Accuracy of self-reports of food intake in obese and normal-weight individuals: effects of parental obesity on reports of children's dietary intake

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the accuracy of dietary-intake information of normal-weight vs overweight parents in their reports of their children's food intake. Subjects were 36 families with either normal-weight (n = 20) or overweight (n = 16) children aged 4-9 y. Unobtrusive observers recorded the types and amounts of food eaten by the children at one meal. The next day families were visited in their homes and were asked to provide dietary-intake information from the previous day on their child. Results indicated that parental reports of the dietary intake of their children correlated significantly with the observers' measures of food intake. Neither the father's, the mother's, nor the family's obesity status had an effect on the accuracy of recalled information. The results indicated that the lack of differences consistently observed in dietary intake between obese and normal-weight children could not be explained by differential accuracy of recalled dietary information.

Accuracy of self-reports of food intake in obese and normal-weight individuals: effects of obesity on self-reports of dietary intake in adult females

The purpose of this study was to determine the accuracy of self-reported 24-h dietary recalls of overweight and normal-weight adults. Forty female college students (21 overweight, 19 normal weight) consumed a lunch meal at the university cafeteria while being unobtrusively observed. The following day subjects returned to the lab and completed a 24-h recall of their food intake. Accuracy of recalls was assessed by comparing directly observed intake with self-reported intake. Correlated t tests comparing observed and reported intake found a significant amount of overreporting of consumption for the entire sample. When analyses were conducted on individual groups (normal weight vs overweight), no between-group differences were found. A series of one-way analyses of variance (ANOVA) (normal weight vs overweight) and a multivariate ANOVA were performed for total calories, nutrients, and the amount of over- and underreporting. No significant differences between groups were observed.

A comparison of four commonly used nutrient database programs

The present study evaluated the comparability of two microcomputer systems and two mainframe nutrient database systems. Sixty 24-hour recalls were analyzed on each system. Analysis of the nutrient values obtained from each system revealed several significant differences between Short Report and the other three systems. There were no significant differences between DINE, NCC, and UTNDB. Attempts to reveal the source of this error were not successful.

Dietary restraint and obesity: their effects on dietary intake

The current investigation evaluated the effects of levels of restraint, dietary intake, and obesity on both immediate (i.e., in the laboratory) and subsequent (i.e., outside the laboratory) self-reported dietary intake. Subjects were 102 college females, half of whom were given a high-caloric snack of a chocolate milkshake. Subjects were classified according to their level of chronic dieting status and relative weight. Chronic dieting status was measured by utilizing both the Concern for Dieting (CD) and the Weight Fluctuation (WF) factors of the revised restraint scale (Polivy, 1980). When using the WF factor, results indicated that obesity interacted with dieting status on total food consumption (i.e., calories for the entire day). That is, nondieting obese subjects reportedly ate significantly more calories than nondieting normal-weight subjects. Further, nondieting overweight subjects reported eating significantly more than low-restrained normal-weight subjects. On the CD factor, restrained eaters who received a preload reported eating significantly more calories than nondieters at lunch. For those subjects not receiving a milkshake, restrained eaters ate fewer calories at lunch than nondieters. The significance of these results for understanding possible energy imbalances in obese individuals as well as understanding pathological overeating and its consequences is discussed.

Factors associated with participation, attrition, and outcome in a smoking cessation program at the workplace

Despite their growing popularity, worksite health-promotion programs have generally been characterized as having low participation rates, high attrition rates, and modest outcomes. This investigation identified the predictors of participation, attrition, and outcome of worksite smoking-cessation program. Subjects were regular cigarette smokers recruited from two worksites. Of 66 eligible smokers in the two worksites, 44 (67%) agreed to participate in the program. Fifty-five percent (24 of 44) of these completed the program. Of those completing the program, 29% had quit smoking by posttest and 17% were abstinent at the 6-month follow-up. Results indicated that a different set of variables predicted participation, attrition, and outcome. The significant predictors of smokers who participated were the length of cessation in previous abstinence attempts, the number of years they smoked, and the belief regarding personal vulnerability in contracting a smoking-related disease. Levels of pretest carbon monoxide along with attitudes regarding the adoption of smoking restrictions in the worksite predicted attrition. Posttest cessation was related to nicotine levels of cigarette brand smoked at pretest and pretest beliefs regarding postcessation weight gain. Abstinence at the 6-month follow-up was predicted by the number of co-workers who smoked and pretest concerns related to postcessation weight gain. The results are discussed in terms of future evaluation and intervention efforts.

