Alcohol consumption and overweight in women are both becoming more prevalent in the United States. Data from NHANES 1999-2000 and 2001-2002 was collected consisting of non-pregnant women between the ages of 20 and 29 years. Variables measured were BMI, drinking occasions, drinking consumption per week, and women?s perception of their weight. Data was analyzed using chi-square in application to SUDAAN to test significance between variables. Results indicated a correlation between weight perception and drinking occasions per week (p-value 0.013). Nutrition implications suggested that individuals who were classified as overweight had more drinking occasions than individuals classified as underweight.

Approximately 18% of adolescents are obese. Attitudes about Food is a cross sectional study that seeks to identify lifestyle factors associated with adolescent obesity such as fast food consumption, physical activity, attitudes about fast food, and weight perception. The novel aspect of this study is that it seeks to understand how the respondent perceives the health attitudes and behaviors of their closest friends. Subjects were recruited from four youth organizations for a total of 25 participants between the ages of 12-17 years. Respondents completed a 71 item questionnaire, and height and weight were measured by trained interviewers to calculate BMI. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS 19.0), and hypotheses were assessed using correlation coefficients. Obese respondents were more likely than non0obese participants to consume at least three fast food meals in the last week (P < .05). Consuming fast food in the last week of the study was associated with exercising one hour a week or less (P < .01). Agreeing that eating fast food is fun was associated with BMI >= 85th percentile (P < .01). Reporting that friends think eating fast food is healthy was associated with eating fast food three or more times in the last week (P < .04) and exercising one hour a week or less (P < .01). Individuals who reported exercising at least four days a week were likely to agree with the statements "eating fast food will make me fat" (P < .03) and "will increase total fat" (p < .05). Finally, overweight adolescents were more likely to underestimate their weight status compared to normal weight and obese respondents. These findings indicate a clustering of risk factors for obesity. Frequent fast food consumption and infrequent physical activity were associated in the present study which could tip the scales of energy balance. Health professionals could focus on raising awareness of the overall diet quality of adolescents who frequently consume fast food while encouraging healthy, fun alternatives to fast food. Screening for overweight status and eliciting peer support for healthy eating are key elements in reducing adolescent obesity.

Weight perception discrepancy, the difference between a person’s medically classified weight status and their weight status as classified by their body mass index, is a growing problem. Such misperceptions of weight may be a barrier to treatment for weight-related health conditions. Youth who are overweight, but do not feel they are, may be less likely to initiate treatment which places them at a higher risk for many obesity related health conditions. Similarly, youth who are underweight, but do not feel they are, may be at risk for negative health conditions. Social Comparison Theory may provide a tool for evaluating identified discrepancies. Given that minorities have higher obesity rates, it is hypothesized that weight perception discrepancy is higher among these groups as the comparison is with a heavier than normal peers it may be skewed. This study used the Center for Disease Control’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System from 2009 to evaluate weight perception discrepancy among Caucasian, African American and Latino youth. Multinomial logistic regression was used to evaluate discrepancies between these groups. Findings indicated that weight perception discrepancy varied by both gender and ethnicity. Females were more likely to over-estimate their weight category and Latino and African American males were more likely to under-estimate their weight category. Caucasian males were used as the comparison group for all estimations. Social Comparison Theory may provide a plausible explanation for the weight perception discrepancy differences identified for both minorities and females.

In Western cultures, social significations are associated with body weight and shape (Woolf, 1990, as cited by Malson, 1998). Thinness is especially valued and especially for women and girls. As a result, many teenage girls aim to be thinner. This thesis examines five blogs on the website LiveJournal that are written by teenage girls who perceive themselves as overweight and who use blogs to talk about their attempts to lose weight. All five of these girls say that they practice at least one extreme method of weight loss and all of them have dangerously low weight loss goals. Two research questions motivated this study: 1) how do teenage girls who perceive themselves as overweight use blogs in their journeys to lose weight? 2) Can LiveJournal, or any other personal blogging site, provide a useful source for researchers so that they can learn about eating disorders in girls’ own words? The blogs provided a tool by which I could discover first-hand experiences of teenage girls who are trying to lose weight. Essentially, the blogs were used as both the data and the mean by which the data was collected. My results suggest that girls rarely discuss their weight loss practices with family or friends and thus their blogs provide a space where they can share their experiences and receive support and encouragement from other members of their online community who will not judge or stigmatize them. The results of this study are useful for social science researchers in two ways. First, the results provide important information pertaining to first-personal narratives about body image, weight loss and the practice of extreme methods of weight loss by teenage girls who perceive themselves as overweight. Second, the results provide useful information for social researchers seeking to use blog research for their projects. This project highlights the benefits of blog research and provides a sort of how-to for future researchers hoping to use the method. / Thesis (Master, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2013-06-28 00:01:52.273

