Young women risk trying to emulate fantasy images, developing eating disorders
Viewing media images of thin, glamorous models may have a positive effect on young women’s self-image – but it may still lead to destructive dieting behaviour, says a University of Toronto study.
“The traditional assumption about body image is that exposure to thin images in the media makes young women feel bad about themselves, leading to dieting and, in extreme cases, to eating disorders,”
An animal study finds a link in genetics that determines our sleep patterns
Are you annoyed by cheerful “morning people?” Do you ever wonder how “night owls” can keep going? Most of us ask these questions because we are in between these two extremes, and take a while to get going early in the morning and tire long before midnight. This entire spectrum reflects the broad, normal variation in sleep patterns in humans that is rooted in the very genetic foundations of how our body works.
Becoming emotionally involved with someone over the internet can have just as serious an impact on real-life relationships as ‘offline’ infidelity – especially in the eyes of women.
This is the conclusion of a study conducted by Dr Monica Whitty of Queen’s University Belfast, which is being presented today, Saturday 17 April 2004, at the British Psychological Society’s Annual Conference at Imperial College, London.
Dr Whitty asked 245 students to complete stories in which one partn
People often say that their performance on certain tasks differs throughout the day, and explanations for these fluctuations in mental abilities have focussed on factors such as changes in body temperature or diet. New research by psychologists suggests however that alterations in the hormone testosterone may be responsible for these mental changes.
Dr Daryl O’Connor and colleagues from the University of Leeds present their findings today, Saturday 17 April 2004, at the British Psychol
First it was Yuppies, then DINKS – couples with Double Incomes and No Kids. Now it’s time for TINS – couples who have Two Incomes but No Sex. According to some estimates, as many 50 per cent of modern men and women just don’t have time for sex – or are too stressed out to enjoy intimate relations when the opportunity arises.
The McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) is hosting a public information session to discuss issues surrounding sexuality and a too-busy lifestyle.
“It is pos
Black South African women are becoming thinner because of the influence of the West, including media-portrayed images of waif-like women in films and TV shows according to new research.
The findings come from a study between Northumbria University in the United Kingdom and the University of Zululand in rural South Africa. The study, which will be presented at the British Psychological Society conference in London today (Friday 16th April), revealed that young black women are becoming
At a time when growing numbers of Europeans are suffering from eating disorders that risk both their physical and mental health, the conclusion of the Salut! project has opened up a new world of solutions to these serious medical conditions.
The IST programme-funded initiative has developed online tools for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of eating disorders, including a self-help guide to treat sufferers of Bulimia, which affects up to 4 per cent of European women.
Althoug
Sexually active teenage girls who viewed an interactive sex education DVD created by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University were more likely to become abstinent than girls who did not see the DVD, according to a study of 300 adolescent girls in the Pittsburgh area. The study will be published this fall in the journal “Social Science and Medicine.”
The DVD, “What Could You Do?” portrays teenage girls in situations that typically lead to sex and allows the viewer to choose what actions the
Women who receive the results of their screening mammograms immediately after their examination have less stress and anxiety compared with women who have to wait several days for their test results, according to a study in the April 7 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Surprisingly, however, an educational intervention that taught skills to cope with anxiety was not associated with decreased anxiety among a similar group of women.
In the United States, 5% to 11% of all s
The simple act of requesting to sit in a nonsmoking section may have profound benefits beyond avoiding second-hand smoke, according to new findings by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
Parents who routinely engage in such anti-smoking behaviors in front of their adolescent children – particularly parents who themselves smoke – appear to significantly reduce their offspring’s chances of becoming a smoker by their senior year in high school, report M. Robyn Andersen,
Many cultures view body and soul as inseparable
Requests for organ donors must be tempered by a better understanding of cultural differences, says a U of T researcher.
“We’re seeing different cultural perceptions of life and death and that affects end-of-life decisions,” says Kerry Bowman, a U of T professor with the Joint Centre for Bioethics and the clinical ethicist at Mount Sinai Hospital. Health care workers need to be aware that not all cultures consider organ donatio
Infant feeding experiences help shape flavor preferences later in life
Ever wonder why your child loves to eat macaroni and cheese while her best friend likes nothing better than a steaming bowl of cauliflower curry? The answer may lie in part with what they were fed as young infants. Researchers at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia report that feeding experiences during the first seven months of life may contribute to food likes and dislikes.
“This research
The world’s dialects are multiplying faster than ever before – quashing fears that globalisation is leading to a standardising of language.
Immigrants to places like Europe, the US and Australia are creating completely new dialects when they learn the language of their host country by mixing it with aspects of their native tongue, experts will discuss at a major international conference at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne today (April 1 2004).
Previous research has
The use of photographs by psychotherapists as memory cues for the “recovery” of patients’ possible childhood sexual abuse has been called into question by a Canadian study. It found that a “staggering” two-out-of-three participants accepted a concocted false grade-school event as having really happened to them when suggestions regarding the event were supplemented with a class photo.
“I was flabbergasted to have attained such an exceptionally high rate of quite elaborate false memory r
Dr. Doug Aoki believes love truly is as perennial as the grass, and we don’t really have a choice in the matter.
“Love will grab a hold of you one way or the other, whether it’s romantic love, brotherly love, self love, love for a pet, whatever. Good or bad, we can’t get out of it,” says Aoki, a professor of sociology at the University of Alberta.
Aoki has just published the third in a series of articles called True Love Stories in the journal Cultural Studie
Educational experts have challenged the Government to provide specialist teachers in Citizenship in order to stem the growing tide of Islamophobia post 9/11.
University of Leicester staff and students have highlighted the need for changes in the curriculum in order to promote an inclusive national identity. Their views are expressed in the latest edition of the journal ’Race Equality Teaching’.
Professor Audrey Osler, Director of the Centre for Citizenship Studies in Education at t
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