Psychometric evaluation of the body change inventory: an assessment instrument for adolescent boys and girls

A new instrument, the Body Change Inventory, was developed to provide an assessment of body change strategies that are used by both adolescent girls and boys. The novel aspect of this instrument is that it evaluates strategies to increase body size and increase muscle size, as well strategies to decrease body size. Independent samples of adolescent girls and boys aged between 11 and 17 years (N=1732) participated in four studies. The revised instrument consisted of three body change scales—Strategies to Decrease Body Size, Strategies to Increase Body Size, and Strategies to Increase Muscle Size. The studies demonstrated content validity, construct validity, internal consistency, and concurrent and discriminant validity for the new scales. The new scales provide a valuable addition in the literature for assessing three global body change strategies among adolescent girls and boys. They are needed in order to examine further the normative development of different kinds of body change strategies and how these may lead to behavioural problems such as disordered eating, exercise dependence, and steroid use.

Fat talk and its relationship with body image disturbance

Although past studies have highlighted fat talk as relevant to body image disturbance, the majority of these have only investigated the link between fat talk and body esteem, to the exclusion of other body image constructs. One hundred and ninety-nine women completed an online survey measuring levels of appearance-based comparisons, body surveillance, thin ideal internalization, body esteem, and fat talk (FT-body concerns and FT-body comparisons). Results showed that fat talk made a significant contribution in explaining additional variance in body esteem above the other three body image factors, with FT-body concerns in particular making the highest unique contribution. Hierarchical regression analyses suggest that fat talk should be viewed as an independent psychosocial predictor of body esteem in both theoretical and therapeutic contexts. Future research should explore these relationships from a longitudinal perspective, and also clarify the nuances in the relationships by investigating the nature of women's everyday body image experiences.

Are individual differences in temperament of relevance to Gibson's theory of affordances?

The ambitious scope, complexity, and difficulty of Gibson’s project in proposing the theory of affordances are captured nicely by the words of Gibson’s biographer, Ed Reed:
“Gibson was convinced that the theory of affordances, in
conjunction with the concepts of information, persistence, and
change, would enable him to transcend the ancient debate between
subjectivity and objectivity and to resolve the mind-body problem. …
[H]e was offering a new approach to problems of psychology, one
that he believed would not sink in the morass that have engulfed
previous psychologies.” (Reed, 1988, p. 280).
These characteristics of the theory of affordances are further evidenced in the debates about the nature of affordances presented in the suite of papers in Ecological Psychology, Volume 12(1). In this paper we propose an elaboration of the notion of affordance by suggesting that those persisting individual differences in behaviour described as temperamental differences (e.g., differences on a dimension of temperament anchored at one end by behaviour described as ‘outgoingness’ and at the other by behaviour described as ‘avoidance’) can be integrated into the theory of affordances. We argue that such integration is consistent with Gibson’s project as reflected in Reed’s words, and as part of our argument, draw parallels between the integration of temperament with the theory of affordances and the way in which individual differences in body dimensions are incorporated in the theory. We also outline some empirical tests of our proposition.

Investigation of proton dynamics and the proton transport pathway in choline dihydrogen phosphate using solid-state NMR

Choline dihydrogen phosphate has previously been shown to be a good ionic conductor as well as an excellent host for acid doping, leading to high proton conductivities required for e.g., electrochemical devices including proton membrane fuel cells and sensors. A combination of variable-temperature ¹H solid-state NMR and 2D NMR pulse sequences, including ³¹P and ¹³C CODEX and ¹H BaBa, show that the proton conduction mechanism primarily involves assisted transport via a restricted three-site motion of the phosphate unit around the P–O bond that is hydrogen bonded to the choline and exchange of protons between these anions. In other words, proton transport at ambient temperatures appears to occur most favorably along the crystallographic b axis, from phosphate dimer to dimer. At elevated temperatures exchange between the protons of the hydroxyl group on the choline cation and the hydrogen-bonded dihydrogen phosphate groups also contributes to the structural diffusion of the protons in this solid state conductor.