To date there are no studies focusing on the relationship between subjective social status (SSS) and weight perceptions among young people. This study aims to fill this gap in current available literature by examining associations between youth’s family SSS and individual SSS with their gender, race, body mass index (BMI), and weight perceptions. Questionnaires and BMI data were collected from 1,171 youth participating in the 2008 Global Finals of Destination ImagiNation (DI) hosted by the University of Tennessee. Participants ranged in ages 11 to 18 years. Regression analyses indicated that gender, race and individual SSS were significant predictors of BMI. Gender was the only significant predictor of underweight perceptions, while gender, race, and individual SSS were predictors of overweight perceptions. Results for outcomes based on two grade levels, middle school and high school, are also discussed. Findings have implications of gender and racial differences for BMI and weight perception status. Lastly, individual SSS within the school community was a significant predictor of both BMI and overweight perception.

To date there are no studies focusing on the relationship between subjective social status (SSS) and weight perceptions among young people. This study aims to fill this gap in current available literature by examining associations between youth’s family SSS and individual SSS with their gender, race, body mass index (BMI), and weight perceptions. Questionnaires and BMI data were collected from 1,171 youth participating in the 2008 Global Finals of Destination ImagiNation (DI) hosted by the University of Tennessee. Participants ranged in ages 11 to 18 years. Regression analyses indicated that gender, race and individual SSS were significant predictors of BMI. Gender was the only significant predictor of underweight perceptions, while gender, race, and individual SSS were predictors of overweight perceptions. Results for outcomes based on two grade levels, middle school and high school, are also discussed. Findings have implications of gender and racial differences for BMI and weight perception status. Lastly, individual SSS within the school community was a significant predictor of both BMI and overweight perception.

Young children’s attention to a variety of object features has been studied. However, very few studies have examined young children’s understanding of object weight. In order to investigate developmental changes in perception and categorization of weight, three tasks were given to 59 18-month-old to 3-year-old children. Three age groups (20; 27 and 34 months old) were analyzed for the final results. The first two tasks used a familiarization and novelty preference paradigm in which attention was assessed by measuring each child’s looking time. The first task’s goal was to evaluate young children’s ability to discriminate objects on the basis of weight. Children were familiarized with an object of one weight and then tested with an identical looking object that had a novel weight. Half of the subjects were familiarized to a heavy weight and half to a light weight object. Results showed a decrease in looking time over the familiarization trials (p = .0001) and an increase in attention to the novel weight (p = .0001). Thus, all children in the first task were able to discriminate object weight. Additional analyses for the first task assessed physical discrimination of object weight by examining the amount of arm movement each child exhibited within 250 milliseconds after taking an object. A significant difference in arm movement was found between the last familiarization and novel weight trials of the heavy (p = .0097) and light (p = .0001) conditions. The second task’s goal was to evaluate children’s ability to attend to object weight when appearance varies. Children were familiarized to four objects that had the same weight but differed in appearance. Half of the subjects were familiarized to heavy objects and half to light objects. After familiarization, the children were tested with one object that had the same weight but a different appearance and another object that had the same appearance but a different weight. Results revealed that the children’s looking time decreased over the familiarization trials (p = .0001). Analyses of test trials revealed that only the two older age groups had significant novelty preference scores for both the new weight and new appearance trials. The third task used a balance scale to measure understanding of weight by observing a child’s ability to pick a heavy object to make a balance scale tip. Children were given a light and heavy object with the same appearance and asked to choose which one would tip the balance scale. Results showed that only 34 month olds had significantly more correct trials (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the study’s results indicated that all young children are capable of discriminating object weight when familiarized to one object but that only the two older age groups were significantly capable of doing this when familiarized to more than one object. Results also indicated that only 34 month olds were capable of using weight differences in a more functional way, namely to tip a balance scale.

