Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2003. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 155-172). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 80-87). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--York University, 2000. Graduate Programme in Psychology. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 123-142). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pNQ56225

Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 2000. Graduate Programme in Kinesiology and Health Science. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 63-74). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pMQ56198.

Self-objectification is the process by which women take on a third-person perspective in evaluating their physical appearance and sexual attributes. Objectification theory states that self-objectification may lead to negative mental health outcomes in women; a growing body of cross-sectional and experimental research supports the connection between self-objectification and the experience of shame, disordered eating, depression, and sexual dysfunction. This study sought to evaluate an intervention designed to reduce self-objectification behaviors and beliefs in order to prevent the development of disordered eating, depression, and sexual dysfunction. An efficacious prevention program using cognitive dissonance induction was adapted to target self-objectification. The efficacy of the self-objectification dissonance intervention was evaluated in comparison to an expressive writing control condition. The self-objectification intervention was also compared to an existing empirically supported cognitive dissonance intervention targeting beliefs regarding the thin-ideal to determine whether or not this intervention provided added benefits in reducing risk factors for disordered eating and depression. A sample of 119 undergraduate females was recruited to participate in the study. Participants were randomized to one of three conditions: the self-objectification dissonance intervention, the thin-ideal dissonance intervention, or the expressive writing control group. All participants completed a baseline assessment and two intervention sessions over a three week period. One month following the completion of the second intervention session, participants were asked to complete a follow up assessment. Change in target outcome variables from baseline to post-intervention were evaluated using hierarchical linear models. Maintenance of treatment outcomes from post-intervention to 1 month follow up was evaluated using mixed factor analysis of variance. Results indicated that significant changes in outcome variables (body shame, disordered eating, body satisfaction, depression symptoms, and sexual self-consciousness) and mediating variables (self-surveillance, self-objectification, thin-ideal internalization) were associated with all three groups. The self-objectification dissonance intervention was associated with a greater reduction in self-surveillance compared to the control group but not with the thin-ideal dissonance intervention. For all groups, there were no significant changes in outcome and mediating variables from post-intervention to 1 month follow up. Participants in the self-objectification dissonance intervention, though, did continue to experience a decrease in self-surveillance over the one month follow up period compared to the thin-ideal dissonance group. Overall, results did not support that a self-objectification dissonance intervention is associated with significant reductions in eating disorder and depression risk factors above and beyond a general expressive writing task and existing intervention programs. These findings suggest that there is limited utility in specifically targeting objectification processes in prevention programs. Implications of study findings for future eating disorder and mental health prevention program designs are discussed.

Theory suggests that cognitive biases in obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) may occur in individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) and anorexia nervosa /eating disorder not otherwise specified (AN/EDNOS), which may partly explain the large co-morbidity between the two disorders. The aim of the current study was to investigate the cognitive biases of inflated responsibility (IR) and perfectionism in children and adolescents who had been diagnosed with AN and AN/EDNOS. An additional aim was to investigate the relationship between IR and perfectionism and to test an interaction effect on AN severity. The relationship between young people and their parents’ levels of inflated responsibility was also investigated. A cross-sectional multi-site pilot study using standardised questionnaires was conducted. Full ethical approval was gained and 30 young people diagnosed with AN and AN/EDNOS and 32 of their parents participated. This included 22 matched pairs of children and parents. Children and adolescents with AN and AN/EDNOS reported significantly higher levels of IR and perfectionism, compared to the published data for non-clinical norms. Self-orientated perfectionism was associated with frequency of IR thoughts. There was also a significant interaction effect: young people who had a higher frequency of IR thoughts and self-orientated perfectionism had lower BMIs. Parents reported higher levels of IR compared to the published non-clinical norms, but there was no relationship between child and parent IR. Further independent replication of these results is needed. IR and perfectionism should be considered in the assessment and treatment of child and adolescent AN and AN/EDNOS, both in individual and systemic interventions. This research also adds to the growing body of literature examining cognitive biases of OCD in an AN population, which may offer some insight into the overlap between the two disorders.

No description available.

