Judith Rodin

The Effects of Choice and Enhanced Personal Responsibility for the Aged: A Field Experiment in an Institutional Setting

A field experiment was conducted to assess the effects of enhanced personal responsibility and choice on a group of nursing home residents. It was expected that the debilitated condition of many of the aged residing in institutional settings is, at least in part, a result of living in a virtually decision-free environment and consequently is potentially reversible. Residents who were in the experimental group were given a communication emphasizing their responsibility for themselves, whereas the communication given to a second group stressed the staffs responsibility for them. In addition, to bolster the communication, the former group was given the freedom to make choices and the responsibility of caring for a plant rather than having decisions made and the plant taken care of for them by the staff, as was the case for the latter group. Questionnaire ratings and behavioral measures showed a significant improvement for the experimental group over the comparison group on alertness, active participation, and a general sense of well-being.

Behavioral and psychological implications of body dissatisfaction: Do men and women differ?

The relationships of body satisfaction, self-esteem, dieting, and exercise were studied in 92 men and women. Men and women did not differ in degree of body dissatisfaction as assessed by three different measures. However, on the direction of body dissatisfaction, men were as likely to want to be heavier as thinner, whereas virtually no women wished to be heavier. Although overall body esteem was correlated with self-esteem for both men and women, measures of weight dissatisfaction were not associated with self-esteem for women. The normative nature of weight dissatisfaction for women today may serve to buffer its effects on self-esteem. Women reported exercising for weight control more than men, and exercising for weight control was associated with disregulated eating.

Some antecedents and consequences of social-comparison jealousy.

80 undergraduates were randomly assigned to 1 of 8 experimental conditions in which they received either positive or negative feedback on a bogus personality test that was either self-definitionally relevant or irrelevant, followed by feedback of successful performance by another person in a domain

A prospective study of disordered eating among college students

The prevalence of disordered eating among college students was assessed at the beginning and the end of the freshman year. The study aimed to identify factors related to worsening of disordered eating during the year. Questionnaires were completed by 590 males and 450 females at baseline and 546 males and 403 females at follow-up. At baseline, the prevalence of bulimia nervosa was 3.8% for females and 0.2% for males. The prevalence of disordered eating symptoms was considerably higher. The prevalence of bulimia nervosa at follow-up was virtually unchanged. However, many students experienced an onset of disordered eating during the year. Analyses of changes during the year revealed that worsening of disordered eating among females was associated with increasingly dysphoric feelings about weight, decreased ratings of their attractiveness, high perceived stress, increased weight dissatisfaction, and increased ineffectiveness.

Teasing, body image, and self-esteem in a clinical sample of obese women☆

This study examined the relationship of physical-appearance-related teasing history to body image and self-esteem in a clinical sample of adult obese females. The frequency of being teased about weight and size while growing up was negatively correlated with evaluation of ones appearance and positively correlated with body dissatisfaction during adulthood. Self-esteem was unrelated to teasing history but covaried significantly with body image measures. Subjects with early-onset obesity reported greater body dissatisfaction than did subjects with adult-onset obesity. The findings suggest that being teased about weight/size while growing up may represent a risk factor for the development of negative body image and that self-esteem and body image covary.

Physical fitness and enhanced psychological health

A great deal of attention has been given to the association between physical fitness and psychological health. The purpose of this view is to examine recent developments in the burgeoning exercise and psychological health literature and to explore avenues for future research. The current review focuses on research that has examined enhancement of psychological health and well-being among nonclinical populations since 1980. Four areas of psychological functioning are reviewed: (1) psychological well-being and mood, (2) personality and self-concept, (3) physiological stress responsivity and (4) cognition. Exercise appears to improve mood and psychological well-being as well as enhancing self-concept and self-esteem. Exercise appears to do little for personality functioning. Furthermore, mixed empirical support exists to suggest that exercise influences stress responsivity and cognitive functioning. However better research designs and procedures are still needed. Theories regarding the connection between exercise and psychological functioning as well as suggestions for future research are offered.

Effect of chronic stress and exogenous glucocorticoids on regional fat distribution and metabolism.

