This study examined the influence of social control and differential association on an individual\'s alcohol consumption.  It was hypothesized that the four bonds of social control: attachment, involvement, commitment, and belief will decrease the likelihood of engaging in excessive drinking behaviors (Hirschi 1969). Hawdon\'s (1996) revised version of involvement that accounts for differences in the visibility of activities will be used instead of the traditional idea of involvement. This study compared the drinking behavior of college and non-college students. It was also hypothesized that having peer groups that engage in excessive drinking behaviors will influence the amount of alcohol that an individuals consume, because they are attempting to remain a part of that peer group (Sutherland 1947). This study used the Add Health  data set to tests these hypotheses. / Master of Science

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The central aim of the present study was to examine the role of expectancies in binge eating behavior. Two distinct statistical techniques were used to accomplish this goal. First, regression analyses were conducted using variables previously identified in the literature, as well as eating expectancies as measured by the Eating Expectancy Inventory (EEI). For both females and males, regression equations including expectancies accounted for a substantial portion of the variance in binge eating behavior. Second, memory modeling techniques were used to model the probable organization of eating expectancies. Memory modeling of hypothetical expectancy networks has lead to successful interventions in alcohol use, and preliminary work in eating revealed a fundamental difference in the way that individuals with high levels of pathology activate and store eating related messages. In the present study, Individual Differences Scaling was used to model the two-dimensional organization of an eating expectancy memory network in relation to binge eating. INDSCAL weights indicated that participants with higher levels of binge eating placed more emphasis on the positive-negative dimension, and examination of group means revealed that high binge eaters expected more change in mood in response to eating. All findings are discussed in terms of implications for enhancing assessment, treatment, and prevention strategies.

Research suggests binge eating (BE) is equally prevalent across racial/ethnic groups. However, the majority of data concerning the assessment and treatment of BE come from clinical trials or specialty clinics where racial/ethnic minorities are underrepresented. Data regarding symptoms and treatment are needed from urban clinical settings where minorities are more likely to seek treatment. The current study assessed racial/ethnic group differences in BE prevalence, clinical and cognitive symptoms, and treatment retention in an ethnically-diverse weight loss treatment-seeking sample. Participants included 127 Hispanic, 204 African-American and 99 Caucasian adults who completed self-report measures of BE frequency, distress, eating-related cognitive symptoms including shape and weight concerns and dietary restraint, depression, stress, and treatment barriers. Data concerning number of treatment sessions attended and body mass index (BMI) were collected at 6-month follow up. The first study developed and validated the Dimensional Assessment of Loss of Control Eating (DALC) scale. The 2-factor DALC demonstrated good internal consistency and convergent, construct and incremental validity. The DALC contributed to variance in eating pathology and depression beyond existing BE measures. The second study examined racial/ethnic differences in BE prevalence, eating-related cognitive symptoms, and BMI. As hypothesized, no racial/ethnic differences in BE frequency were found and the rate of recurrent BE was 20% to 30%; participants with recurrent BE had higher BMIs, levels of depression, and global eating pathology than individuals without; African-American participants with BE had higher BMIs than other racial/ethnic groups, controlling for demographic variables. The hypotheses that Hispanic participants have higher weight and shape concerns, and that African-Americans have higher levels of restraint, were not supported. The third study examined the hypothesis that ethnicity is associated with obesity treatment retention and outcome. African-American participants had lower retention rates than Hispanics and Caucasians combined, and had lower levels of obesity-based stigma, which accounted for their lower retention rates. African-Americans lost less weight than Caucasians but this difference disappeared after accounting for age and income. The findings suggest high BE rates among racial/ethnic minorities at a common entry point for health services utilization. Stigma and African-American ethnicity should be considered when developing retention interventions.

BACKGROUND: Theories suggest two motivations that drive people to consume alcohol at pathological levels: (1) seeking of short-term pleasurable effects and (2) alleviation of unpleasant states. The former is associated with binge drinking (BD; i.e. high intake during fewer occasions) and the latter with heavy drinking (HD; substantial intake during more occasions). Although direct comparisons have not been made, BD has been associated with impairments in top-down executive control (related to frontal-parietal regions) and HD has been linked to bottom-up changes in internal mentation (related to the default mode network anatomical structure and function). This dissertation compares the two drinking patterns with the goal of testing for differential neurocognitive and neuroanatomical characteristics that would be indicative of two disorder subtypes. METHODS: The sample consisted of adult participants with a history of adolescent onset: BD (N = 16), HD (N = 15), and Healthy Controls (HC; N = 21). All groups were equated on age, education, amount of lifetime alcohol consumed (BD and HD groups), as well as other factors. The study compared group performance on an affective go/no go task and group differences in brain volume and cortical thickness based on structural MRI. RESULTS: Behavioral results showed a higher number of errors for the HD group, in comparison to other groups. Volumetric results indicated a smaller bilateral ventral diencephalon in both BD and HD, in comparison to the HC, and smaller bilateral globus pallidus in BD only. Cortical thickness analyses revealed a thinner left superior parietal region (overlapping with the dorsal attention and fronto-parietal networks) in BD, whereas a left medial occipito-parietal region was thicker in HD (overlapping mainly with the visual network). CONCLUSION: These data, interpreted in the context of prior studies, suggest that BD findings might be indicative of an executive control dysregulation that could contribute to continued BD. HD findings might be indicative of tissue damage due to frequent drinking. Prior research has found the occipital region to have the highest concentration γ-Aminobutyric acid receptors that are affected by alcohol, which might explain the thicker occipital region findings in the HD group.

