Effects of Decentering and Non-judgement on Body Dissatisfaction and Negative Affect Among Young Adult Women

This dataset provides cross-sectional, quantitative data from 330 female participants aged 18–35 years with respect to demographics (age, gender, ethnicity, BMI, experience with mindfulness, meditation, or contemplative prayer); self-reported trait mindfulness, weight and shape concerns, and difficulties in emotion regulation; and self-reported state body dissatisfaction (weight dissatisfaction, shape dissatisfaction, appearance dissatisfaction) and negative affect at 3 timepoints (baseline, post-media exposure, and final [after engaging in a strategy focused on decentering, non-judgement, or rest]). It also includes qualitative data files that specify participants' self-reported thoughts and behaviour during the strategy, how participants responded to any negative thoughts and feelings, how participants might use the strategy in everyday life, and any further comments about taking part in the study. One qualitative file contains the raw data only, and the other includes our codes and rationale for rating each participant with respect to their degree of adherence to the strategy instructions.This dataset was created through online data collection using Qualtrics. Demographics and trait/state variables were assessed using validated self-report measures and visual analogue scales.Microsoft Word and SPSS Statistics software is required to view the data

Sporting women and social media: sexualization, misogyny and gender based violence in online spaces.

This study investigated gender based violence targeted at high profile women in virtual environments through presenting the case of women’s tennis. Using a netnographic approach and third wave feminist lens, an analysis of two popular social media platforms (Facebook and Twitter) was conducted to examine the social commentary and fan interaction surrounding the top five seeded female tennis players during the Wimbledon Tennis Championships. Athletes were exposed to violent interactions in a number of ways. Four themes were identified through analysis of data: threats of physical violence; sexualisation that focussed on the female physical appearance; sexualisation that expressed desire and/or proposed physical or sexual contact; and sexualisation that was vile, explicit and threateningly violent in a sexual or misogynistic manner. Findings demonstrate how social media provides a space for unregulated gender-based cyberhate targeting high profile women while in their workplace in a way that traditional sports media does not

Virtual technologies as tools of maltreatment: safeguarding in digital spaces

Digital technologies have become an essential component in the navigation of everyday tasks and activities. In the midst of a technological zeitgeist, our ‘real’ lives have become intimately entangled with new media and ‘virtual’ environments. Virtual platforms and technologies have proven to be valuable to athletes, coaches and fans, but with increased connection comes the potential for misuse and abuse within these spaces. The chapter demonstrates how virtual settings can create potentially perilous spaces which can easily lead to the abuse of athletes and other key stakeholders in sport. This is particularly due to the largely unregulated nature of these spaces which allow for varied forms of maltreatment to take place. The chapter considers some of the dangers of negative behaviours within online environments and reinforces the importance of safeguarding individuals in such spaces

