Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 109-117). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 109-117). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego and San Diego State University, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 110-119).

Body, weight and shape related obsessions and ruminations are characteristic traits of individuals with eating disorders (ED) that are found to predate the onset of the disorder. Individuals with chronic ED display altered neural activation in response to food stimuli, and are reported to have volumetric differences compared to healthy individuals, which is likely an effect of prolonged starvation. ED individuals are also seen to dispose an attentional bias to food stimuli, even when perceived sub-consciously, which are reported to interfere with cognitive tasks, including working memory (WM). However, whether the differences in neural activation and structure are present in adolescents with a recent ED diagnosis is not known. In paper I we describe how images of high- and low-calorie foods resulted in greater responses in the prefrontal circuitry in ED adolescents compared to healthy controls (HC). Obsessive-compulsive symptoms in ED individuals were associated with prefrontal circuitry and cerebellar activation, whereas faster reaction times to the WM were associated with greater superior frontal gyrus activity. The findings indicate that ED cognitions may be linked to WM abilities, both of which are associated with frontal cortex functioning. WM performance is examined further in paper II, where we found that the presence of subliminal food images were seen to disrupt WM performance in terms of slower reaction times and less correct responses in ED but not HC. The WM interference was associated with increased activity in the parietal and superior temporal cortex. WM interference caused by subliminal food stimuli may reflect a pre-attentive bias to food in adolescents with ED, which could be a risk factor for further development of an ED. The structural differences in brain volume between adolescents with ED and HC were examined in paper III. ED symptoms were found to be associated with volume differences in insular cortex and superior temporal gyrus, whereas obsessive-compulsive symptoms were associated with reduced volumes in the putamen and cerebellum. These volumetric differences in regions implicated in restraint, obsessions and WM are likely to precede structural variations caused by starvation as seen in chronic ED’s. Connectivity from these regions, in addition to other regions believed to be implicated in ED, was studied in paper IV. Fronto-parietal regions as well as the insula showed increased connectivity in ED, whereas connectivity from the mesolimbic reward regions did not differ from HC. Regions with increased connectivity in ED are involved with self-awareness, body image and ED related ruminations, connections that could influence how one’s body is perceived. In conclusion, the studies included in this thesis describes changes in functional activity, connectivity and brain volume in regions involved with ED cognitions, eating behaviour, and body image in adolescents recently diagnosed with an ED.

In this thesis I explore women's engagement with body, weight and eating from a socio-cultural perspective. I discuss the limitations of current research on body dissatisfaction and propose that women's negative appraisal of their body needs to be understood as an active engagement with their social context. Research that focuses on the interaction of ethnic/cultural differences and body dissatisfaction seeks to clarify the interrelationship between femininity, gender and culture and suggests that women's dissatisfaction with their body is linked to levels of global Westernisation. My criticism of this research is that it conceptualises culture and social knowledge in a simplistic way. I propose social representations theory and the principles of dialogicality as an alternative research paradigm and argue that such an approach can overcome the dichotomy of individual and social, inner and outer. In order to explore the interaction of the subjective with the social in relation to the negative and positive appraisal of the body an interview study was conducted in two distinct cultural contexts. In depth interviews were conducted with 14 women in the UK and 12 women in Tobago, WI. The thema recognition/disrespect was used as an interpretative frame. The results show that the meanings that were assigned to the body interlinked with socially enacted representations of self, other and femininity. While the thema recognition/disrespect could be seen to be problematised through contradictory conditions of worth in the UK, it was the notion of 'disrespect' in interrelation with representations of others that was foregrounded in women's reflections in Tobago. In both research locations women negotiated constraining or contradictory demands of femininity and 're-presented' themselves through the construction of alternative identities.

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of sociocultural factors in the occurrence of pathological eating attitudes and behaviours by determining the relationship between acculturation to Canada, as a Western culture , and eating attitudes and behaviours in a nonclinical sample of female Chinese and Caucasian university students. In addition , as an exploratory goal any possible relationship between acculuturative stress and eating attitudes and behaviours was also explored. One hundred female Caucasian and 131 female Chinese undergraduate students were recruited from the University of British Columbia. Each subject was asked to complete a Demographic Questionnaire as well as the 26 item Eating Attitudes Test (EAT; Garner, Olmsted, Bohr, & Garfinkel, 1982). Additionally , the Chinese subjects were asked to complete the Suinn-Lew Asian Self-Identity Acculturation Scale (SL-ASIA; Suinn, Rickard-Figueroa, Lew, & Vigil, 1987) and the 24 item SAFE Acculturative Stress Scale (SAFE; Mean, Padilla, & Maldonado, 1987).

