Intuitive eating mediates the relationship between interoceptive accuracy and eating disorder risk.

Research supports an association between altered interoceptive accuracy, or the ability to accurately monitor sensations from the body, and disordered eating. However, the behavioral mechanism through which interoceptive accuracy may influence eating behaviors is unclear. Intuitive eating, the ability to regulate food intake according to visceral cues of hunger and satiety, is positively related to interoceptive accuracy and negatively related to disordered eating. Therefore, we hypothesized that interoceptive accuracy would be negatively associated with intuitive eating which would, in turn, influence eating disorder risk. A mediation analysis was performed to test this hypothesis in a sample of 41 undergraduate women who completed a heartbeat counting task to assess interoceptive accuracy, followed by self-report measures of intuitive eating ability and eating disorder risk. We found that eating for physical rather than emotional reasons and reliance on hunger and satiety cues, two aspects of intuitive eating, mediated the relationship between interoceptive accuracy and eating disorder risk. Although further research is necessary, it is possible that findings regarding the association between interoceptive accuracy and intuitive eating may inform the development of eating disorder prevention efforts.

Not hating what you see: Self-compassion may protect against negative mental health variables connected to self-objectification in college women.

Self-objectification is related to maladaptive mental health variables, but little is known about what could ameliorate these associations. Self-compassion, a construct associated with mindfulness, involves taking a non-judgmental attitude toward the self. In this study, 306 college-aged women were recruited; those who were highest (n=106) and lowest (n=104) in self-compassion were retained for analyses. Levels of body surveillance, body shame, depression, and negative eating attitudes were lower in the high self-compassion group. Furthermore, the fit of a path model wherein body surveillance related to body shame, which, in turn, related to negative eating attitudes and depressive symptomatology was compared for each group, controlling for body mass index. The model fit significantly differently such that the connections between self-objectification and negative body and eating attitudes were weaker in the high self-compassion group. Treatment implications of self-compassion as a potential means to interrupt the self-objectification process are discussed.

Clinical outcomes of enjoying sexualization among lesbian women.

The Enjoyment of Sexualization Scale (ESS) was given to 150 lesbians in addition to measures of self-objectification, negative eating attitudes, and depression. The ESS was found to have acceptable levels of internal consistency reliability with a lesbian sample. Scores on the ESS were lower in this sample than in previously reported research with heterosexual women. Enjoying sexualization was found to moderate the relationship between body shame and both depressive symptomatology and negative eating attitudes. In contrast to findings from a heterosexual sample, lesbians who enjoyed sexualization had smaller relationships between these negative clinical outcomes and body shame than lesbians who did not. For lesbians, enjoying sexualization may serve a protective function against the negative effects of self-objectification. Findings are discussed in terms of body image and perceptions of ideal beauty among lesbians.

Fathers, daughters, and self-objectification: does bonding style matter?

As women are exposed to objectification and the "male gaze," they self-objectify, which predicts negative psychological outcomes. Given the centrality of the "male gaze," positive father/child relationships may have a buffering effect. In this study, women (N=447) completed a survey measuring paternal bonding (care and overprotection), self-objectification, negative eating attitudes, and depression. Women were categorized into four groups based on bonding style. Analyses indicated an interaction such that women who reported high care and low overprotection reported the fewest negative eating attitudes. A path model was tested for each group. The fit of the high care/high overprotection group's model significantly differed from that of the high care/low overprotection group. The relationships between body surveillance and shame as well as between shame and negative eating attitudes were stronger in the former group. These findings suggest that caring but overprotective fathers may exacerbate the negative effects of body surveillance and shame.

Empowering or oppressing? Development and exploration of the Enjoyment of Sexualization Scale.

Sexualization of girls and women in America is rampant and has many negative consequences. Women, however, often report enjoying being sexually admired by men. Given this paradox, it is unclear whether such enjoyment represents an authentic empowerment of women's sexuality or is related to traditional feminine norms and sexist beliefs. In Studies 1 and 2, the authors developed and tested the eight-item Enjoyment of Sexualization Scale (ESS). It had good reliability and was differentiated from related constructs including body surveillance, body shame, self-sexualizing behaviors, and appearance-contingent self-esteem. In Study 3, endorsement of traditional gender norms, endorsement of benevolent sexism, and endorsement of hostile sexism were all positively related to the ESS. Moreover, women who both enjoyed sexualization and engaged in self-objectification reported more negative eating attitudes. Overall, there was little support for positive effects of enjoying sexualization. The extent to which enjoying sexualization actually empowers women or contributes to their oppression is discussed.

Perceived susceptibility measures are not interchangeable: absolute, direct comparative, and indirect comparative risk.

