Factors Associated With Binge Eating Among Chinese University Students in Hong Kong.

Binge eating (BE), defined as uncontrolled overconsumption of food, is associated with poorer health status. We aimed to characterize the factors associated with BE among Chinese college students. University students from two universities in Hong Kong (n = 267) completed an anonymous online questionnaire that contained background questions, the Binge Eating Disorder Screener-7, Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21), and Adolescent Lifestyle Questionnaire (ALQ) between June and August 2022. Multiple logistic regression and two-sample independent t-test were conducted to test the association of study variables with BE. In this university sample, 36.8% of males and 21.4% of females were classified as engaging in BE in the last three months. BE was statistically significantly associated with higher body mass index (BMI), more depressive symptoms, and lower ALQ nutrition scores among males and lower BMI, more depressive, anxiety, and stress symptoms among females. BE was significantly associated with various factors in both male and female university students in Hong Kong; thereby, university health promotion programs should include the management of BE. BE should be a prominent focus of health promotion interventions in conjunction with mental health promotion in the region.

Ego atrophy in substance abuse: addiction from a socio-cultural perspective.

The use of intoxicants is indexed in American history adopting a social perspective of the role of alcoholism in traditional American society. Appealing to societal patterns, the elaboration of substance abuse as a disease is explored with a diagnostic focus on intervention as it relates to pathogenesis. Using clinical vignettes, the ego is proposed as the focus of pathology in the addiction process, featuring a regression to the defenses of projection and denial. Following the model proposed in Zinberg's seminal paper on addiction and ego function, various deficits are annotated that typify such regression. The ultimate clinical picture is one of ego atrophy, where basic interests and object relations are usurped by the all-consuming preoccupation with the substance of abuse.

Self-effacing wit as a response to oppression: dynamics in ethnic humor.

Theories of self-effacing ethnic humor are analyzed from the perspectives of psychological defense and acculturation. These processes are contrasted with masochism as explanations of self-directed wit. Developmental paradigms are appealed to in conceptualizing the sociocultural function of humor. Identification with the aggressor is conceptualized as a transitional mechanism to assimilate the minority into the host culture. Turning against the self is developed as an alternate mechanism that uses humor as a means of self-empowerment. Reframing and splitting are posited as integral to the defensive process of ethnic humor. The method of luring the aggressor into a situation that is then used against him is construed as the kamikaze maneuver and conceptualized as an ambush technique in which the role of self-effacement facilitates aggression. The analytic elements of these approaches are explored with reference to Jewish humor as a stereotype of the wit of a transient and oppressed people, and annotated examples are offered from published anthologies. Illustrative vignettes, ranging from the mundane to the clinical, are annotated in the discussion. Directions for further inquiry are outlined for issues unresolved in the research literature.

Ego Function Assessment of substance abusers: standardization and reliability.

This study examined the reliability of Ego Function Assessment in a self-report inventory which yields 12 function measures. 89 substance abusers in an urban treatment facility completed the inventory; 81 completed the inventory again after 2 wk. Test protocols of the first administration were assessed for interitem consistency utilizing a hierarchical algorithm which revised scales to yield optimal alphas. Retest scores were used to evaluate the stability of the 12 scales over 2 wk. Standardization, reliability, and stability data are presented for the original and revised scales. The possibility of response sets in the items are explored, and data patterns are discussed in terms of state vs trait issues in ego functioning.

Conceptualizing defense mechanisms from drive theory and object relations perspectives.

Analyzing common defensive features from dual theoretical perspectives, repression is postulated as the underlying mechanism, and is differentiated from denial and suppression. Acting out and intrapunitiveness are interpreted as polar options within displacement. Drive theory and object relations implications are outlined in the conceptualization of intellectualization, reaction formation, and projection, particularly as they are elaborated by basic tenets in defense theory.

Reliability of the Weak Opiate Withdrawal Scale for inter-city opiate users.

The reliability (Kuder-Richardson 20) of the 84-item Weak Opiate Withdrawal Scale was estimated for a sample of 70 inner-city men who used opiates and had passed through the acute withdrawal stage. Analysis suggested modification of the scale to exclude negatively worded as well as cognitively sophisticated items which elicit unreliable and paradoxical responses from this population.

