The purpose of this study was to identify predictors of physical inactivity among early adolescents and determine if they varied across weight status, gender, and ethnic groups. A population-based sample of 3,636 7th grade students (The CATCH Cohort) participated in an epidemiological study of nutrition, physical activity, and cardiovascular health in 96 schools located in California, Louisiana, Minnesota, and Texas. The weight category distribution of the sample was as follows: 2.1% underweight (BMI < 5th %), 66.5% normal weight (5th [less than or equal to] BMI<85th %), 16.9% at-risk (85th [less than or equal to] BMI<95th %), and 14.5% overweight (BMI[greater than or equal to]95th %). Physical inactivity was a stronger predictor of weight status category than physical activity for the entire sample (excluding underweight students). The model for physical inactivity, based on sedentary minutes, showed positive and negative support having a direct effect upon sedentary minutes, (p<.001). For adolescents with BMI[greater than or equal to]85th %, however, the model for physical inactivity showed only positive support having a direct effect on sedentary minutes (p<0.05). Females with BMI[greater than or equal to]85th % showed positive and negative support having a direct effect (p<.05), and males with BMI[greater than or equal to]85th % showed negative support having a direct effect (p<.01). White adolescents showed positive and negative support having a direct effect (p<.05), and for Hispanic adolescents, positive support had a direct effect (p<.001). This paper concludes that because physical inactivity appears to be a strong predictor of weight status in adolescent populations, interventions should target physical inactivity by influencing self-efficacy and positive and negative support. Furthermore, better measures of physical inactivity beyond TV/video game usage should be developed, and psychosocial variables that are more strongly associated with sedentary behavior than participation in physical activity should be investigated. / text

Overweight and obesity are two of the most important emerging public health issues in our time and regarded by the World Health Organisation [WHO] (1998) as a worldwide epidemic. The prevalence of obesity in the USA is the highest in the world, and Australian obesity rates fall into second place. Currently, about 60% of Australian adults are overweight (BMI „d 25kg/m2). The socio-demographic factors associated with overweight and/or obesity have been well demonstrated, but many of the existing studies only examined these relationships at one point of time, and did not examine whether significant relationships changed over time. Furthermore, only limited previous research has examined the issue of the relationship between perception of weight status and actual weight status, as well as factors that may impact on people¡¦s perception of their body weight status. Aims: The aims of the proposed research are to analyse the discrepancy between perceptions of weight status and actual weight status in Australian adults; to examine if there are trends in perceptions of weight status in adults between 1995 to 2004/5; and to propose a range of health promotion strategies and furth er research that may be useful in managing physical activity, healthy diet, and weight reduction. Hypotheses: Four alternate hypotheses are examined by the research: (1) there are associations between independent variables (e.g. socio -demographic factors, physical activity and dietary habits) and overweight and/or obesity; (2) there are associations between the same independent variables and the perception of overweight; (3) there are associations between the same independent variables and the discrepancy between weight status and perception of weight status; and (4) there are trends in overweight and/or obesity, perception of overweight, and the discrepancy in Australian adults from 1995 to 2004/5. Conceptual Framework and Methods: A conceptual framework is developed that shows the associations identified among socio -demographic factors, physical activity and dietary habits with actual weight status, as well as examining perception of weight status. The three latest National Health Survey data bases (1995 , 2001 and 2004/5) were used as the primary data sources. A total of 74,114 Australian adults aged 20 years and over were recruited from these databases. Descriptive statistics, bivariate analyses (One -Way ANOVA tests, unpaired t-tests and Pearson chi-square tests), and multinomial logistic regression modelling were used to analyse the data. Findings: This research reveals that gender, main language spoken at home, occupation status, household structure, private health insurance status, and exercise are related to the discrepancy between actual weight status and perception of weight status, but only gender and exercise are related to the discrepancy across the three time point s. The current research provides more knowledge about perception of weight status independently. Factors which affect perception of overweight are gender, age, language spoken at home, private health insurance status, and diet ary habits. The study also finds that many factors that impact overweight and/or obesity also have an effect on perception of overweight, such as age, language spoken at home, household structure, and exercise. However, some factors (i.e. private health insurance status and milk consumption) only impact on perception of overweight. Furthermore, factors that are rel ated to people’s overweight are not totally related to people’s underestimation of their body weight status in the study results. Thus, there are unknown factors which can affect people’s underestimation of their body weight status. Conclusions: Health promotion and education activities should provide education about population health education and promotion and education for particular at risk sub -groups. Further research should take the form of a longitudinal study design ed to examine the causal relationship between overweight and/or obesity and underestimation of body weight status, it should also place more attention on the relationships between overweight and/or obesity and dietary habits, with a more comprehensive representation of SES. Moreover, further research that deals with identification of characteristics about perception of weight status, in particular the underestimation of body weight status should be undertaken.