Methodological problem with comparing increases in different measures of body weight

Background A number of studies have compared proportional increases over time in waist circumference (WC) and body mass index (BMI). However this method is flawed. Here, we explain why comparisons of WC and BMI must take into account the relationship between them. We used data from two cross-sectional US surveys (NHANES 1988-94 and 2005-06), and calculated the percentage change in the average BMI and the average WC between the two surveys, comparing the results with a regression analysis of changes in WC relative to BMI.

Findings The crude percentage change in BMI (5.8%) was marginally greater than for WC (5.1%). But these percentages cannot be directly compared, as the relationship between the measures is described by a regression equation with an intercept term that does not equal zero. The coefficient of time from the regression equation will determine whether or not WC is on average larger for a given BMI at the second compared with the first time point.

Conclusion Differences in the percentage change in WC and the percentage change in BMI cannot be usefully directly compared. Comparisons of increases in the two measures must account for the relationship between them as described by the regression equation.

Problem gambling among international and domestic university students in Australia : who is at risk?

Young people are a high risk group for gambling problems and university (college) students fall into that category. Given the high accessibility of gambling in Australia and its association with entertainment, students from overseas countries, particularly those where gambling is restricted or illegal, may be particularly vulnerable. This study examines problem gambling and its correlates among international and domestic university students using a sample of 836 domestic students (286 males; 546 females); and 764 international students (369 males; 396 females) at three Australian universities. Our findings indicate that although most students gamble infrequently, around 5 % of students are problem gamblers, a proportion higher than that in the general adult population. Popular gambling choices include games known to be associated with risk (cards, horse races, sports betting, casino games, and gaming machines) as well as lotto/scratch tickets. Males are more likely to be problem gamblers than females, and almost 10 % of male international students could be classified as problem gamblers. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that male gender, international student status, financial stress, negative affect and frequency of gambling on sports, horses/dogs, table games, casino gaming machines, internet casino games and bingo all significantly predicted problem gambling. Results from this study could inform gambling-education programs in universities as they indicate which groups are more vulnerable and specify which games pose more risk of problem gambling.

Eating locally: Australasian gannets increase their foraging effort in a restricted range

During the breeding season, seabirds adopt a central place foraging strategy and are restricted in their foraging range by the fasting ability of their partner/chick and the cost of commuting between the prey resources and the nest. Because of the spatial and temporal variability of marine ecosystems, individuals must adapt their behaviour to increase foraging success within these constraints. The at-sea movements, foraging behaviour and effort of the Australasian gannet (Morus serrator) was determined over three sequential breeding seasons of apparent differing prey abundance to investigate how the species adapts to inter-annual fluctuations in food availability. GPS and tri-axial accelerometer data loggers were used to compare the degree of annual variation within two stages of breeding (incubation and chick rearing) at a small gannet colony situated between two larger, nearby colonies. Interestingly, neither males nor females increased the total distance travelled or duration of foraging trip in any breeding stage (P>0.05 in all cases) despite apparent low prey availability. However, consistently within each breeding stage, mean vectorial dynamic body acceleration (an index of energy expenditure) was greater in years of poorer breeding success (increased by a factor of three to eight), suggesting birds were working harder within their range. Additionally, both males and females increased the proportion of a foraging trip spent foraging in a poorer year across both breeding stages. Individuals from this colony may be limited in their ability to extend their range in years of low prey availability due to competition from conspecifics in nearby colonies and, consequently, increase foraging effort within this restricted foraging area.

