents: Exploring the Importance of Overweight, Underweight, and Teasing

Weight bias toward obese youths is often accompanied by the experience of psychological stress in those affected. Therefore, the fear of being laughed at (i.e., gelotophobia) in overweight children and adolescents can be rather serious. In four explorative studies, the importance of relative weight, self-awareness of weight (incl. satisfaction with weight), experiences of teasing and ridicule, as well as the role of social-evaluative situations in school were analyzed with regard to gelotophobia. In two online interviews of adults with pronounced gelotophobia (Study I: 102 English-speaking participants, Study II: 22 German-speaking participants) relating to reasons they assumed for their development of gelotophobia, there was evidence of injurious appearance-related experiences during childhood and adolescence. In Study III (75 Swiss adolescents) associations between the experience of weight-related teasing and mockery with overweight, self-perceptions of weight, and gelotophobia were analyzed. Especially in girls, overweight was associated with the experience of weight-related teasing and ridicule, which in turn was accompanied by gelotophobia. Study IV included 178 German adolescents who were asked to report their body image (“Do you think you are… too thin, just the right weight, or too fat?”). In addition, gelotophobia, teasing, BMI based on self-reports, and joy at school were measured. In particular, girls who felt too fat and boys who felt too thin reported teasing. Teasing was related to diminished joy at school and to gelotophobia. Among boys, underweight mediated by weight-related teasing contributed to gelotophobia. The results suggest that more research should be devoted to gelotophobia and the experience of weight-related teasing and mocking to better understand factors contributing to the well-being of children and adolescents with weight problems

Gender Differences in Coping Strategies in Children and Adolescents

Eschenbeck H, Kohlmann C-W, Lohaus A. Gender Differences in Coping Strategies in Children and Adolescents. Journal of Individual Differences. 2007;28(1):18-26.The present study focuses on gender effects and interactions between gender, type of stressful situation, and age-group in coping strategies in childhood and adolescence. The sample consisted of N = 1990 children and adolescents (957 boys, 1033 girls; grade levels 3-8). Participants responded to a coping questionnaire (Fragebogen zur Erhebung von Stress und Stressbewältigung im Kindes- und Jugendalter, SSKJ 3-8; Lohaus, Eschenbeck, Kohlmann, & Klein-Heßling, 2006) with the five subscales: seeking social support, problem solving, avoidant coping, palliative emotion regulation, and anger-related emotion regulation. Repeated measures ANOVAs with Gender and Grade Level as the between-subject factors and Situation (social, academic) as the within-subject factor were performed separately for each of the subscales. In general, girls scored higher in seeking social support and problem solving, whereas boys scored higher in avoidant coping. These three main effects were further modified by significant Gender × Situation interactions and for both seeking social support and avoidant coping by significant Gender × Situation × Grade Level interactions. Compared to the academic situation (homework), gender differences were more pronounced for the social situation (argument with a friend), especially in adolescence. The results are discussed with respect to a gender-specific development of coping strategies

Gesundheitspsychologie

Lohaus A, Jerusalem M, Kohlmann C-W. Gesundheitspsychologie. In: Schorr A, ed. Psychologie als Profession. Das Handbuch. 1st ed. Bern: Huber; 2003: 252-262

Relationships between time of day, day of the week, and positive mood : exploring the role of the mood measure

This study examined the relationship between time of day, day of the week, and two measures of positive affect (PA). According to previous research and the circumplex model of affect, one scale was designed to assess the activation component of PA, the other one measured the pleasantness aspect. Subjects rated their mood three times a day for seven consecutive days. Consistent with our hypotheses, PA-Pleasantness showed a peak on the weekend, whereas PA-Activation remained stable throughout the week. Regarding time of day, maximum PA-Activation was reached in the afternoon. In contrast, the Pleasantness component of PA increased from morning to evening. Implications of these results as well as other findings concerning the differential content of "PA" measures are discussed regarding the fact that a certain scale is most appropriate and maximally valid for representing certain aspects of affective experience

Untersuchungen mit einer deutschen Version der "Positive and Negative Affect Schedule" (PANAS)

Eine deutsche Adaptation der "Positive and Negative Affect Schedule" (PANAS) wird vorgestellt, die faktorielle Struktur analysiert, die Reliabilität geprüft und ihre externen Assoziationen beschrieben. Es konnte sowohl für die Version "aktueller Affekt" (N = 349; Instruktion: "wie fühlen Sie sich im Moment") als auch für die habituelle Affektivität (N = 480; Instruktion: "...im allgemeinen") eine eindeutige Zweifaktorenlösung mit den Komponenten "Positive Affektivität" (PA) und "Negative Affektivität" (NA) gesichert werden. Im Rahmen der differentiellen internen Validierung konnte mit Hilfe von vier weiteren Zeitinstruktionen ("wie fühlten Sie sich heute - in den letzten Tagen - in den letzten Wochen - im letzten Jahr") gezeigt werden, daß mit zunehmendem Zeitintervall der Einfluß des aktuellen Affekts auf den Affektbericht ab- und der des habituellen zunimmt. Habituelle PA und NA weisen weiterhin differentielle Assoziationen mit globalen Persönlichkeitsmerkmalen und Variablen aus den Bereichen Ängstlichkeit, Symptom- und Emotionsberichten sowie Streßbewältigung auf

The assessment of coping with the "Questionnaire for the Measurement Stress and Coping in Children and Adolescents (SSKJ 3-8)": Factord and psychometric analyses

Eschenbeck H, Kohlmann C-W, Lohaus A, Klein-Heßling J. Die Diagnostik von Stressbewältigung mit dem “Fragebogen zur Erhebung von Stress und Stressbewältigung im Kindes- und Jugendalter“ (SSKJ 3-8). Diagnostica. 2006;52(3):131-142.This article reports on the factor structure and the pyschometric properties of a revised questionnaire (SSKJ 3-8) for the measurement of coping in children and adolescents. Coping was assessed with the subscales seeking social support, problem solving, avoidant coping, palliative emotion regulation, and anger related emotion regulation. The results were based on studies with a total of 1,991 pupils attending class levels 3 to 8. The reliabilities (Cronbach's Alpha, retest) of all five subscales were sufficiently good. The postulsted 5-factor structure could be found in exploratory factor analyses and confirmatory factor analyses, respectively. Convergent and discriminant associations with coping, personality variables, and quality life variables indicated the validity of the SSKJ 3-8

Jugend

Lohaus A. Jugend. In: Kohlmann C-W, Salewski C, Wirtz MA, eds. Psychologie in der Gesundheitsförderung. Göttingen: Hogrefe; 2018: 493-506