Knowledge and beliefs regarding the consequences of cigarette smoking and their relationships to smoking status in a biracial sample

The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate carefully smoking-related knowledge and beliefs and their relationships to smoking status in a large, heterogeneous sample of smokers and nonsmokers in two settings: (a) a large, biracial southern city and (b) a small midwestern community. Participants were 611 (198 male, 413 female) adult respondents to a random-dialing telephone survey in Fargo, North Dakota (n = 200), and Memphis, Tennessee (n = 411). Each participant was given the Smoking Attitudes Survey, which assesses generalized health beliefs as well as health-related problems associated with smoking. Participants' knowledge of smoking-associated diseases (e.g., lung cancer) and of diseases not associated with smoking (e.g., kidney stones) was assessed. Stepwise regression analysis of composite knowledge scores revealed four independent predictors of the health consequences of smoking: education, race, smoking status, and income. Smokers, compared to nonsmokers, reported less knowledge related to the health consequences of smoking, were more likely to be male, were less concerned with the health consequences of smoking, and were more concerned about the health consequences of cholesterol. The best predictor of smokers who had never attempted cessation was their greater concern over weight control when compared to smokers with a history of smoking cessation attempts. The results are discussed in terms of smoking prevention and intervention efforts.

The assessment of children's physical activity: a comparison of methods

The authors assessed the convergent validity and the sources of error in an electronic single-plane accelerometer (i.e., Caltrac Personal Activity Computer (Hemokinetics, Inc., Vienna, VA). The device was validated against observed all-day physical activity levels of children in their natural environment. Thirty pre-school children were observed in non-structured activity for periods of approximately 9 h while wearing the accelerometer. The results revealed moderately high but variable Spearman rank-order correlations between hourly readings of the accelerometer and the observational system (range of correlations = 0.62 to 0.95). An all-day accelerometer reading significantly correlated with the observational instrument (rho = 0.54). A step-wise regression analysis revealed that the best behavioral predictor of the all-day accelerometer reading was the observed behavior of walking, explaining 32% of the total variance. Older vs younger children (i.e., greater than 32.5 months), females vs males, and overweight (i.e., 75 percentile or greater) vs normal weight children tended to show higher correlations between direct observation and accelerometer readings. Implications of these findings and the utilization of the accelerometer in epidemiologic research are discussed.

Validation of the 24-hour dietary recall in preschool children

The results of the current study indicate that data obtained by the dietary recall correlate highly with the children's weighed food intake if a parent or the primary caretaker providing the child's food responds to the interview. Meredith et al. found parents to be poor reporters of children's consumption outside the home. It is encouraging to note that parents can be reliable reporters of their children's food intake in the home environment. When errors did occur, they were errors in portion size, as 96% of foods eaten by the children were correctly identified by the parents. Parents under-reported only 4% of the time. This slight tendency to under-report is consistent with other reports of the validity of the 24-hour dietary recall. In younger children, parents appear to be reliable reporters of their children's in-home dietary intake. As children become older, they appear to be able to recall their own intake both within and outside the home. There are several possible explanations for these findings. First, several factors could have influenced the accuracy of parental reports of the child's intake during the day that we weighed foods. Because food was weighed in the homes, the parents undoubtedly attended more closely to their child's diet. Additionally, the dietary recalls were collected at the end of the day of observation. This was closer in time than most 24-hour recalls and may have reflected less memory decay than usual. Also, since our sample was primarily middle-class families who were well educated, the correspondence between actual vs. reported dietary intake may have been artificially enhanced.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

A worksite smoking modification competition: potential for public health impact

We evaluated the effectiveness of a worksite smoking cessation/reduction program both with and without formal competition for monetary prizes in five worksites (n = 107). A greater percentage of eligible smokers participated in the competition (88 per cent) than the non-competition (53 per cent) condition. Treatment outcome among participants was generally equivalent across conditions, but at a six-month follow-up, nonabstinent subjects in the competition condition had lower levels of carbon monoxide than subjects in the non-competition condition. On a worksite-wide basis, a higher percentage of employees quit smoking in the competition condition (16 per cent) compared to the non-competition (7 per cent).

