Self‐esteem mediates the associations among negative affect, body disturbances, and interpersonal problems in treatment‐seeking obese individuals

What do young women with obesity want from a weight management program?

PURPOSE

Early adulthood is a high-risk time for weight gain; however, young women with obesity are difficult to recruit to weight management programs. To encourage participation and retention, it is important to understand what young women want from these programs. The purpose of the study was to explore participants' perspectives on the features of an ideal weight management program.

METHODS

Semi-structured interview schedules were used to elicit information from eight focus groups [27 women; mean age of 29.1 (± 5.1) years, mean body mass index (BMI; kg/m²) of 35.8 (± 2.9)]. The focus groups were transcribed, coded and analyzed qualitatively.

RESULTS

The themes that emerged were program content, format, program characteristics, program name, location and duration. A major finding from the study is that participants value a program that includes nutritional, psychological and lifestyle interventions, and includes components that are not traditionally part of weight management programs such as body acceptance, sexual health and dressing and grooming. A program name that conveys wellness and body positivity was valued. Participants highlighted the importance of individualized programs that are also tailored to the needs of young adults, and delivered by credible and approachable staff who provide accountability. Cost-effectiveness, flexibility, accessibility, time-commitment were important considerations and the use of a combination of virtual and in-person methods (including group interventions) appealed to this cohort.

CONCLUSION

Knowledge of program features which resonate with young women facilitates development of innovative ways to engage and support evidence-based weight management in this vulnerable group.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

V.

The sampling precision of research in five major areas of psychology

After obtaining a sample of published, peer-reviewed articles from journals with high and low impact factors in social, cognitive, neuro-, developmental, and clinical psychology, we used a priori equations recently derived by Trafimow (Educational and Psychological Measurement, 77, 831-854, 2017; Trafimow & MacDonald in Educational and Psychological Measurement, 77, 204-219, 2017) to compute the articles' median levels of precision. Our findings indicate that developmental research performs best with respect to precision, whereas cognitive research performs the worst; however, none of the psychology subfields excelled. In addition, we found important differences in precision between journals in the upper versus lower echelons with respect to impact factors in cognitive, neuro-, and clinical psychology, whereas the difference was dramatically attenuated for social and developmental psychology. Implications are discussed.

The Italian Version of the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP-32): Psychometric Properties and Factor Structure in Clinical and Non-clinical Groups

All versions of the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP) are broadly used to measure people's interpersonal functioning. The aims of the current study are: (a) to examine the psychometric properties and factor structure of the Italian version of the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems—short version (IIP-32); and (b) to evaluate its associations with core symptoms of different eating disorders. One thousand two hundred and twenty three participants (n = 623 non-clinical and n = 600 clinical participants with eating disorders and obesity) filled out the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems—short version (IIP-32) along with measures of self-esteem (Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, RSES), psychological functioning (Outcome Questionnaire, OQ-45), and eating disorders (Eating Disorder Inventory, EDI-3). The present study examined the eight-factor structure of the IIP-32 with Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (ESEM). ESEM was also used to test the measurement invariance of the IIP-32 across clinical and non-clinical groups. It was found that CFA had unsatisfactory model fit, whereas the corresponding ESEM solution provided a better fit to the observed data. However, six target factor loadings tend to be modest, and ten items showed cross-loadings higher than 0.30. The configural and metric invariance as well as the scalar and partial strict invariance of the IIP-32 were supported across clinical and non-clinical groups. The internal consistency of the IIP-32 was acceptable and the construct validity was confirmed by significant correlations between IIP-32, RSES, and OQ-45. Furthermore, overall interpersonal difficulties were consistently associated with core eating disorder symptoms, whereas interpersonal styles that reflect the inability to form close relationships, social awkwardness, the inability to be assertive, and a tendency to self-sacrificing were positively associated with general psychological maladjustment. Although further validation of the Italian version of the IIP-32 is needed to support these findings, the results on its cross-cultural validity are promising.

Psychosocial Predictors of Change in Depressive Symptoms Following Gastric Banding Surgery

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study is to identify psychosocial variables associated with the relationship between weight loss and change in depressive symptoms following gastric banding surgery.

METHODS

Ninety-nine adults completed self-report questionnaires assessing depressive symptoms and other psychosocial variables (self-esteem, body image dissatisfaction, perceived physical health, and perceived weight-based stigmatisation) prior to gastric-band surgery and monthly for 6-month post-surgery.

RESULTS

Weight, depressive symptoms, and other psychosocial variables improved significantly 1-month post-surgery and remained lower to 6 months. Weight loss from baseline to 1- and 6-months post-surgery significantly correlated with change in depressive symptoms. Body image dissatisfaction and self-esteem accounted for some of the variance in change in depressive symptoms from baseline to 1-month and baseline to 6-months post-surgery.

CONCLUSIONS

Depressive symptoms improved significantly and rapidly after bariatric surgery, and body image dissatisfaction and self-esteem predicted change in depressive symptoms. Interventions targeting body image and self-esteem may improve depressive symptoms for those undergoing weight loss interventions.

Body image disturbance and skin bleaching

This study looks at body image disturbance among Jamaicans who bleach their skin. The hypothesis states that there is a positive relationship between skin bleaching and body image disturbance. The study used a convenience sample of 160 participants with a skin bleaching group (n = 80) and a non-bleaching comparison group (n = 80). The instrument included demographic questions, the body image disturbance questionnaire (BIDQ), and questions about skin bleaching. The results of a t-test revealed that the skin bleaching group (M = 1.5255, SD = 0.42169) was not significantly different from the non-bleaching group (M = 1.4938, SD = 0.74217) in terms of body image disturbance, t(158) = 0.333, p = .740. The participants who bleached did not suffer from body image disturbance. Self-reports revealed that they bleached to acquire beauty, attract a partner, elude the police, and market skin bleaching products. The practice was fashionable and popular and it made some participants feel good, while others were fans of a popular musical artiste who bleached his skin. The majority of participants bleached because of the perceived personal, social, and entrepreneurial benefits of the practice and not because they suffered emotional distress, anxiety, and functional impairment because of their skin colour. However, there was some level of BID among the minority of participants who argued that they bleached because they wanted to be pretty so they were emotionally distressed about there body image and experienced functional impairment.

Self-esteem, body-esteem, emotional intelligence, and social anxiety in a college sample: the moderating role of weight

To examine the relationships between self-esteem, body-esteem, emotional intelligence, and social anxiety, as well as to examine the moderating role of weight between exogenous variables and social anxiety, 520 university students completed the self-report measures. Structural equation modeling revealed that individuals with low self-esteem, body-esteem, and emotional intelligence were more likely to report social anxiety. The findings indicated that obese and overweight individuals with low body-esteem, emotional intelligence, and self-esteem had higher social anxiety than others. Our results highlight the roles of body-esteem, self-esteem, and emotional intelligence as influencing factors for reducing social anxiety.