Cortical thickness and entheseal robusticity were used to measure the effects of activity and age in a group of 77 adult males from the site of Lisieux-Michelet in northern France. There was no known age at death for this population; age was determined using a series of osteological age estimation methods. Based on the currently available dates for this sample, the skeletal remains were primarily from the Late Roman Period (3rd-7th century AD).The adults were divided into three age categories based on these estimation results. Trends in cortical and entheseal development were measured within and between age categories. Results showed that entheses increased with age while cortical thickness decreased. However, low correlation between these two factors suggests that while entheseal robusticity responds to age, it is highly influenced by physical activity. Activity levels also affect cortical thickness which causes variation within age groups. A comparison of the Lisieux-Michelet entheseal and cortical measurements to both modern and archaeological populations indicated that these males engaged in physically demanding occupations. The degree of activity experienced by these individuals decreased during the middle adult years likely due to a shift to less physically demanding occupations. However, cortical and entheseal data suggest that the old adults from Lisieux-Michelet were not particularly frail and continued to be active even after the decrease in activity during the middle years. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Men die earlier than women in the majority of the countries in the world, including Canada. Men also seek medical care less frequently than their female counterparts and often rather late in the stage of their disease. As well, family physicians traditionally have had very poor, if any, training in male health issues during their residency training. This is true for Canadian family physicians, but also for most family physicians in the world. A literature search was performed to evaluate the training in male health issues around the world. There appears to be a scarcity of literature on this topic. An assessment was conducted to determine how much male health training is delivered in Canadian Family Medicine Residency Training Programs. It turned out to be none to very little in these programs. At the same time, a needs assessment was conducted to determine the need for male health training in these programs and what the content of such training should be. Based on the information obtained through this needs assessment, a draft male health curriculum was created and circulated to an Expert Panel for their critique. The feedback of the Expert Panel was then incorporated into the final version of a proposed curriculum on Male Health for Family Medicine Residency Training Program.

In research on disordered eating in female collegiate athletes, psychosocial correlates including elevated scores on measures of body image concerns, weight pressures, sociocultural internalization, and mood state were found significantly more often in either the eating disorder or symptomatic group as opposed to the asymptomatic group. Unique or nuanced pressures exist for male athletes as well, specifically a different ideal for body image, often described by a drive for muscularity. I examined these effects in a sample of 698 male collegiate athletes. All participants completed questionnaires, which provided measures of drive for muscularity, social desirability, body satisfaction, negative affect, sociocultural pressures, sport weight pressures, and internalization and social comparison among other factors not pertinent for this analysis as part of a larger study. Exploratory factor analysis confirmed the existence of five factors (general and sport pressures, internalization, body dissatisfaction, negative affect and drive for muscularity) to which a sixth was added to reflect dietary intent, all of which are explained in the Petrie and Greenleaf sociocultural model. A logistic regression showed that dietary intent and drive for muscularity differentiated significantly between the symptomatic/eating disordered athletes and those who were asymptomatic.

Petrie and Greenleaf's sociocultural model proposes that athletes experience unique sport environment pressures regarding weight, body size/shape, eating and appearance that increases their risk of developing disordered eating (DE) attitudes and behaviors. Although research in cross-correlational studies has looked at prevalence of eating disorders (ED) and DE behaviors in different sport types, such pressures are likely to vary by sport depending on its unique environment and performance demands. For instance, female athletes in leanness sports experience more body dissatisfaction and societal appearance pressures compared to those in nonleanness sports. Because these effects have been established primarily with female athletes, I examined ED/DE correlates from Petrie and Greenleaf's model with 695 collegiate male athletes who represented five sport types (endurance, ball game, power, technical, weight-dependent) based on a well-established categorization system. Through a series of one-way MANCOVAs (BMI serving as the covariate), I found that sport types were significantly different from each other on all ED/DE correlates except for negative affect. Follow-up analysis revealed that power, endurance, and weight-dependent athletes showed the greatest number of significantly different group centroids, demonstrating distinct profiles among the sport types in their experiences of the ED/DE correlates. Discussion focuses on possible explanations for the research findings, future directions, and clinical implications.

Mortality rates in the United States are higher for men than they are for women as a result of chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Despite these disproportionate rates, few health interventions are targeted to men, and limited knowledge exists regarding the specific components needed to design technology health tools to appeal to men. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationship between the use of technology health tools and the role of self-efficacy in men and the influence on participation in healthy lifestyle behaviors. A quasi-experimental design was used to analyze data collected from the Health Information National Trends Survey (N = 990). A group of men (n = 323) who used technology health tools were compared to a control group of men (n = 667) who did not use technology health tools. Results from the regression analysis indicated that the use of technology health tools for self-management of health behavior had a significant effect on participation in healthy lifestyle behavior (p = .026). Self-efficacy was also found to mediate the relationship between technology health tools and participation in healthy lifestyle behavior (p = .018). This study supports the United States federal government's Healthy People 2020 objective to increase the proportion of people who use Internet health management tools. The implications for positive social change include knowledge for developing targeted technology health interventions to increase the participation of men in healthy lifestyle behavior, reduce the number of men with chronic diseases, improve chronic disease management, and reduce healthcare costs in the United States.