Disordered Eating, Agency, and Social Class: Elaine Mar’s Paper Daughter

This paper examines the relationship between disordered eating and class identity in Paper Daughter: the memoir of Elaine Mar, a Chinese-American woman who emigrated with her family from the Toishan region of mainland China in 1972 to a working-class neighborhood in Denver, Colorado. Mar explores the relationship between bodily “excess,” as sociologist Beverly Skeggs describes, and class identity in Paper Daughter. A close examination of Mar’s disordered eating shows readers how her ED stems from a class inferiority complex.[i] Gendered as female, and classed as inferior due to her immigrant status and working-class background, classifies Mar as the “other.” Mar utilizes her ED because she believes it will shed off her “excess” of Skeggs’s “disgust”; that is, her low-class upbringing. In other words, disordered eating is a way for Mar to achieve the American dream: the upper-class American woman. This upper-class woman wears idolized brand-name lines that symbolize the American ideal (e.g. Izod shirts) but more importantly, this woman is afforded the opportunity to ponder and explore the world of American dieting

A Yoga Intervention for Young Children: Self-Regulation and Emotion Regulation

Yoga-based interventions have been implemented in schools and demonstrated promising results on students' self-regulation outcomes. Nevertheless, there is limited literature on the effects that yoga may have for children in the early primary grades, despite the evidence demonstrating that this is an opportune period in development for early self-regulation. Few studies have focused on young children living in the context of economic difficulty, which can hinder children's development of self-regulatory skills and educational trajectories. The effects of an eight-week yoga intervention on economically disadvantaged pre-kindergarten and kindergarten children's self-regulation and emotion regulation were examined via a paired within-subjects comparison study. Nine classrooms were assigned to the yoga intervention (Treatment First, TxFirst; n = 90) or a wait-list control group (Treatment Second, TxSecond; n = 64). All children were assessed at pre-intervention (Time 1), post-intervention assessment for TxFirst (Time 2), and post-intervention assessment for TxSecond (Time 3). Children demonstrated significant predicted gains on a behavioral task of self-regulation and declines in teacher-rated submissive venting and total behavior problems. Implications for future research are discussed, with a focus on including follow-up assessments and multiple dimensions of fidelity of implementation

Effects of Yoga on Attention, Impulsivity, and Hyperactivity in Preschool-Aged Children with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms.

ObjectiveBehavioral therapies are first-line for preschoolers with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Studies support yoga for school-aged children with ADHD; this study evaluated yoga in preschoolers on parent- and teacher-rated attention/challenging behaviors, attentional control (Kinder Test of Attentional Performance [KiTAP]), and heart rate variability (HRV).MethodsThis randomized waitlist-controlled trial tested a 6-week yoga intervention in preschoolers with ≥4 ADHD symptoms on the ADHD Rating Scale-IV Preschool Version. Group 1 (n = 12) practiced yoga first; Group 2 (n = 11) practiced yoga second. We collected data at 4 time points: baseline, T1 (6 weeks), T2 (12 weeks), and follow-up (3 months after T2).ResultsAt baseline, there were no significant differences between groups. At T1, Group 1 had faster reaction times on the KiTAP go/no-go task (p = 0.01, 95% confidence interval [CI], -371.1 to -59.1, d = -1.7), fewer distractibility errors of omission (p = 0.009, 95% CI, -14.2 to -2.3, d = -1.5), and more commission errors (p = 0.02, 95% CI, 1.4-14.8, d = 1.3) than Group 2. Children in Group 1 with more severe symptoms at baseline showed improvement at T1 versus control on parent-rated Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire hyperactivity inattention (β = -2.1, p = 0.04, 95% CI, -4.0 to -0.1) and inattention on the ADHD Rating Scale (β = -4.4, p = 0.02, 95% CI, -7.9 to -0.9). HRV measures did not differ between groups.ConclusionYoga was associated with modest improvements on an objective measure of attention (KiTAP) and selective improvements on parent ratings