Sex roles as factors in defense mechanisms and object relations.

For this study, 150 men and 164 women completed the Bem Sex-Role Inventory and the Defense Mechanisms Inventory. Data analyses showed that Turning Against the Object related negatively to femininity, Reversal of Affect related positively to femininity, and that the inner-oriented mode of object relations was associated with femininity. For women only, masculinity related positively with Principalization and Reversal of Affect, and negatively with Turning Against the Self. We interpret the results by viewing the measured defenses as being linked to aggression and its sex-role correlates.

The role of the object in drive cathexis and psychosexual development.

Alternate axes are explored in the orthodox formulation of drive cathexis and psychosexual development, with implications for corresponding object relation modes engendered by these processes. Somatic and defensive aspects are shown to impact on the function of the "other" as the individual matures. The separation/individuation process is subsumed into this overall developmental continuum, and the centrality of the object as a focus in cathexis and drive delineation is critically evaluated. The homeostatic notion of equilibration is appealed to in synthesizing the factors emerging from the analysis.

Safe sex behavior in drug-addicted males as a function of object relations.

An inventory of sexual behavior was administered in a hospital detoxification program to 127 drug-addicted males, who also completed a modified form of the Defense Mechanisms Inventory (DMI) which yields a measure of object relations. Condom use was shown to be related to an object relations mode that typifies the individual who can structure reality and needs without requiring an integral aspect of "the other" in his approach. Standardization and factor analytic data are also presented for the DMI and the object relations measure for this population. The resulting pattern and the small effect size are discussed within the reality constraints of the addicted patient, as well as within the psychometric parameters inherent in psychoanalytic research.

Defense mechanisms in minority African-American and Hispanic youths: standardization and scale reliabilities.

The Defense Mechanisms Inventory (DMI), which has been standardized for White populations and has been used frequently in a variety of personality and interpersonal interaction studies, was administered to 229 minority noncollege youths. Reliability and sex difference data are presented, and the pattern of defenses is compared to published patterns among the White population. Normative tables are presented as references for future DMI studies with minorities, with comparisons for archival data on 504 college students. Data analyses demonstrate the reliability of the DMI for minorities, with tendencies toward the internalizing polarity of the composite (object relations) measure. Evidence is also presented that the DMI is more salient for the minority population on the composite cluster, rather than for the specific defenses.

DMI-measured defenses and HIV-related risk behaviors in i.v. compared to non-i.v. substance abusers.

The Defense Mechanism Inventory (DMI) and The Risk Behavior Inventory (RBI) were administered to substance abusers hospitalized on a drug detoxification service. The groups were categorized on the basis of self-reported IV versus non-IV substance abuse. Significant between-group differences were obtained on the DMI and RBI. The non-IV group responded less often than the IV group with the Turning Against Object (TAO) response option, resulting in higher scores when Turning Against Self (TAS), Reversal (REV), Principalization (PRN) and Projection (PRO) were summed into a single score. Significant within-group differences were obtained for DMI response levels and defenses. Both groups relied less on TAO at the thought level and more on PRN and REV as primary defenses. The IV group reported twice as many risk behaviors as the non-IV group and risked HIV exposure through needle use and sexual transmission modes. Consideration was given to the role of principalization and denial within the addicted individual's defense structure and the relationship of these defenses to HIV-related risk behavior.

Defensive style: state or trait?

The susceptibility of the Defense Mechanism Inventory (Gleser & Ihilevich, 1969) to situational stress variables was evaluated by an experiment where 54 men and 52 women were given half the inventory, then were given word puzzles to solve which were either easy or difficult, and finally given the second half of the inventory. Results showed that the composite measure of defensive style, which contrasts the acting-out defenses from the inward focusing ones, was not affected differentially by the experimental manipulation. The specific defense indices were affected by the experimental manipulation for men but not for women. The composite measure is thus shown to be a basic trait impervious to situational stress, while the specific defenses are seen more as resembling situational states.