Eric Cooley

Disordered Eating in College Freshman Women: A Prospective Study

Abstract The authors assessed eating behaviors and attitudes of 225 college freshman women on the bulimia and restraint scales at the beginning of the year. Seven months later, they reassessed 104 of the original students. Concurrent data regression analyses found that symptoms of eating pathology were associated with figure dissatisfaction, ineffectiveness, public self-consciousness, and vigor on the Profile of Mood States, and for bulimia, self-efficacy to control eating when experiencing negative feelings, and reward conditions. Both bulimia and restraint were highly stable across the 7 months. Prospective analyses, controlling for the initial level of eating pathology in hierarchical regressions, found that figure dissatisfaction, ineffectiveness, and alcohol use/abuse over the past year were significant predictors of worsening symptoms. Beginning levels of bulimia and restraint were the best predictors of eating pathology at the end of the study. The roles that self-image and alcohol use may play as vulnerabilities for eating pathology are also considered.

Harassment as a Predictor of Job Burnout in Correctional Officers

The experiences and effects of harassment were examined in correctional officers (129 male and 60 female) from one state and three county medium-security facilities. Survey results indicate that women reported significantly more harassment (70%) than did men (44%) (p < .001), and women were less likely to depersonalize (p < .05). Separate multiple regressions were performed for each gender on burnout, organizational commitment, and perceived stress. Harassment significantly contributed to each regression for females, whereas harassment was significant only in the male regression for perceived stress. Although men and women did not differ on burnout or organizational commitment, harassment was a pervasive contributor to these measures for women. It appears that in correctional settings, harassment forms a background stressor differentially affecting women.

A longitudinal study of burnout

A one-year longitudinal study of burnout involving 46 helping professionals revealed that burnout levels were quite stable over one year (rs range from .33 to .67 with a mean of .45) and that about equal numbers of subjects increased burnout as decreased burnout. Several predictive factors (measured at the original testing) and several concurrent factors (measured at follow-up) were examined in comparing workers moving toward higher (n = 18) and lower (n = 15) burnout levels across the year. Predictive variables established that the higher burnout group experienced less social support in the work place from peers (p<.05) and from supervisors (p<.10). The higher burnout group also experienced the work setting as being more controlling (p<.05). Attributional style differences also proved to be a significant predictor of burnout with the higher group more prone to accept personal responsibility for the outcome of their clients and more likely to blame themselves when their clients did not improve (p<.05). Concurrent data failed to find any differences between higher and lower burnout groups in terms of life stressors outside the work setting. There was a difference in the perceived level of economic stress (loss of job security) created by economic recession, with the higher group reporting a higher level of such stress (p<.05).

Self-Concept, Attribution, and Persistence in Learning-Disabled Students.

Differences in self-concept, attributions, and teacher-rated persistence were examined in students with learning disabilities (n=49) and in nonhandicapped students (n=57). Discriminant analysis revealed that students with learning disabilities reported lower self-concepts on items related to academic achievement, and were rated by their teachers as less persistent than their normally achieving peers. Students with learning disabilities also reported more stable attributions for failure situations. These findings are consistent with a conceptualization of students with learning disabilities as inactive, or learned-helpless, learners.

Theoretical and research considerations of burnout

Abstract As in any new area of investigation, the study of the phenomenon of burnout contains much potential benefit, especially to workers in helping/service professions; and it contains sources of error which may delay or distort understandings that are sorely needed. This paper identifies and explains many pitfalls and sources of error in developing theory and research about burnout. After discussing the limitations of the current definitions of burnout, the authors explore the ramifications of the most well supported definition. Specific suggestions are made for further investigation, especially in the area of individual characteristics and their interaction with the burnout phenomenon. Finally, methodologies most likely to yield solid, usable information for practitioners are discussed.