The relationship between experimental and neuropsychological measures of memory

The current investigation sought to provide convergent and divergent validational information on both experimental and neuropsychological measures short versus long-term memory. Forty undergraduates (20 male, 20 female) were administered memory assessments from the Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Battery, the Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Test Battery, and the experimentally developed Paired Associates (Face-Name Association & Distractor tasks). Results indicated that the experimental measures of memory demonstrated a high degree of convergent and divergent validity. Both the Luria-Nebraska Memory Scale and the Halstead-Reitan correlated to long-term measures of memory. The Luria Memory Scale did not significantly correlate to short-term measures of memory. Selected subtests from the Halstead-Reitan correlated to experimentally-derived measures of short-term memory. Implications of this study are discussed and recommendations for future research is discussed.

Programming social support for smoking modification: an extension and replication

In an extension and replication of previous work on social support in worksite smoking programs, 29 employees were assigned to either a basic smoking control program or to a basic treatment plus significant other support condition. Within a multiple baseline across behaviors design, all subjects received a 6 week treatment program that focused on achieving sequential reductions in nicotine content of brand smoked, number of cigarettes smoked per day, and percent of the cigarette smoked. Both treatment conditions were equally successful in producing abstinence (verified by biochemical analyses) and in producing reductions in smoking behavior among nonabstinent subjects at both posttest and 6-month follow-up assessments. In contrast to previous research with this program, there was considerable relapse in both conditions by follow-up. Consistent with previous findings, supportive social interactions were not related to treatment outcome, but the level of negative (nonsupportive) social interactions was inversely correlated with treatment success. Implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.

An evaluation of the reliability of time sampling versus continuous observation data collection

Thirty (10 male, 20 female) children, ages 41 to 71 months, were observed simultaneously in a freeplay setting by two observers using a validated assessment of physical activity in children (i.e. the FATS). One observer utilized a whole interval time sampling method of data recording and the second observer used a hand-held computer and continuously entered observations whenever a child's activity level changed, while the computer simultaneously calculated elapsed time (in tenths of seconds) spent in each behavioral category. Overall activity scores generated by the two approaches correlated 0.90 although the time sampling method produced lower estimates of physical activity. It is concluded that whole interval time sampling is a reliable cost-effective method of assessing physical activity levels in children and may be preferable to the continuous computer-assisted approach that was utilized.

A validation of two motion sensors in the prediction of child and adult physical activity levels

The authors sought to assess the reliability and validity of two motion activity sensors in the prediction of observed physical activity levels in adults and children by means of two studies at North Dakota State University in Fargo, North Dakota. In study 1, 50 adults were observed in fall 1984 for one hour of recreational activity while they simultaneously wore two motion sensors: an activity counter (i.e., LSI Moving Activity Monitor (GMM Electronics Inc., Verona, PA)) and an electronic accelerometer (i.e., Caltrac Personal Activity Computer (Hemokinetics, Inc., Vienna, VA)). The results indicated that both the activity counter (r = 0.65) and the accelerometer (r = 0.69) strongly correlated to observed physical activity levels. The two motion sensors also were highly correlated to each other (r = 0.83). A correlation of self-reports of time spent in various types of physical activity to observed physical activity ranged from 0.21 to 0.88 (mean = 0.60). Study 2 evaluated these same two sensors in winter 1984 in 30 preschool children observed in a freeplay situation. Results of this study indicated very modest relationships between observed physical activity levels and accelerometer readings (r = 0.35) and activity counter readings (r = 0.40). The two motion sensors intercorrelated at very modest levels (r = 0.42). The results indicate that while both motion sensors closely corresponded to observed levels of physical activity in adults, neither sensor correlated substantively to observed levels of physical activity in children. Implications for validating and utilizing these sensors in epidemiologic research are discussed.

Sensory and social influences on ice cream consumption by males and females in a laboratory setting

Both male and female undergraduates ate more ice cream when eating occurred in groups of three or four than when they ate alone. These subjects also ate more ice cream when offered three different flavors than when offered only one flavor of their own choosing. For women, both variety and eating in a group combined to enhance eating more than either variable did alone. For men, variety or eating in a group caused about the same enhancement of consumption but the combination of the two variables did not lead to further increases in intake. This latter result probably reflects a ceiling effect, but it could represent a true gender difference.

The effects of graded exposure and parental modeling on the dental phobias of a four-year-old girl and her mother

The current paper describes a unique case of a very young (4-year-old) dental phobic girl whose mother was also dental avoidant. Treatment of the girl involved a combination of graded exposure and utilizing the mother as a coping model. The results suggest that treatment was highly successful at least to a 6-month follow-up. Despite minimal direct intervention, results also indicated significantly reduced levels of dental fear in the dental-avoidant mother as well. Recommendations for intervention which involve parent modeling are discussed.