Nearshore-offshore-basin species diversity and body size variation patterns in Late Permian (Changhsingian) brachiopods

 B.V. Body size is a fundamental and defining character of an organism, and its variation in space and time is generally considered to be a function of its biology and interactions with its living environment. A great deal of body size related ecological and evolutionary research has been undertaken, mostly in relation to extant animals. Among the many body size-related hypotheses proposed and tested, the size-bathymetry relationship is probably the least studied. In this study, we compiled a global body size dataset of Changhsingian (Late Permian, ca. 254. Ma-252. Ma) brachiopod species from low-latitude areas (30°S-30°N) and analyzed their species diversity and body size distribution patterns in relation to the nearshore-offshore-basin bathymetric gradient. The dataset contained 1768 brachiopod specimens in 435 species referred to 159 genera and 9 orders, from 135 occurrences (localities) of 18 different palaeogeographic regions. Treating the whole of the Changhsingian Stage as a single time slice, we divided the nearshore-offshore-basin bathymetric gradient into three broad depth-related environments: nearshore, offshore and basinal environments, and compared how the species diversity and body size varied along this large-scale bathymetric gradient.Here, we report an array of complex patterns. First, we found a clear overall inverse correlation between species diversity and water depth along the nearshore-offshore-basin gradient, with most species concentrating in the nearshore environment. Second, when the median sizes of all low-latitude brachiopod species from the three environments were compared, we found that there was no significant size difference between the nearshore and offshore environments, suggesting that neither the wave base nor the hydrostatic pressure exerts a critical influence on the body size of brachiopods. On the other hand, the median sizes of brachiopods from the nearshore environment and, to a lesser extent, the offshore environment were found to be significantly larger than that of basinal brachiopods. This trend of significant size reduction in basinal brachiopods mirrors the relative low species diversity in the basinal environment, and neither can be easily explained by the tendency of decreasing food availability towards deeper sea environments. Rather, both trends are consistent with the hypothesis of an expanding Oxygen Minimum Zone (OMZ) in the bathyal (slope to deepsea) environments, where hypoxic to anoxic conditions are considered to have severely restricted the diversification of benthos and favored the relative proliferation of small-sized brachiopods. Finally, a significant difference was also found between eurybathic and stenobathic species in their body size response to the nearshore-offshore-basin gradient, in that eurybathic species (species found in all three environments) did not tend to change their body size significantly according to depth, whereas stenobathic forms (species restricted to a single environment) exhibit a decline in body size towards the basinal environment. This pattern is interpreted to suggest that bathymetrically more tolerant species are less sensitive to depth control with respect to their body size change dynamics, in contrast to stenobathic species which tend to grow larger in shallower water depths.

Flight initiation distances in relation to sexual dichromatism and body size in birds from three continents

Predators exert strong selection pressures on their prey. Prey would therefore benefit by adjusting their behaviour to the risk of predation, while predators conversely would benefit from adjusting their behaviour to that of their prey. Extravagant ornamentation has evolved to attract mates and/or successfully compete with conspecifics of the same sex to secure high mating success, even if that occurs at a cost of increased risk of predation. Thus, sexually dichromatic species may be more susceptible to predation than sexually monochromatic species, and the presence of compensation is indicative of such species being more vulnerable. If extravagant ornamentation is costly in terms of predation risk, then we should expect sexually dichromatic species to have longer flight initiation distances (FID) than sexually monochromatic species. If ornamentation is acquired as a handicap with only individuals in prime condition being able to display with the smallest viability cost, we should expect sexually dichromatic individuals to have shorter FID than sexually monochromatic individuals. Such differences among individuals should, on an evolutionary time scale, translate into differences in FID being related to differences in sexual dichromatism among species. We investigated the relationship between FID and sexual dichromatism in phylogenetic analyses, while accounting for effects of continent (Australia, North America, and Europe), body mass, the interaction between sexual dichromatism and body mass and the interaction between sexual dichromatism and continent. In an analysis of 447 species we found shorter FID in sexually dichromatic than in sexually monochromatic species (consistent with the handicap hypothesis because sexually dichromatic species took greater risks), especially so at large body size. FID differed among continents and the relative difference in FID between sexually monochromatic and sexually dichromatic species was larger in Europe than in Australia and North America. These differences among continents may be attributed to latitudinal effects of predation. These findings are important for current ideas about the evolution of secondary sexual characters because they imply covarying continental differences in predation, especially for large bodied sexually dichromatic species.