Reading women: models of behaviour and womanhood in the Auchinleck manuscript

That the Auchinleck manuscript is a book that was accessed by fourteenth century female readers has been posited, but not thoroughly explored in recent scholarship. Through a significant amount of work, literary historians have established that texts written for female readers in fourteenth century England focus on the morality of women, often taking on an exemplary role designed to shape and improve female behaviour. These historians have also revealed that female readers and listeners were a significant driving force in the development of Middle English as a literary language. The result of this research has deepened our understanding of what women’s books looked like, and thus can be used to establish the likelihood of a female reader for medieval manuscripts whose intended audience is uncertain. Using the codicological work of previous Auchinleck critics as a start point, this thesis affirms that the manuscript was a woman’s book by demonstrating that it fits stylistic models common in late medieval English books that were written for a female reader. It will then add to this discussion by undertaking a feminist historicist reading of a select group of Auchinleck texts, revealing that the manuscript provides a variety of detailed models of female behaviour, which would both entertain and educate a hypothetical female reader or listener. The first chapter of analysis examines texts which engage with rape and/or abduction as a major plot point. It examines the legal history of raptus law in order to establish the understanding of sexual assault held by the medieval audience. The chapter also provides an examination of the language of rape in non-legal sources, highlighting the difficulties of establishing what a literary rape is. Using this context, the chapter examines three texts (The Legend of Pope Gregory, Sir Degaré and Floris and Blancheflour) and reveals that there is a consistent lack of sympathy with the victims of rape, coupled with praise for the one woman who escapes it. Rape is used as a punishment for behaviour that deviates from the social norm. Reading these texts as a group develops a nuanced understanding of the role of female consent in protecting social norms, and this provides a model of behaviour for female readers. ‘Good Wives and Dangerous Distractions’, the second chapter of analysis, examines texts which offer models of wifehood within booklets one and three of the manuscript. It examines the legal nature of female consent in fourteenth century English marriage law, as well as providing a survey of the literary sources which informed opinion about wives at this particular time. Using this research as context, it examines three texts (The King of Tars, The Life of Adam and Eve and The Seven Sages of Rome) to reveal three distinct models of wifely behaviour: the obedient, the disobedient, and the evil. This chapter focuses predominantly on the disobedient and/or evil wife, as there are comparatively few examples of the obedient wife as a result of the influence of literary sources which predate the manuscript. This chapter also demonstrates how, with particular reference to The Seven Sages of Rome, the case for reading each text in manuscript context is made through the layering of models of behaviour, which allows all three texts to create significant and complex examples of how women should behave within marriage. The final chapter of analysis, ‘Secularised Saints and Stripping Virgins’, discusses the models of behaviour depicted by Saint Margaret, Saint Katherine and the Virgin Mary. It discusses four texts, the lives of both virgin saints, The Clerk Who Would See the Virgin and The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin. Beginning with a discussion of the popularity of religious and devotional literature amongst female readers and listeners in fourteenth century England, this chapter considers how the small changes in the Auchinleck redactions of both Margaret and Katherine’s lives adjusts textual meaning to emphasise the required balance between the power faith grants women and the need to be subservient to patriarchal systems. It also discusses the important role of motherhood through Seynt Mergrete and the two Virgin Mary tales, which praise Mary for her unique status as both virgin and mother. After a final discussion on the dangers of the male gaze, expanded from that which is observed in ‘Rape Instigators and Abduction Victims’, the chapter concludes with a discussion of the necessity of including these religious texts in order to provide positive models of behaviour for the female reader. In conclusion, this thesis presents two seemingly disparate Auchinleck booklets as a microcosm of the entire manuscript. It demonstrates that the separate narratives included in each booklet are intertwined, and that interpreting the meaning and purpose of each text is dependent on the models and anti-models surrounding each text. A full picture of how each text could have spoken to the female reader cannot be grasped without examining the manuscript context of each individual piece. Finally, the thesis suggests that the hypothetical reader or listener of the Auchinleck manuscript was not likely to be the merchant suggested by Ralph Hanna, but rather the daughter(s) he wished to educate

Virtual Maltreatment: Sexualisation and Social Media Abuse in Sport.

Virtual maltreatment is a rapidly emerging and highly significant issue within contemporary sport. This study examines such behaviour by exploring the negative social media attention that tennis player Maria Sharapova received during the 2015 Wimbledon tennis championships. Using a netnographic approach, an analysis of two popular social media platforms (Facebook and Twitter) was conducted to examine the social commentary surrounding this athlete during the event. Three primary themes emerged from the analysis of data on these platforms: ‘admiration of her physical beauty and/or sexualisation’; ‘threatening physical and/or sexual contact’ and ‘emotionally ridiculing and/or criticising’. These findings demonstrate how social media provides a space for unregulated physical and sexual abuse of female athletes in a way that traditional sports media does not. Virtual abuse and maltreatment is identified as a significant social problem which requires further consideration in academic literature

The role of emotion regulation in the relationship between mindfulness and risk factors for disordered eating: A longitudinal mediation analysis

Objective: Evidence suggests mindfulness may reduce risk factors for disordered eating. However, mechanisms of change in this relationship are unclear. This longitudinal study tested whether emotion regulation mediates the prospective associations between mindfulness and two proximal risk factors for disordered eating: weight and shape concerns, and negative affect. Method: This study is a secondary analysis of data collected within an eating disorder prevention trial. Adolescent girls (N = 374, M age = 15.70, SD = 0.77) completed self-report measures of mindfulness, emotion regulation, weight and shape concerns, and negative affect at baseline, 2 months following baseline, and 7 months following baseline. Path analyses were computed to test hypothesized indirect effects using confidence intervals based on 5000 bootstrap samples. Results: Higher baseline mindfulness predicted lower weight and shape concerns and negative affect at 7 months via a mediator of better emotion regulation at 2 months. This effect remained while controlling for earlier measurements of the mediator and outcome in the model of negative affect but not weight and shape concerns. Discussion: Emotion regulation may be an important mechanism explaining how mindfulness influences negative affect. Efforts should be made to intervene on mindfulness and emotion regulation in prevention and early intervention programmes for eating disorders and other psychiatric conditions. Public Significance: Research has shown that mindfulness can help to reduce some of the risk of developing an eating disorder. This study explored whether mindfulness reduces some of this risk by helping people to better manage their emotions. Understanding this process can help us to develop better mindfulness-based strategies to support people who are at risk of developing an eating disorder.</p