The purpose of this study was to examine the governing scripts in the lives of women with eating disorders via narrative analysis. Interviews were conducted with 5 women with eating disorders (EDs), whose ages ranged from 27 years to 36 years. An average of two interviews per participant took place, with each interview being recorded and transcribed. The interviews centred around early recollections (ERs) and dream reports, which were gathered in the context of their life-stories. The participants were recruited from private counselling practices, psychiatric practices, and family practices, and were considered suitable for the study if they expressed an interest in participating in the study, and their attending therapist or doctor was satisfied they fit the DSM-1V (APA, 1994) criteria for an eating disorder. Tomkins' (1979, 1987, 1991) script theory provided the theoretical underpinnings to the research, with Carlson's (1981, 1986) script-theoretic analysis as the primary methodological tool. Alexander's (1988) method of accessing scripts via principal identifiers of salience was used in conjunction with script-theoretic analysis when applicable. The ERs were examined for evidence of the nuclear scene, followed by analysis of the life-stories and dream stories for magnifications of the nuclear scene in the form of analogs and anti-analogs. The results showed the following commonalities: a) that a story of perceived loss of the parent or parental figure was at the heart of each nuclear scene, with the script threading through each woman's life as a theme of "longing for mother" or "a quest for love"; b) that the nuclear script was profoundly reactivated at the time of the development of each participant's ED; c) a family "no talk" rule about negative feelings and traumatic events; d) participants had difficult relationships with their mothers; e) a perception of home as unsafe, manifested in a recurring nightmare from childhood; f) participants responded to stress in their homes by adopting the personality of the "perfect girl" according to family values; g) body-image/self-image disturbances predated the eating disorder; and h) that traditional gender-roles and attitudes towards women were present in all the families in varying ways. More narrative research of the lives of women with EDs is needed to confirm and support these findings.

This thesis examines the problem of disordered eating based on ethnographic fieldwork in emergency shelters, soup kitchens, and eating disorder support groups, as well as interviews with medical professionals, and other residents of a Canadian city. This person-centered ethnography that explores the eating behaviors of not only those who have been diagnosed with 'eating disorders', but also those who are unable at times to provide themselves with food reveals that in spite of a prevailing discourse that determines eating as an independent act, food choices and eating patterns are dependent social 'works of the imagination' affected and shaped by social determinants and cultural norms. From eating disorders to type 2 diabetes and 'food as gift,' the lived experience of individuals indexes the ways in which food, power, and identity are enmeshed and embedded within culture. This critical perspective argues that disordered eating is socially and culturally produced and reproduced. / vi, 182 leaves ; 29 cm.

This cross-cultural study examines eating disorders, Anorexia nervosa, Bulimia, and compulsive overeating in Japanese and Canadian women. Through qualitative interviews with nine Japanese and nine Canadian women with eating disorders, it was found that factors contributing to the onset of eating disorders were similar in the two groups. Similarities included the value placed upon thinness by society which is widely perpetuated by the media, being told they were fat and made to feel they needed to lose weight, wanting attention for their eating disorder, and a history of sexual abuse. The Canadian women interviewed, revealed that their mothers also had eating disorders. On the other hand, the Japanese women reported stress from the education system, which led to abnormal eating behavior. Japanese women also reported gender-role conflicts as a cause. / A questionnaire regarding attitudes towards food and weight was given to 100 Japanese and 55 Canadian female university students. It was found that the women's desire to lose weight was strong in both samples. Sixty-six percent of the Japanese women and 38.1 percent of the Canadian women reported that they are "always," "usually," or "often" terrified that their weight will increase. This study postulates that the women with eating disorders want to empower themselves by controlling their food intake and their body weight. The implication is that any factor that creates a sense of ineffectiveness in the woman may trigger an eating disorder if the woman believes the only thing she can control is her food intake. Evidence to support this argument will be shown through discussions of actual experiences of women with eating disorders.

This study examined the prevalence of eating disorders within Division I and Division III intercollegiate athletic programs. A secondary purpose was to examine gender and sport differences. The participants, 191 head coaches from 31 purposefully selected colleges and/or universities, completed a respondent information sheet and questionnaire which were created specifically for the purposes of this study.A chi-square analysis indicated no difference in the prevalence of eating disorders between Division I and Division III athletes. The results also indicated that the female athletes had a higher proportion of eating disorders than the male athletes. Women's gymnastics and cross country and men's wrestling and cross country had higher proportions of eating disorders than the other sports examined. / School of Physical Education