The mythical properties of police body-worn cameras: A solution in the search of a problem

Over the past few years, Australian police agencies have begun to enthusiastically introduce body-worn cameras on police personnel. These devices are now either implemented or under trial across the country. There is also an emergent ‘surveillance consensus’ (Hempel and Töpfer 2009) concerning their use amongst Australian police. While more detailed empirical examination of information flows that shape this surveillance consensus is warranted, this contribution to the debate seeks to draw from policing scholarship to critically explore the intersections between the rationalizations for body-worn cameras and the broader policing scholarship. More directly, body-worn cameras cannot be understood in narrow instrumental terms, but must be located within the broader literature on governing police and the law and order politics that surrounds many contemporary police and criminal justice reforms (Cox 2015; Gregg and Wilson 2015). I begin with a summary of the introduction of body-worn cameras in Australia. The article then identifies five problems body-worn cameras purportedly address and provides a brief case summary indicating how current ‘privacy protections’ fail to establish real limits to the collection, use, and dissemination of images from body-worn cameras.

Problem-based learning and masculinities : unique opportunities for Mr. Fix It? Well, maybe

I watched a smoker of 30 years being admitted to the Coronary Care unit following an acute Myocardial Infarction (heart attack). The message from the male clinician was simple, accurate, but somewhat behaviourist: " the death of part of your heart muscle is the result of your smoking, if you don’t stop smoking the damage will continue and you will die." A global, proactive and humanistic consultation demonstrating an understanding of the man’s addiction to a legal and accessible drug and illuminating prevention strategies may have been more appropriate. Maybe the interaction was about competing masculinities, the risk taker and the problem solver. The irony? As I left the hospital that night I observed the same clinician strategically positioned in a secluded hospital doorway drawing heavily on a cigarette. Hypocrite? No, invincible late 20’s male? Maybe. Smoking was someone else’s problem – at least today.

In my 16 years as a clinician such scenarios are common. Clinical practice based predominantly on problem solving potentiates hegemonic masculine approaches to treating men in clinical practice, often justified by limited health resources and increasing patient acuity. Ironically, Problem-based Learning (PBL) curriculums commonly used in health sciences higher education encourages, nurtures and rewards such problem solving approaches. As a teaching academic with current clinical practice it occurs to me that health science education and PBL has an opportunity if not obligation to empower clinicians to establish holistic approaches to male health presentations.

This paper explores the interconnections of Problem-based Learning (PBL) curriculums, health promotion, male nurses’ health-related behaviours and the implications and specificities of masculinity. The pilot study offers an insight into the perceptions of three male nurses that completed undergraduate nursing studies in PBL curriculums. The data obtained introduces some connections that could be illuminated by further research.

The structure of the perceived sociocultural influences on body image and body change questionnaire

This article is concerned with the development and evaluation of the Perceived Sociocultural Influences on Body Image and Body Change Questionnaire. The scale was designed to assess the perceived nature of feedback received from mother, father, best male friend, and best female friend to gain weight, lose weight, and increase muscle tone. The perceived feedback from the media on each of these areas also was assessed. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted with 240 adolescent boys (mean age = 13.83 years) and 204 adolescent girls (mean age = 13.70 years). A 3-factor structure was found for the 4 scales that related to perceived feedback from mother, father, best male friend, and best female friend. Feedback on muscle tone loaded with both weight loss and weight gain. The three factors related to (a) general feedback; (b) encourage, tease, and modeling to gain weight and increase muscle tone, and (c) encourage, tease, and modeling to lose weight and increase muscle tone. The factor structure and the items that made up these factors were the same for both boys and girls for each of the 4 scales. The Perceived Media Influences Scale formed 3 factors for girls. These factors related to gaining weight, losing weight, and increasing muscle tone. For boys, the same 9 items formed a single factor. The same items were retained for boys and girls. A confirmatory factor analysis with 822 adolescents (382 boys, mean age = 14.02 years; 440 girls, mean age = 13.82 years) confirmed the previously described factor structure. These results demonstrate that the Perceived Sociocultural Influences on Body Image and Body Change Questionnaire is able to assess body image and body change strategies that are relevant for both boys and girls.