Field-Testing and Refinement of the Organisational Health Literacy Responsiveness Self-Assessment (Org-HLR) Tool and Process

Health literacy refers to the skills and knowledge that influence a person&rsquo;s ability to access, understand and use information to make health-related decisions, which are influenced by the complexity of their health needs and the demands health services place on them. The aim of this study was to field-test the Organisational Health Literacy Responsiveness (Org-HLR) tool and process to determine their utility in assessing health literacy responsiveness and for supporting organisations to plan health literacy-related improvement activities. Four organisations in Victoria, Australia, field-tested the Org-HLR tool. Data were collected through direct observation, participant feedback, and focus groups. Forty-three individuals participated in field-testing activities, and 20 took part in focus group meetings. Themes relating to the applicability and utility of the Org-HLR self-assessment tool and process were identified. Field-testing resulted in a number of refinements to the tool and process. Twenty-eight indicators were removed, 29 were rephrased to improve their clarity, and four new indicators were added. The revised Org-HLR self-assessment tool contains six dimensions, 22 sub-dimensions and 110 performance indicators. The Org-HLR tool and process were perceived as useful for assessing health literacy responsiveness, prioritising improvement activities, and establishing a benchmark for monitoring and evaluation of improvements over time. Testing generated an improved Org-HLR tool and assessment process that are likely to have utility across a broad range of health and social service sector organisations

Social Media, Digital Technology and Athlete Abuse.

Purpose: The purpose of this chapter is to examine the presence of abuse enacted through virtual mediums with a specific focus on how athletes can become the targets of online hate. The chapter introduces social media and explores the role it has played in the increasing reliance on virtual worlds. The impact of digital technology on sport in particular is framed in order to demonstrate how digital technologies are now a vital component in our consumption of sport. The primary focus of the chapter is on how virtual spaces can pose significant risk(s). Freedom of speech, shifting power and the lack of safety and regulation in virtual spaces are all presented. Finally, recommendations are made for future research in the area in order to develop understanding of abuse augmented by virtual environments and to develop the focus on virtual safeguarding in sport and beyond. Design/methodology/approach: This chapter synthesises and discusses existing literature from the disciplines of sport, social media and abuse, with a view to understand and address prominent issues encountered by athletes in the virtual world. Findings: By examining abuse through a sociological lens, this chapter focusses on the factors that promote or enable abuse to occur online (often without regulation). The types of abuse experienced in virtual spaces are legion and this adds to the complexity of policing and/or safeguarding online environments. Research limitations/implications: The chapter makes recommendations for a number of future areas of study that will extend the current understanding of abuse in virtual environments. Originality/value: The chapter provides a synthesis of the emerging area of virtual abuse and its links to sociology as a discipline. It offers insight into power in virtual spaces as a critical frame of reference for understanding virtual interactions and parasocial relationships

Freedom for Expression or a Space of Oppression? Social Media and the Female @thlete

Social media provides a space for female athletes to create their own media (and advertising) in order to share their lives through stories presented online - a phenomenon, that to date has been ignored in traditional media spaces. Research suggests that athletes more broadly can take a more active role in their public presentation across a wide variety of platforms (Lebel and Danylchuk, 2012) and share more aspects of their identity than typically portrayed in mainstream media coverage (Sanderson, 2013, 2014). More specifically, virtual worlds have created platforms through which female athletes can share content and present themselves to fans or followers of sport in their own way and with relative freedom (Litchfield and Kavanagh, 2018). While it is acknowledged that social media can empower the female user, simultaneously, these spaces have proven to be hostile and can serve to oppress or marginalise individuals and groups (Kavanagh et al., 2016; Litchfield et al., 2018). An intersectional, third-wave feminist lens will be adopted in this chapter in order to examine such a dichotomy (Bruce, 2016). This approach will analyse the disjunction between the rise of the female '@thlete’ and their adoption of contemporary digital sporting spaces and the presence of a darker narrative permeating digital environments through highlighting the presence of online vitriol and intersectional abuse (racist, sexist, homophobic, etc.) that athletes may face while navigating lives online