Research suggests that a multidimensional approach to obesity that addresses physiological, psychological, social, and environmental factors is optimal. Stress and self-esteem, as well as eating and exercise behaviors have been named as important factors in obesity. Curiously, although pets have been shown to reduce stress and are associated with higher self-esteem and cardiovascular health, the relationship between pet ownership and weight status has not been explored. A path analysis of the direct and indirect effects of pet ownership on stress, self-esteem, physical activity, eating behavior, and Body Mass Index failed to reveal a clear path linking pet ownership to weight status.

Magister Artium (Psychology) - MA(Psych) / The phenomenon of obesity is widespread and the obese are increasingly making use of weight loss programmes specifically focused on addressing this population group' s needs. With the increase in statistics regarding obesity comes a simultaneous increase in society's focus on the body-thin ideal. It is in this context that the current study explores women's experiences regarding their weight status. The women in this study all participated in the Healthy Weight Programme at the Sports Science Institute, Cape Town. This programme addresses both the exercise and the eating plan necessary for healthy living. The aims of the study were threefold, namely, to explore what factors the participants believe cause their overweight status, what coping strategies they employ as a buffer against difficulties that may arise as a result of their overweight status (stigmatization and prejudice), and what impact the overweight status has on their psychological wellbeing.

Les traits psychologiques individuels peuvent faciliter ou nuire au contrôle alimentaire et pondéral non seulement chez les obèses, mais également dans l’ensemble de la population. La littérature s’est jusqu’à présent principalement focalisée sur les traits négatifs tels que la restriction ou l’alimentation liée aux émotions négatives. A l’inverse, des traits positifs (ou adaptatifs) tels que l’alimentation intuitive et la pleine conscience pourraient favoriser une alimentation saine et un maintien du poids. L'alimentation intuitive est caractérisée par une consommation motivée par les signaux physiologiques de faim et de satiété plutôt qu’en réponse aux stimuli externes et émotionnels, couplée à une faible préoccupation vis-à-vis de l’alimentation. La pleine conscience est définie par une prise de conscience de l’instant présent sans jugement de valeur. L’objectif principal de ce travail était de mesurer l’alimentation liée aux émotions, l’alimentation intuitive et la pleine conscience dans un large échantillon d’adultes en population générale issus de la cohorte NutriNet-Santé, et d’évaluer leur association avec la consommation alimentaire et le statut pondéral de façon transversale. Chez les femmes, une forte alimentation liée aux émotions était associée à une plus forte consommation d’aliments riches en énergie, en particulier les aliments gras et sucrés. La présence de symptômes dépressifs exacerbait cette association. Pour les hommes, cette relation était mise en évidence seulement chez ceux sans symptômes dépressifs. La version traduite et validée d’un questionnaire d’alimentation intuitive a montré des caractéristiques psychométriques satisfaisantes. Des scores plus élevés aux dimensions « manger pour des raisons physiques plutôt qu’émotionnelles » et « recourir à ses signaux de faim et de satiété» étaient associés à des choix alimentaires bénéfiques pour la santé tandis que des scores plus élevés à la dimension « permission inconditionnelle de manger » étaient associés à une alimentation moins saine. Par ailleurs, l’alimentation intuitive et ses trois dimensions étaient inversement associées au statut pondéral. La disposition de pleine conscience était inversement associée au surpoids et à l’obésité chez les femmes, et à l’obésité chez les hommes. De plus, dans l’ensemble, toutes les dimensions de la pleine conscience (« observation », « description », « agir en pleine conscience », « non-jugement » et « non-réactivité ») étaient inversement associées au statut pondéral chez les femmes tandis que chez les hommes, seules les dimensions « observation » et non-réactivité » l’étaient. De façon cohérente, la pratique de techniques psycho-physiques pouvant développer la pleine conscience était inversement associée au statut pondéral. Ces résultats illustrent l’importance des déterminants psychologiques sur le comportement alimentaire et le statut pondéral. Plus particulièrement, ils montrent l’importance de considérer des conduites positives, et pas uniquement des conduites à risque, à la fois en prévention primaire et secondaire de l’obésité. / Individual psychological traits can positively or adversely affect eating and weight control notonly among obese individuals, but also in the whole population. So far, the literature hasmainly focused on negative traits such as restrained or emotional eating. Yet, positive (oradaptive) traits such as intuitive eating and mindfulness might predispose people to eat morehealthfully and maintain weight. Intuitive eating is defined as generally eating in response tophysiological hunger and satiety signals, and not in response to external and/or emotionalcues, together with low overall preoccupation with food. Mindfulness is defined as nonjudgmentalawareness of the present moment.Our main objective was to quantify emotional eating, intuitive eating and mindfulness in alarge sample of adults from the general population (the NutriNet-Santé cohort) and to assesswhether they were cross-sectionally associated with food intake and weight status.In women, higher emotional eating was associated with higher consumption of energy densesnack foods, and in particular sweet-and-fatty foods. The presence of depressive symptomsexacerbated this association. In men, this association was found in those without depressivesymptoms only.We translated and validated an existing intuitive eating questionnaire into French, and thistranslated version demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties.Higher scores on the dimensions “eating for physical rather than emotional reasons” and“reliance on hunger and satiety cues” were associated with healthier food choices whilehigher scores on the dimension “unconditional permission to eat” were associated with a lesshealthy diet. However, overall intuitive eating and its three dimensions were all inverselyassociated with weight status.Dispositional mindfulness was inversely associated with overweight and obesity in womenand with obesity in men. In addition, overall, all dimensions of mindfulness (“observing”,“describing”, “acting with awareness”, “non-judging” and “non-reactivity”) were inverselyassociated with weight status in women, while only the “observing” and “non-reactivity”dimensions were inversely associated with weight status in men. In line with this, mind-bodypractices, which can help to develop mindfulness, were also inversely associated with weightstatus.These results illustrate the importance of psychological determinants of dietary behavior andweight status. In particular, our results underline the value of considering positive behaviors,and not only behaviors at risk, for both primary and secondary prevention of obesity.