Netflix är en streamingtjänst som har hjälpt till att mynta termen för fenomenet binge-tittande, vilket i det här arbetet definieras som att titta på minst tre avsnitt av en serie i sträck. Tjänsten använder sig av en funktion som kallas automatisk uppspelning som förhandsgranskar nästa avsnitt av en TV-serie efter att användaren har avslutat föregående avsnitt och därefter automatiskt spelar upp det efter ett antal sekunder har passerat. Frågan som undersöks i denna uppsats är huruvida automatisk uppspelning på Netflix har en inverkan på hur mycket användare binge-tittar. Detta i hopp om att användare som binge-tittar kan bli mer medvetna om en eventuell inverkan funktionen har på deras tittarvanor och därför kan göra ett mer informerat val kring att använda funktionen eller inte. Relaterad forskning som är relevant för det här arbetet är studier om flow experience, beroende, dark design patterns och tidigare undersökningar kring Netflix. Frågeställningen undersöktes genom att genomföra intervjuer med en testgrupp av studenter från KTH samt dokumentera, jämföra och analysera data från deras tittarhistorik på Netflix. Testgruppen blev ombedda att inaktivera automatisk uppspelning i en vecka och historiken från testperioden jämfördes sedan med den från veckan innan. Resultatet från studien visar att inaktiveringen av funktionen ledde till en minskning på 45 minuter av den tid som individerna binge-tittade per tillfälle. Däremot hittades ingen signifikant inverkan på tittarvanorna hos testpersonerna i form av antalet tillfällen och hur länge de binge-tittade, samt hur många avsnitt de såg per binge-tillfälle. Det konstaterades även att inaktiveringen av automatisk uppspelning ökade medvetenheten om testgruppens binge-tittande, vilket talar för att automatisk uppspelning ökar användarens flow experience. Detta skulle eventuellt kunna medföra att funktionen ökar risken för ett beroende av binge-tittande. Andra aspekter som upptäcktes under undersökningen men inte undersöktes vidare och därför kan vara fokuspunkter för efterföljande studier inkluderar den inverkan automatisk uppspelning har på tittarvanor när användaren binge-tittar aktivt versus passivt samt vid binge-tittande på olika enheter. / Netflix is a streaming service that has helped coin the term for the phenomenon of binge watching, which in this essay is defined as watching at least three episodes of a tv-series back-to-back. Netflix provides a feature called post-play which previews the next episode of a TV series after having finished the previous one and then automatically plays it after a couple of seconds. The question examined in this essay is whether post-play on Netflix has a significant impact on the extent to which users binge watch. This is done in the hope of making users who binge watch more aware of any possible influence the feature can have on their binging-habits and therefore being able to make a more informed choice about disabling post-play or not. Related research that was relevant to this paper include studies on flow experience, addiction, dark design patterns and previous studies surrounding Netflix. The thesis was investigated by conducting interviews with a test group of students from KTH as well as documenting, comparing and analyzing their viewing-history on Netflix. The test group was asked to disable post-play during a week and the viewing-history from the test period was then compared to that from the week before. The results of the study showed that disabling of the feature led to the users reducing the amount of time they spent binge-watching per binge-session by 45 minutes. There was however no evidence of the function having a significant impact on the viewing-habits of the subjects in terms of the amount of episodes watched per binge-session or the overall amount of instances and hours they binge-watched during the test period. It was found that the disabling of post-play raised the awareness of binge watching in the subject, which indicates that post-play increases the flow experience for the user. This would subsequently suggest that the feature heightens the risk for addiction to binge watching. Aspects that were discovered but not examined and could therefore be focus points of subsequent studies include the impact of post-play on viewing habits when binge watching actively vs passively and when binge watching on different units.

This study investigated the extent biological, cultural, and psychological factors predispose individuals to eating disorders and compared the prevalence between (N = 103) male and female students (18-27 years of age) from Mississippi State University (MSU). Data was collected from the Eating Disorder Screen for Primary Care (ESP), a media consumption questionnaire, the Contour Drawing Rating Scale (CDRS), the Diet History Questionnaire III (DHQ III), the Eating Attitudes Test-26 (EAT-26), and the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale. Age of onset was collected if participants identified as having an eating disorder. Data was analyzed using the Mann-Whitey U test and Pearson correlations to determine biological, cultural, and psychological susceptibility. This study determined that there are significant biological, cultural, and psychological predispositions that should be considered when diagnosing and treating individuals with eating disorders. Findings from MSU students were compared to current evidence and provides a basis for the development of future studies.

Diagnostic practices utilized in studies of participants with Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, and Binge-Eating Disorder were investigated. A reliable coding system was used by two reviewers to analyze the diagnostic documentation practices in articles from the top-thirty most cited articles for each diagnostic category. Interrater agreements were all above .95. Results showed that many important diagnostic practices and criteria are either not being employed or not being documented. Uniform reporting procedures are necessary to help readers know how each article’s sampling procedure and subject pool differs from other samples used in the literature. Researchers reported the most details about sample characteristics with the recently proposed Binge-Eating Disorder category. Discussion focuses on identifying the specific diagnostic and sampling procedures deserving better documentation in the eating disorder literatures.