Thesis (M.S.)--University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2005. / Title from PDF title page screen. Advisor: Michael McIntosh; submitted to the School of Human Environmental Sciences. Includes bibliographical references (p. 49-58)

Thesis (M.Med.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Also available in print.

Thesis (M.P.H.)--Georgia State University, 2007. / Title from file title page. Valerie A. Hepburn, committee chair; Derek Shendell, Mara Galic, committee members Electronic text (68 p. : ill. (some col.), col. maps) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed Oct. 18, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 60-64).

The purpose of this study was to assess the relative influence of stimulus cues and response tendencies on the behavior of average and consistently or inconsistently overweight individuals. The female undergraduate volunteers who participated in the study were assigned to one of three weight groups on the basis of weight history, present weight, and triceps skinfold measurements. The three groups included consistently average, consistently overweight, and "fluctuator" subjects. This last group consisted of subjects whose weights over the past two years had varied between the average and overweight classifications. There were 20 subjects in each of the three groups. All subjects completed two experimental tasks and were also administered the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI), Form A. The first experimental task, used previously by Sikes, involved guessing the colors (black or red) of 120 consecutively presented cards. Seventy-five per cent of the first 90 cards in the series were black, while all of the remaining 30 cards were red. As expected, there were no performance differences between groups on the first 90 cards; however, on the last 30 cards consistently overweight participants made significantly more errors than either average or fluctuator subjects. This finding is consistent with Singh's deficit-in-response-inhibition hypothesis which maintains that overweight people have greater difficulty in changing established response tendencies than do people of average weight. It is noteworthy, however, that in the present study only people who had been consistently overweight for the past two years experienced more difficulty in changing their established responses. The second experimental task involved learning two paired associate word lists in an A-B/A-Br transfer paradigm. As expected, there were no performance differences between groups on the initial list. Contrary to expectations, however, there were also no differences between groups on the transfer list which required the suppression of previously established responses. Thus, in this situation consistently overweight subjects did not show the predicted deficit-in-response-inhibition effect. The results, then, offer partial support for Singh's interpretation of obesity in terms of differential response tendencies. No support is found for Schachter's interpretation which stresses the effects of external cues, since obese subjects did not show performance that was superior to that of average subjects at any point. Results from analyses of subjects' scores on the EPI indicated that there were no differences between the three weight groups on either extraversion or neuroticism. In addition to providing some support for Singh's hypothesis, the experimental findings in this study indicate that it is important to consider recent weight history as well as present weight when investigating behavioral differences between overweight and normal individuals. Implications of this research for treatment of overweight individuals were discussed. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

Thesis (M.S.)--Missouri State University, 2009. / "May 2009." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 53-57). Also available online.

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published_or_final_version / Community Medicine / Master / Master of Public Health

Obesity can have far reaching negative effects on a child or adolescent's health and quality of life. Child and adolescent obesity has a strong correlation with health-related quality of life (HRQOL), an indicator of an individual's total wellbeing, including physical, emotional, and social aspects of that individual's life. HRQOL can be negatively affected by obesity across several domains, including physical comfort, body esteem, social life, family relations, emotional well-being, and general quality of life (Nadeau et al., 2011; Herzer et al., 2011; Modi et al., 2008). Another area of concern for this population is that parental stress is much higher in parents with children and adolescents who are overweight or obese (Chiou & Hsieh, 2008; Streisand et al., 2003). This relationship is shown to compromise children's psychological well-being and hinder treatment (Cushner-Weinstein et al., 2008; Mullins et al., 2007; Ohleyer et al., 2007). The purpose of the current study was to expand previous research by examining the relations between depression, HRQOL, and parental stress. The study also explored how gender and BMI affect the relationship between depression and HRQOL. Participants included children 5-13 years of age and their parents living in the Central Texas area. The children were identified by their pediatrician as being overweight or obese. Results for the main analyses provided several significant findings. First, results demonstrated that the relation between depressive symptoms and child reported HRQOL was significant. Specifically, depressive domains of interpersonal problems, anhedonia, and negative self-esteem were all significant and negatively related to the child's report of HRQOL. Likewise, the HRQOL domains of physicality, teasing/marginalization, and social avoidance were both significantly and negatively related to depressive symptoms. There was no significant relation between depression and parent's perception of HRQOL or any of their specific domains. Furthermore, the results indicate that there were no significant gender differences and that higher BMI was not associated with an increased relation between child reported HRQOL and depressive symptoms. Finally, parental stress was significantly and negatively related to child and parent reported HRQOL. Implications, limitations, and areas of future research are discussed. / text

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No description available.