The purpose of this dissertation was to undertake a conceptualization and empirical "mapping" of the ethic-of-care domain - often characterized as self-referential and lacking in rigor. The current focus is upon conventional forms of care, involving notions of moral "goodness" as self-silencing and -sacrificial. Employing a "super" circumplex as a prescriptive and descriptive tool, projected item analyses were undertaken as a theoretico-structural clarification of existing scale items, along with a provisional pool of additional items generated as part of Study 1. Based in part on proposed circular criteria, the Conventional Care Scales (CCS) were developed and submitted to a conjoint principal components analysis along with the battery of other care/dependency scale items. An examination of item circular distributions, factor loadings, alpha-contribution plots, and thematic content revealed several factors expressive of two "faces" of conventional care, submissive and ingenuous. These two forms were shown to have unique correlates with measures of adjustment, interpersonal competencies, other factors of the Five-Factor Model, false-self beliefs, and reported distress in narrated accounts of rejected care giving. Gender differences in the association between indices of adjustment and conventional care were also found. The range of conventional care was also extended through the development of scales reflecting other-directed and socially prescribed dimensions of conventional care. The factor structure for the CSS was also replicated in a second sample (Study 2). Participants for Studies 1 and 2 were composed of undergraduate students (N = 302 in both samples) who completed a battery of questionnaires in the first study and the CCS alone in the second study. Anticipating future clinical directions, secondary analyses using structural equation modelling were conducted on an existing data set (N = 92) which included measures of conventional care and perfectionism, along with indices of psychological adjustment and eating disordered attitudes. Results indicated that conventional care, for which there is little research, was more predictive of adjustment and eating disordered attitudes than perfectionism, for which there exists a large clinical literature. This research contributes to an understanding of ways in which an ethic of care can "go awry," as well as proposes a research platform upon which the clinical implications of morality and self-ideals can be investigated. These findings speak to both the constraints and prescriptions that can inform a philosophical ethic of care.

This quantitative study examined body image and disordered eating in older males. Using a series of questionnaires and demographic questions, two research questions were explored: a) What are the characteristics of older males in terms of eating and body image? and b) Are disordered eating behaviors among older males related to dissatisfaction with body image, specifically physical appearance or physical functioning? Paired samples t-tests revealed that older males rated their ideal body figure as significantly smaller than their current figure, t(35) = -5.53, p < .01, which indicates the presence of body dissatisfaction. Twenty percent of participants were found to be at risk for disordered eating attitudes and behaviors. Furthermore, a correlation was found between disordered eating attitudes and body dissatisfaction particularly as it relates to physical appearance, (r(33) = -.486, p < .01).

A cross-sectional and longitudinal examination of thin-ideal internalization and self-objectification was conducted within the context of an eating disorder prevention program. The sample consisted of 177 undergraduate women enrolled in a sorority between the ages of 18 and 22 who participated in a dissonance-based eating disorder prevention program. Participants completed self-report assessments at baseline, post-intervention, 5-month, and 1-year follow-up. Measures included the Ideal-Body Stereotype Scale-Revised, Self-Objectification Questionnaire, Body Shape Questionnaire, and Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire. A cross-sectional path analysis indicated that thin-ideal internalization and self-objectification predict each other and both predict body dissatisfaction, which in turn, predicts eating disorder symptoms. A longitudinal examination of the prevention program indicated that participants showed significant reductions in thin-ideal internalization, self-objectification, body dissatisfaction, and eating disorder symptoms after participating in a cognitive dissonance eating disorder prevention program. Significant reductions of all symptoms were maintained at 1-year follow-up, with the exception of self-objectification, which had a significant reduction up to the 5-month assessment. A longitudinal path analysis indicated that post-intervention thin-ideal internalization and self-objectification predicted body dissatisfaction at 5-month follow-up assessments which in turn predicted eating disorder symptoms at this same time point. This model was replicated for 1-year follow-up body dissatisfaction and eating disorder symptoms with the exception of the direct path from self-objectification to body dissatisfaction. Assessment of temporal sequence of change between self-objectification and thin-ideal internalization revealed that neither variable significantly predicted meaningful change in the other variable. Finally, individuals who showed meaningful change in self-objectification before showing meaningful reduction in thin-ideal internalization from baseline to post-intervention assessments had greater reductions in eating disorder symptoms 1-year following the intervention. Collectively, these results suggest that eating disorder prevention programs should focus on targeting both thin-ideal internalization and self-objectification simultaneously to increase further the reduction of eating disorder symptoms.