It has been proposed that increased glucocorticoid hormones and decreased sex hormones affect regional fat metabolism and distribution. In the present work, it was hypothesized that chronic, uncontrollable stress, known to affect the pituitary-adrenal and pituitary-gonadal axes might, therefore, lead to differences in regional fat accumulation. In comparison with controls, male Sprague-Dawley rats stressed for 28 days, had significantly larger adipocytes. In addition, a tendency for a heavier fat pad and an increased lipoprotein lipase activity in the mesenteric depot was suggested. No significant changes were seen in epididymal, retroperitoneal, and inguinal regions. In order to study if the effects observed could be attributed to increased glucocorticoids, the response to a direct administration of supraphysiological doses of corticosterone, given either in the drinking water or via subcutaneous implantation of corticosterone pellets, was studied. Increased fat accumulation was shown in all fat depots in a dose-response fashion, but was significantly more pronounced in the mesenteric region. It was concluded that mesenteric fat tissue may respond to stress in a different manner from other fat depots. Glucocorticoids seem to be partly, but not solely, responsible for the changes observed in adipose tissue metabolism and distribution following exposure to uncontrollable stress.

Women's health: Review and research agenda as we approach the 21st century.

This article reviews past research and projects future research directions regarding womens health. Sex differences in mortality and morbidity, along with evidence that the quality and quantity of these differences are changing, are examined. Over the past decade, concurrent with dramatic changes in lifestyle and social roles for women, mortality rates have shifted, resulting in a decreasing advantage for women. Explaining the consequences of these dynamic changes requires understanding the health effects of such variables as perceived control, the experience of life roles, perceived and actual social support, and redefinition of gender roles. The future portends additional changes that will significantly affect womens health. In establishing an explicit psychological research agenda on womens health, (a) general recommendations for research are provided and (b) important issues that have not yet received a great deal of research attention (e.g., women and AIDS, psychopharmacology, reproductive technologies) are highlighted. This article expands the current discourse in health psychology and raises a number of issues for serious consideration.

Women and AIDS in the United States: epidemiology, natural history, and mediating mechanisms.

The number and proportion of women with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)1 and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) have increased rapidly throughout the past decade. Despite these increases, research attention on women with AIDS has been relatively scarce until recently. It is likely that there are important sex differences at all phases of the disease process-from prevention, through viral exposure, diagnosis, and living with HIV, to treatment for AIDS. Therefore, research findings from studies of men may not all be extended reliably to women with HIV and AIDS. In this article, we review the literature on U.S. women in particular and discuss what differentiates these women from their male counterparts with the disease. We begin with an epidemiologic review and description of the natural history of the disease to lay the foundation for a more complete understanding of the biological and psychosocial factors relevant to AIDS in women. The association between psychosocial mechanisms--including stress, control, and social support--and immune-mediated disease outcomes is discussed in detail. Implications for research, prevention, and treatment also are considered.

Eating disorder symptoms in a cohort of 11 to 16‐year‐old black and white girls: The NHLBI growth and health study

OBJECTIVE This study sought to provide reference data for the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) with use of young adolescent black and white girls. Moreover, the study examined the relationship between race, age, socioeconomic status, and adiposity and each of the eight EDI scales. METHOD To achieve these aims, data were used that had been collected in Years 3, 5, and 7 as part of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Growth and Health Study, a longitudinal cohort study of risk factors for obesity in black and white girls. For the present report, data were available from 2,228 girls in Year 3, 2,056 girls in Year 5, and 1,902 girls in Year 7. RESULTS EDI scores were found to vary by race, age, socioeonomic status, and body weight of respondents. Black girls scored different from white girls on all EDI subscales. Scores on all but two subscales (Body Dissatisfaction, Drive for Thinness) decreased significantly with increasing age. Significant inverse associations were found between maximum parental education and all EDI subscales except Body Dissatisfaction and Perfectionism. Elevated body weight was associated significantly with Body Dissatisfaction, Drive for Thinness, Bulimia, Interoceptive Awareness, and Ineffectiveness. DISCUSSION Our results illustrate the importance of taking into consideration the potentially confounding role of demographic characteristics and body weight when comparing different race or ethnic groups on the EDI.