In recent decades, men have been bombarded with images in society that depict the "ideal" male: strong, muscular, lean, with perfect features. What many adolescents do not realize is that most of the male bodies that they idealize can be acquired only with the use of anabolic steroids. Thus, many adolescent boys find themselves pursuing a body…

This longitudinal study of adolescent girls and boys examined the contributions of social (peer appearance context), psychological (internalized appearance ideals and appearance social comparison), and biological (body mass) factors to the development of body dissatisfaction. Students (165 girls and 139 boys) completed questionnaires when they…

Identifying and intervening with overweight children may decrease their likelihood of developing heart disease later in life. This secondary analysis of 58 children in the 3rd grade examined the prevalence of overweight children, methods for measuring overweight status, and the relationship among these measures and other risk factors for heart…

The authors' purpose in this action study was to examine the effect of a 10-week intervention, using the Disconnected Values Model (DVM), on changes in selected measures of fitness, blood lipids, and exercise adherence among 51 university faculty (10 men and 41 women) from a school in the southeastern United States. The DVM is an intervention…

The authors focus on the special issues involved in providing counseling to aging gay men regarding sex and intimacy. Although the stresses of aging experienced by gay men are similar to those of heterosexual men, older gay men face issues of a stigmatized sexual orientation, invisibility, negative stereotypes, and discrimination regarding aging.

Background: Inconsistent findings exist regarding correlates of physical activity (PA) in the literature. Leisure-time physical activity among U.S. adults has declined for the last decade. Purpose: This article examines differences in vigorous-intensity and moderate-intensity physical activity by gender, race/ethnicity, age, education, and income…

Background: Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a congenital alteration of chromosome pair 15. It is characterized by short stature, muscular hypotonia, hyperphagia, obesity, behavioural and emotional disturbances, hypogonadism and partial Growth Hormone (GH) deficiency. The aim of this study was to assess the long-term effect of GH treatment on the…

Background: Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is associated with a characteristic behavioural phenotype whose main features are, alongside compulsive hyperphagia, deficits in social behaviour: social withdrawal, temper tantrums, perseverative speech and behaviour, mental rigidity, stereotyped behaviour, impulsiveness, etc. Similar symptoms may also be…

Background: Suicide is one of the most common causes of death among young people. A report from the US Surgeon General called for strategies to prevent suicide, including increasing public awareness of suicide and risks factors, and enhancing research to understand risk and protective factors. Weight perception has been linked to depression and…

In developed countries, obesity tends to be associated with worse labor market outcomes. One possible reason is that obesity leads to less human capital formation early in life. This paper investigates the association between obesity and the developmental functioning of children at younger ages (2-4 years) than ever previously examined. Data from…

Unlike traditional interventions, Internet interventions allow for objective tracking and examination of the usage of program components. Student Bodies (SB), an online eating disorder (ED) prevention program, significantly reduced ED attitudes/behaviors in college-aged women with high body image concerns, and reduced the development of EDs in…

The present study was designed to determine the weight-based stigmatization of Mexican overweight (OW) and non-OW children by their mothers and peers, who rated both boys and girls with varying physical characteristics. Four hundred and thirty-two fifth and sixth graders and 342 mothers participated in the study. Children were administered a…

Interest in the relationship between health behaviours and academic achievement has recently intensified in the face of an epidemic of childhood and adolescent obesity and converging school reforms in the United States and other nations with advanced economies. Epidemiologic research has demonstrated that poor diet and lack of adequate physical…

This research examined whether body dissatisfaction prospectively predicted depressive mood and low self-esteem in adolescent girls and boys 5 years later. Participants were early-adolescent girls (n = 440, Time 1 M age = 12.7 years) and boys (n = 366, Time 1 M age = 12.8 years) and midadolescent girls (n = 946, Time 1 M age = 15.8 years) and boys…

Adolescent boys (n = 269) were assessed for levels of several risky behaviors related to the pursuit of muscularity, including substance use (anabolic steroids, prohormones, and ephedrine) dieting to gain weight, and symptoms of muscle dysmorphia (MD). The association between these behaviors and a variety of putative biological, psychological, and…