Risk factors for maladaptive eating patterns in college women

As the empirical literature on maladaptive eating patterns has grown, the importance of longitudinal studies in establishing causal risk factors has become apparent. The current study reports longitudinal data gathered from the first 20 months of college for female students (n=117). Eating pathology was assessed using a composite measure from the Eating Disorders Inventory. Variables examined as potential risk factors included depression, reassurance seeking, perfectionism, impulsiveness, body dissatisfaction, and stressful events. Eating symptoms were quite stable across the 20-month interval (r=0.68). Although all of the potential risk variables showed significant correlations with eating symptoms, hierarchical regressions controlling for eating symptoms at Time 1 indicated that perfectionism, impulsiveness, and body dissatisfaction failed to uniquely add to the prediction of eating symptoms at Time 2. Depression, reassurance seeking and stressful events did add to this prediction. Failure to find support for variables in a longitudinal design may be due to the age of participants and relative stability of eating symptoms. Perfectionism, and body dissatisfaction may play a causal role in developing eating symptoms at earlier ages, but do not continue to influence the course of these symptoms in late adolescence. Negative affect (depression), needing reassurance in social relationships, and having to deal with stressful events seem to be risk factors for increased eating symptoms in late adolescence.

American Identity in Study Abroad Students: Contrasts, Changes, Correlates.

People who encounter a foreign culture face many challenges in the process of adjusting and adapting to it. For those who remain in contact with that culture over time, such as study abroad students, the adjustment demands may occur on many different levels. Ward and her colleagues (Ward, 2001; Ward, Bochner, & Furnham, 2001) postulate an ABC model of acculturation tapping the affective, behavioral, and cognitive levels. This article focuses on the cognitive level, particularly the students’ social identification as American. An important aspect of study abroad students’ social identification is rooted in how they define themselves with regard to their sense of belonging to and preference for the country from which they embark on their study abroad. National identity (in the case of this study, American identity) has implications both for student well-being and their potential ability to adjust to a foreign culture (Phinney & Ong, 2007). The place of American identity within the range of outcomes of or precursors to intercultural exposure has yet to be clarified. Employing a new measure of this concept, we contrast the level, configuration, and change of American identity in study abroad students compared to those students who remained at home to clarify how this specific form of social identification fits within the broader nomological net of concepts that impact both college student development and study abroad.

Weight fluctuation, bulimic symptoms, and self-efficacy for control of eating.

College students who reported recent weight fluctuations of 15 pounds represented 15% of the men (N = 161) and 22% of the women (N = 301) in the study. Comparisons were made with students whose weight had remained stable on 4 subscales of the Eating Disorders Inventory (Bulimia, Body Dissatisfaction, Drive for Thinness, and Interoceptive Awareness), on the Washington Self-Description Questionnaire, and on the Situational Appetite Measure. A MANOVA supported gender differences, with women showing greater levels of body dissatisfaction and concern for thinness. Students whose weight had fluctuated were differentiated from students whose weight had been stable, with weight fluctuations being most strongly related to greater body dissatisfaction and lower levels of self-efficacy for control of eating. Results support the use of a relapse model for weight fluctuation, emphasizing the potential importance of low self-efficacy as a moderator of repeated weight fluctuation.

Situational and trait determinants of competitive state anxiety.

53 participants in a weekend tennis tournament completed the Competitive Short Form of the State Anxiety Inventory and questions about the specific situation (e.g., their chance of winning, presence of an audience) immediately before playing a tournament match. Immediately after the match participants completed outcome measures (e.g., win/loss, the impact of tension upon their performance). Two trait anxiety measures were given in a follow-up. Competitive trait anxiety from the Sport Competition Anxiety Test was the best predictor of state anxiety. Perceived chance of winning was the only situational factor which was significantly related to state anxiety. Match outcome was also more closely related to competitive trait anxiety than to state anxiety or generalized trait anxiety. The trait-anxiety measure which focused upon competition was a more useful predictor of state anxiety than the generalized measure, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory.

Convergent and Discriminant Validity of the Mental Processing Scales of the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children.

Convergent and discriminant validity of the Mental Processing Scales of the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) were examined using 51 first-grade children. Convergent validity was assessed using the Reading Recognition and Comprehension subtests of the Peabody Individual Achievement Test. Discriminant validity was assessed using a measure of anxiety/self-esteem, the Child Anxiety Scale, and a measure of hyperactive behavior, the Hyperactivity scale of the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist. Results supported the convergent validity of the K-ABC; correlations with reading achievement were fairly large. The discriminant validity received only partial support. The K-ABC did not correlate with the Child Anxiety Scale, but did show rather large correlations with the measure of hyperactive behavior. Implications for understanding what the K-ABC Mental Processing Scales are measuring are discussed.