Frequency of family mealtimes has been positively linked to dietary quality and weight status in children; however, there is a lack of research identifying what components of family mealtimes are associated with this positive effect. This study investigated family mealtime components that may impact dietary intake and weight status in children aged 5-11 years. Participants were 50 parent/child pairs (child: age = 7.3 ± 2.0 years, female = 44%, standardized body mass index (zBMI) = 0.55 ± 1.0, overweight/obese = 26.0%; parent: age = 36.8 ± 8.7 years, female = 76%, BMI = 29.0 ± 6.6 kg/m2, overweight/obese = 74.0%) recruited at local doctors’ offices, churches, and a daycare for this cross-sectional study. Children were weighed and measured while parents completed questionnaires on child dietary quality and family mealtimes. The family mealtime questionnaire assessed six mealtime components: which meal, who was present, what type of food was served and eaten, where the food in the meal was prepared and/or eaten, how food was served, and the atmosphere of the meal. Barriers to family mealtimes were also assessed. Parents reported that children’s daily servings consumed were: fruit = 2.1 ± 0.9; vegetables = 2.3 ± 1.1; low-fat dairy = 2.1 ± 1.3; sweetened drinks = 1.5 ± 1.6; and 100% fruit juice = 1.8 ± 1.3. Hierarchical regressions, with child and parent demographics controlled, found that greater frequency of dinner consumed at a restaurant/fast food establishment and limiting the child from eating too much were significantly (p < 0.001) related to greater sweetened drink intake. Not answering the phone or texting during the family meal was significantly (p < 0.05) related to lower fast food frequency. Limiting the child from eating too much was significantly (p < 0.01) related to greater child zBMI. This suggests that family mealtimes eaten within the home, free of distractions, and with set rules may impact on child dietary intake and weight status. Experimental studies are needed to understand the potential cause and effect relationships between these variables.

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Introduction: Health-related behaviours of Canadian adolescents are generally suboptimal. Studies have assessed effectiveness of exercise interventions primarily from an energy balance perspective, but not from a health promotion standpoint. This study assessed the effect of an 8-week aerobic exercise program on dietary intake parameters and eating behaviours of adolescents with a normal weight and excess body weight. Methods: This quasi-experimental study involved 13 male and 13 female adolescents between the age of 14-18 years old (17 normal weight, 9 with excess weight). The intervention consisted of an 8-week aerobic exercise program on cycle ergometers, aiming for 50-75% of heart rate reserve. Diet was assessed in pre- and post-intervention via 24-hour dietary recalls. Two recalls were collected for each condition: pre- intervention, post-intervention on exercise days and post-intervention on non-exercise days. Diet was assessed for the following dietary intake parameters: food quantity, diet quality and eating patterns. Results: The 8-week exercise program led to a decrease in meal size at lunch and dinner, energy density at breakfast, carbohydrate intake as well as a slight shift in eating pattern of participants. At baseline, participants with excess weight had greater number of daily eating occurrences and portion sizes at evening snacks but consumed a smaller percentage of daily energy intake before school, compared to those with a normal weight. Participants with excess weight decreased their total number of eating occurrences, but not those with normal weight. The exercise program did not influence cognitive restraint, uncontrolled eating or emotional eating scores of participants. Conclusion: Significant changes in food quantity and eating pattern parameters, but not in diet quality, were observed following the exercise program. Differences in pre- intervention and in response to the exercise program were observed based on weight status. Future studies with greater sample size are needed to confirm these findings.

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