[Truncated abstract] Eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are serious illnesses associated with severe psychological, physiological, and psychosocial impairments. Subclinical eating disorders and eating disorder symptoms affect a significant proportion of the female population and a smaller proportion of the male population. Recent evidence also supports the presence of clinically significant eating disorder symptoms in children (Madden, Morris, Zurynski, Kohn, & Elliot, 2009; Nicholls, Lynn, & Viner, 2011; Pinhas, Morris, Crosby, & Katzman, 2011). Given the pervasiveness of body image disturbance and the significant prevalence of eating disorder symptomatology among both males and females of all ages, there is a growing need to effectively prevent and treat eating disorders. Empirical studies identifying and delineating the risk and maintaining factors associated with eating disorders are therefore essential. Researchers have identified a number of individual, interpersonal, biological, and sociocultural factors that appear to contribute to the development and maintenance of eating disorders. Of interest to this thesis was one specific individual factor, self-objectification, and how it interacts with other putative risk factors to predict eating disorder symptoms. Whilst this putative risk factor has received adequate attention in young adult populations, the etiological significance of self-objectification in the development of body surveillance, body image disturbance, and disordered eating in young children has not been clearly established. Accordingly, within the context of objectification theory, this thesis aimed to longitudinally examine the role of self-objectification in the development of eating disorder symptoms in 6- to 11-year-old boys and girls. This aim was accomplished in three broad studies. The first study of this thesis (Chapter 3) modified currently available measures of self-objectification (Self-Objectification Questionnaire; SOQ) and objectified body consciousness (Objectified Body Consciousness Scale for Youth; OBC-Y) in adults and adolescents for use with a child sample. The psychometric properties of these modified measures were then examined. Results suggest that scores on modified versions of the OBC-Y and SOQ may provide researchers with psychometrically sound measures of the key components of objectification theory in children (particularly girls), thereby facilitating the research conducted in Study 2...

Our understanding of eating disorders has improved markedly over the past 10 years since the publication of the previous edition of this volume. Early intervention is the key, as body dissatisfaction, obsession with thinness, and restrained and binge eating can be found in those as young as ten. Exploring prevention methods and therapeutic options,

Examines the relationship between body image disturbances and eating disorders in our most vulnerable population: children and adolescents. The editors present a dynamic approach that combines current research, assessment techniques, and suggestions for treatment and prevention. This volume delivers direction for researchers in the field as well as guidance for practitioners and clinicians working with young clients suffering from these disorders.

This book takes a unique approach to the examination of the eating disorder, anorexia nervosa (and bulimia). White, middle-class, heterosexual women share their insights into the emergence of their illnesses through detailed interviews that consider perceptions of the role of family, the influence of cultural messages regarding thinness and beauty, the agency these women exert in the use of weight control to cope with life’s stressors, the meaning they attach to their eating disorders and how these issues together perpetuate their disease. The book uses a Symbolic Interactionist framework and a grounded theory approach to examine the narratives which emerge from these women’s stories. Themes of family, culture, and self arise in their narratives; these form the theoretical underpinnings for this book, and combine to shape the comprehensive model of eating disorders that emerges from this study. Haworth-Hoeppner’s book will appeal to researchers and advanced students of sociology, women’s studies, family studies, social psychology, and gender studies.

Eating disorder symptoms and risk factors, such as body dissatisfaction, thin-ideal internalization and self-objectification are increasing in prevalence and are being seen in girls at younger ages. However, little is known about the onset and development of these symptoms in girls under the age of 10. Identifying the age of onset and factors that foster the development of these symptoms is pertinent to developing age appropriate eating disorder prevention programs. The aim of the current study is to explore the age of onset and factors that influence the development of thin-ideal internalization, self-objectification, body dissatisfaction, and eating disorder symptoms in 5 to 7 year old girls. Since previous research has identified mothers' as influential in the development of body dissatisfaction and eating disorder symptoms in adolescent girls, the current study will explore the mother-daughter relationship in a younger sample with regards to eating disorder symptoms. Participants for the current study included 151 mother-daughter pairs. Each pair completed individual mirror exposure exercises and a joint mirror exposure exercise with both mother and daughter participating. Mothers then completed a survey on their own self-objectification, thin-ideal internalization, body dissatisfaction, and eating disorder symptoms. Daughters completed a semi-structured interview to assess these same constructs. Demographic information was provided by mothers, and body mass indexes were directly measured for both mothers and daughters. Results from the current study indicate that girls as young as 5 years old are beginning to report experiencing self-objectification, thin-ideal internalization, body dissatisfaction, and eating disorder symptoms, with most of these variables steadily increasing as age increases. Additionally, mothers' comments about her own body dissatisfaction in the presence of her daughter can directly impact their daughters' comments about their own bodies, with mothers who make more negative comments about their bodies having daughters who also make more negative comments about their own bodies. These results can be used to aid the development of prevention programs designed to educate mothers on the impact they have on their daughters, as well as ways that they can shape their daughters' body image to be more positive in an effort to prevent eating disorder symptoms. The electronic version of this dissertation is accessible from http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/155371