OBJECTIVE: To provide an explanation of perceived susceptibility judgment that accounts for both inconsistencies among commonly used measures of perceived susceptibility (i.e., absolute risk, direct comparative risk, and indirect comparative risk) and their inconsistent relationships to disease risk factors. Inconsistencies are attributed to differential processing of general versus personal risk factors, coupled with the method of computation of the risk measures. DESIGN AND MEASURES: Study 1 characterized risk factors as general versus personal. In Studies 2 and 3, community-residing adult women (ns = 432 and 147, respectively) rated perceived susceptibility to osteoporosis, breast cancer, heart disease, and diabetes, rated risk factors, and reported personal medical history. RESULTS: Correlations and regression analyses mainly supported our characterization of the source of inconsistencies among susceptibility measures and their relationships to risk factors. CONCLUSION: Perceived susceptibility measures are not interchangeable and can lead to opposite conclusions about correlates of perceived susceptibility. Researchers are cautioned against using indirect comparative measures, computed as difference scores, and are encouraged to use other methods to compel participants to consider the risk of others when making comparative judgments.

Women's use of hormone therapy before and after the Women's Health Initiative: a psychosocial model of stability and change.

OBJECTIVE: This longitudinal study examined factors underlying hormone therapy (HT) use before and after termination of the landmark Women's Health Initiative (WHI) estrogen plus progestin HT trial in July 2002, after which dramatic reductions in HT use occurred. METHODS: A community sample of 324 women (aged 40-86) from Arizona was interviewed four times between 1995 and 2003. A model of medical and psychological factors underlying intentions for long-term HT use expressed in 1995/1996 was developed and employed to predict subsequent use and discontinued use pre- and post-WHI. RESULTS: Philosophy of menopause and perceived susceptibility to breast cancer predicted perceived benefits of and barriers to long-term HT use, beyond age, oophorectomy, and physician recommendation. Age, benefits, and barriers predicted intentions for long-term HT use over and above current use. Intentions predicted use 3 years later, controlling for previous use. HT use in 1995/1996 predicted use until the WHI announcement, but not thereafter. Oophorectomy predicted continued HT use before WHI trial termination; perceived barriers, expressed 8 years earlier, predicted discontinued use after WHI trial termination. CONCLUSIONS: Medical and psychological factors predicted sustained and discontinued HT use before and after the WHI announcement. The WHI findings apparently activated potential barriers to use expressed almost a decade earlier.

Reasons and risk: factors underlying women's perceptions of susceptibility to osteoporosis.

OBJECTIVES: To assess women's perceptions of risk for osteoporosis and to identify factors that shape those perceptions. METHODS: A community sample of 358 women (aged 40-86) rated their perceived risk of osteoporosis and provided detailed information about factors underlying their risk perceptions. Their open-ended responses were content analysed. RESULTS: On average, participants believed they were less likely to develop osteoporosis than other women their age. In all, 63% perceived their risk as lower than other women their age; only 16% as higher. In explaining their risk, women mentioned more risk-decreasing factors than risk-increasing factors. Women who rated their risk as low attributed their risk primarily to their own preventive behaviors (e.g. taking calcium, exercising), whereas women who rated their risk as high attributed their risk primarily to their family history. Risk-increasing and risk-decreasing personal actions, hereditary factors, and physiological factors accounted for 53% of the variance in perceived risk for osteoporosis. Only one-half and one-third of all women, however, mentioned calcium consumption and exercise, respectively, as protective factors employed to reduce osteoporosis risk. Women also held misconceptions about osteoporosis risk and protective factors. CONCLUSIONS: The current findings yield a detailed portrait of women's risk perceptions for osteoporosis. Increasing awareness of osteoporosis should be a priority for future osteoporosis prevention campaigns. Interventions should address misconceptions women may hold about their risk for the disease and promote specific behavioral strategies for osteoporosis prevention.

Beyond medical risk: investigating the psychological factors underlying women's perceptions of susceptibility to breast cancer, heart disease, and osteoporosis.

The relationships of epidemiological (objective) risk indices, perceived disease characteristics, and cognitive heuristics to women's perceived susceptibility to breast cancer, heart disease, and osteoporosis in a community sample of 312 women ages 40-86 were examined. Epidemiological indices accounted for a small to moderate proportion of the variance in perceived susceptibility. Psychological factors (perceived similarity to women who contract the target disease and perceived disease prevalence) predicted perceived susceptibility above and beyond medical risk factors. Opposite to actual risk, age correlated negatively with perceived susceptibility to all 3 diseases. Exploratory analyses suggested that perceived similarity, perceived prevalence, and absent/exempt beliefs might mediate this relationship. Confirmatory factor analyses verified that measures of absolute and direct comparative risk assess the same underlying construct of perceived susceptibility.