Introduction There is limited research on the relation between weight misperceptions and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among U.S. adolescents. Methods Baseline data (n = 1509) collected in 2012 from the Team Up for Healthy Living project were used. Measures included BMI percentiles calculated from measured height and weight; self-perception of weight status; and the 23-item PedsQL™ Inventory. Multiple linear regression was performed after adjustment for covariates to examine associations between weight misperception and HRQoL. Results Compared to accurate weight perception, weight underestimation was associated with higher total HRQoL (β = 2.41), physical health (β = 2.77), and emotional (β = 2.83), social (β = 2.47) and psychosocial functioning (β = 2.38) (all p < 0.05). Weight overestimation was associated with lower social functioning (β = −13.13, p < 0.05). Stratified by gender, associations were observed only in males. Discussion Weight underestimation had greater association with HRQoL than weight overestimation; and varied by gender. Better understanding of these associations will assist in improving the health of adolescents in Southern Appalachia.

Physical properties of objects are some of the features that are lost when users are immersed in today's virtual environments that usually only provide visual and auditory stimuli. In a quest to recover the physical perception of touch, in this work, we present two different studies to assess how force feedback applied solely on the wrist can convey weight. This localized approach is implemented with a wearable device, which is an advantage regarding mobility. Part of our motivation comes from balance tasks that involve interaction with objects, where there is a need to perceive their weight.We first propose an experiment to assess how we can use the force feedback on the wrist to alter the weight perception when manipulating physical props in VR.Then, we implement and evaluate two experiments in several days setting with a single participant, using only virtual representations of the objects. In the first experiment, we propose a task involving ordering objects, from the lightest to the heaviest. The second experiment also assesses weight perception, but at this time, asking the participants to compare only two objects grabbed at distinct points. In both procedures, the tasks are repeated hundreds of times to remove any bias that can come from memorizing the orders and combinations presented. From these studies, we found that the force stimuli localized on the wrist are sufficient to convey weight information. We also found that grabbing the objects at different points affects the perceived weight to a certain extent due to how the two motion axes of the wrist are placed. The behavior we observed in weight discrimination, and its limitations are equivalent to the ones found in previous studies performed using real weights.Besides these studies, an additional contribution of this work is an effective experimental design relying on a single participant in a long term setting.

This exploratory study investigated how perception of heaviness and presence in the virtual reality experience is affected by limitations in the velocity with which a virtual object is lifted. An interaction method aiming to urge the user to lift certain objects at a certain velocity was designed, developed and evaluated in an iterative manner. Two cycles of user tests were conducted to explore and refine the interaction method. Subsequently, based upon the proposed interaction method, a room scale virtual reality puzzle game was developed and evaluated with a between-subject user test. Results indicated that the proposed interaction method bear potential to give users a notion regarding the heaviness of virtual objects, without affecting the presence of the VR experience. However, the results did not show clear signs in regard to limiting the participants' lift velocity. Ultimately, the interaction method needs further research. / Denna undersökande studie studerade hur uppfattningen av tyngd och sinnesnärvaro i den virtuella verkligheten påverkas av begränsningar i hastigheten med vilken ett virtuellt objekt lyfts. En interaktionsmetod som syftade till att uppmana användaren att lyfta vissa objekt med en viss hastighet utformades, utvecklades och utvärderades på ett iterativt sätt. Två cykler av användartester genomfördes för att utforska och förfina interaktionsmetoden. Därefter, baserat på den föreslagna interaktionsmetoden, utvecklades och utvärderades ett virtuellt verklighetspusselspel med ett användartest. Resultaten indikerade att den föreslagna interaktionsmetoden har potential att ge användarna en uppfattning om tyngden hos virtuella objekt utan att negativt påverka sinnesnärvaron i VR-upplevelsen. Resultaten visade emellertid inte tydliga tecken när det gäller att begränsa deltagarnas lyfthastighet. I slutändan behöver interaktionsmetoden ytterligare forskning.