The Encyclopedia of Adolescence breaks new ground as an important central resource for the study of adolescence. Comprehensive in breath and textbook in depth, the Encyclopedia of Adolescence – with entries presented in easy-to-access A to Z format – serves as a reference repository of knowledge in the field as well as a frequently updated conduit of new knowledge long before such information trickles down from research to standard textbooks. By making full use of Springer’s print and online flexibility, the Encyclopedia is at the forefront of efforts to advance the field by pushing and creating new boundaries and areas of study that further our understanding of adolescents and their place in society. Substantively, the Encyclopedia draws from four major areas of research relating to adolescence. The first broad area includes research relating to "Self, Identity and Development in Adolescence". This area covers research relating to identity, from early adolescence through emerging adulthood; basic aspects of development (e.g., biological, cognitive, social); and foundational developmental theories. In addition, this area focuses on various types of identity: gender, sexual, civic, moral, political, racial, spiritual, religious, and so forth. The second broad area centers on "Adolescents’ Social and Personal Relationships". This area of research examines the nature and influence of a variety of important relationships, including family, peer, friends, sexual and romantic as well as significant nonparental adults. The third area examines "Adolescents in Social Institutions". This area of research centers on the influence and nature of important institutions that serve as the socializing contexts for adolescents. These major institutions include schools, religious groups, justice systems, medical fields, cultural contexts, media, legal systems, economic structures, and youth organizations. "Adolescent Mental Health" constitutes the last major area of research. This broad area of research focuses on the wide variety of human thoughts, actions, and behaviors relating to mental health, from psychopathology to thriving. Major topic examples include deviance, violence, crime, pathology (DSM), normalcy, risk, victimization, disabilities, flow, and positive youth development.

The purpose of this study was to test a new theoretical model that integrates self-objectification, objectification of others, and social comparison as contributors to the development and maintenance of body image disturbance and disordered eating behavior. Within the new theoretical model, self-objectification, objectification of others, and social comparison are conceptualized as a self-perpetuating cycle, rather than as processes that occur independently of one another. Four hundred fifty-nine female college students between the ages of 18 and 32 completed measures of self-objectification, objectification of others, social comparison, body shame, body dissatisfaction, and eating disorder symptomatology. Structural equation modeling with nested model comparisons was used to examine the fit of the new theoretical model relative to less complex models which contain only relationships which have received previous attention in the research literature (e.g., the relationship between self-objectification and body shame). Results indicated that the new theoretical model demonstrates good fit for the data and that the fit of this model is significantly better than the original model suggested by the literature. Hierarchical multiple regression and mediational analyses also provided support for the interplay between objectification and social comparison. Implications for clinical work as well as theory and measurement will be discussed.

In a detailed analysis of the field of eating problems and disorders, this book highlights the connections between the prevention of eating problems and disorders, and theory and research in the areas of prevention and health promotion. It also looks at models of risk development and prevention, specific issues and challenges, the status of current prevention research, and lessons for prevention program development. In this unique text Levine and Smolak draw on a range of interdisciplinary perspectives, including prevention science, developmental psychology, public health, and neuroscience, to provide a thorough review, history, and critique of the topic in light of a range of empirical studies. The only authored volume with a broad, detailed and integrated view of theories, research, and practice, this expanded, fully revised, and updated new edition features new chapters on dissonance-based approaches, public health, biopsychiatry and neuroscience, gender, culture(s), technology, obesity, protective factors, and ecological approaches. The Prevention of Eating Problems and Eating Disorders: Theories, Research, and Applications is essential reading for clinicians, academics, researchers, graduate students, upper-level undergraduates, and activists and advocates involved in work pertaining to eating disorders, disordered eating, prevention, health promotion, body image, obesity and biopsychosocial perspectives.

Identity is defined in many different ways in various disciplines in the social sciences and sub-disciplines within psychology. The developmental psychological approach to identity is characterized by a focus on developing a sense of the self that is temporally continuous and unified across the different life spaces that individuals inhabit. Erikson proposed that the task of adolescence and young adulthood was to define the self by answering the question: Who Am I? There have been many advances in theory and research on identity development since Erikson's writing over fifty years ago, and the time has come to consolidate our knowledge and set an agenda for future research. The Oxford Handbook of Identity Development represents a turning point in the field of identity development research. Various, and disparate, groups of researchers are brought together to debate, extend, and apply Erikson's theory to contemporary problems and empirical issues. The result is a comprehensive and state-of-the-art examination of identity development that pushes the field in provocative new directions. Scholars of identity development, adolescent and adult development, and related fields, as well as graduate students, advanced undergraduates, and practitioners will find this to be an innovative, unique, and exciting look at identity development.