The relationship between lower body strength and obstructed gait in community-dwelling older adults

OBJECTIVES: To determine the relationship between lower body strength of community-dwelling older adults and the time to negotiate obstructed gait tasks.

DESIGN: A correlational study.

SETTING: The Biomechanics Laboratory, Deakin University, Australia.

PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-nine women and 16 men aged 62 to 88 were recruited using advertisements placed in local newspapers. The participants were independent community dwellers, healthy and functionally mobile.

MEASUREMENTS: Maximal isometric strength of the knee extensors and dynamic strength of the hip extensors, hip flexors, hip adductors, hip abductors, knee extensors, knee flexors, and ankle plantar flexors were assessed. The times to negotiate four obstructed gait tasks at three progressively challenging levels on an obstacle course and to complete the course were recorded. The relationship between strength and the crossing times was explored using linear regression models.

RESULTS: Significant associations between the seven strength measures and the times to negotiate each gait task and to walk the entire course at each level were obtained (r = -0.38 to -0.55; P < .05). In addition, the percentage of the variance explained by strength (R2), consistently increased as a function of the progressively challenging level. This increase was particularly marked for the stepping over task (R2 = 19.3%,25.0%, and 27.2%, for levels 1, 2, and 3, respectively) and the raised surface condition (R2 = 17.1%,21.1%, and 30.8%, for levels 1,2, and 3, respectively) .

CONCLUSION: The findings of the study showed that strength is a critical requirement for obstructed locomotion. That the magnitude of the association increased as a function of the challenging levels suggests that intervention programs aimed at improving strength would potentially be effective in helping community-dwelling older adults negotiate environmental gait challenges.

An evaluation of the suitability of selected waste products in feeds for three fish species

Five types of aquatic food industry waste products (carp offal, carp roe, fish frames, trout offal and surimi processing waste) together with fish meal were evaluated for their suitability as potential fish meal replacements, partially or wholly, in diets for three species (rainbow trout, Murray cod and shortfin eel) cultured in Australia, using a number of criteria.

The proximate composition of the ingredients on a dry matter basis including protein content, lipid and ash, varied considerably. The essential amino acid (EAA) contents of the waste products and fish meal decreased in the order: carp roe > fish meal > carp offal > 'surimi' processing waste > fish frames > trout offal. The results of cluster analysis of A/E ratios of waste products and fish whole body fell within three clusters. The EAAI of whole body tissue of Murray cod, rainbow trout and Australian shortfin eel however, were closest to fish meal, followed by fish frame waste and/or 'surimi' waste. The results on A/E ratios and EAAI did not conform to the raw data on TAA and EAA. Therefore, the study emphasizes the need to have a multi-prong approach to determine the suitability of ingredients for incorporation into fish feeds.

Development of body modification and excessive exercise scales for adolescents

The present study was designed to develop a Body Modification Scale (BMS) to measure body change among adolescents and to modify an Excessive Exercise Scale (EES) into a shorter form for adolescents. Two hundred and twenty-one girls and 192 boys from Grades 7 to 10 completed the BMS and the EES. Factor analysis revealed three identical factors for the BMS for girls and boys: weight loss, weight gain, and muscle mass. Two identical factors for girls and boys were also revealed for the EES. Both factor structures were further validated on a separate sample of 286 adolescents (140 girls, 146 boys). The BMS and EES demon-strated excellent reliability (alpha > .86) and high test-retest reliability (alpha > .82) over 1 month. Good concurrent validity was also found for the weight loss factor of the BMS. These findings demonstrate the utility of these two scales for use with adolescents.