Is Television Bad for Your Health? Behavior and Body Image of the Adolescent “Couch Potato”

This article examines the potential health effects of television. A survey of 1035 Flemish 17- and 18-year-olds shows that eating snacks and drinking regularly accompany viewing. Television was also shown to influence sleeping and family meals. Heavy viewers did not, however, appear to be more passive than lighter viewers. Their indulgence in sports did not differ, but content-specific relationships with going out appear to exist. In this group no link between viewing and obesity was found, but viewing was significantly related to various aspects of people's self assessments regarding their weight, their ideal weight and their looks. Particular attention was given to those television programs that portray idealized bodies. Generally, a distinction was made between men and women because many body-, weight-, and health-related factors may be culture and gender specific.Fund for Scientific Research (Flanders)     

Dyadic Variability in Mother-Adolescent Interactions: Developmental Trajectories and Associations with Psychosocial Functioning

Dyadic variability is considered to be a key mechanism in the development of mother-adolescent relationships, and low levels of dyadic flexibility are thought to be associated with behavior and relationship problems. The present observational study examined heterogeneity in the development of dyadic variability in mother-adolescent interactions and associations with psychosocial functioning. Dyadic variability refers to the range of emotional states during interactions of mother-adolescent dyads. During five annual home visits, 92 mother-adolescent dyads (M age T1 = 13; 65.2 % boys) were videotaped while discussing a conflict, and they completed several questionnaires on adolescents’ aggressive behavior and adolescents’ and mothers’ perceived relationship quality. Two types of dyads were distinguished: low variability dyads (52 %) and high decreasing variability dyads (48 %). Over time, high decreasing variability dyads were characterized by a broader emotional repertoire than low variability dyads. Moreover, these two dyad types had distinct developmental patterns of psychosocial adjustment. Over time, high decreasing variability dyads showed lower levels of adolescents’ aggressive behavior, and higher levels of perceived relationship quality than low variability dyads. These findings suggest that over time more dyadic variability is associated with less adjustment problems and a more constructive development of the mother-adolescent relationship. Adaptive interactions seem to be characterized by a wider range of emotional states and mothers should guide adolescents during interactions to express both positive and negative affect. Observing the dyadic variability during mother-adolescent interactions can help clinicians to distinguish adaptive from maladaptive mother-adolescent dyads.     

Continuity in Primary School Children’s Eating Problems and the Influence of Parental Feeding Strategies

Eating problems are highly prevalent and seem to show continuity in children. Nevertheless, the effect of different maternal and paternal feeding practices on changes in these problems is not fully understood yet. This study examines short-term continuity in primary school children’s overeating, loss of control (over eating), restraint and concerns (about eating, body shape and weight) and the predictive value of parental feeding strategies on change in these eating problems. Children (8–12 years, n = 613, 46.5 % girls) completed the Child Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (ChEDE-Q) twice with the second measurement (T2) taking place 6 months after the first (T1). Parents (n = 714, 57.7 % mothers) completed the Child Feeding Questionnaire (CFQ) at T1 to assess the level of controlling feeding strategies. More overeating, restraint and concerns at T1 predicted higher levels of the same eating problems 6 months later, whereas more of loss of control at T1 predicted lower levels of loss of control 6 months later. Additionally, the interaction between maternal pressure and the gender of the child was predictive for increases in overeating, whereas the interaction between paternal monitoring and gender of the child was a marginally significant predictor for decreases in overeating. These findings point to the possible negative and positive effects of parental feeding practices as well as to the possible larger influence of mothers on their daughters’ and of fathers on their sons’ eating behaviors. The importance of studying mothers and fathers, as well as daughters and sons, and of including different feeding strategies and eating problems is discussed.     

The Jingle–Jangle Fallacy in Adolescent Autonomy in the Family: In Search of an Underlying Structure

The construct of autonomy has a rich, though quite controversial, history in adolescent psychology. The present investigation aimed to clarify the meaning and measurement of adolescent autonomy in the family. Based on theory and previous research, we examined whether two dimensions would underlie a wide range of autonomy-related measures, using data from two adolescent samples (N = 707, 51 % girls, and N = 783, 59 % girls, age range = 14–21 years). Clear evidence was found for a two-dimensional structure, with the first dimension reflecting “volition versus pressure”, that is, the degree to which adolescents experience a sense of volition and choice as opposed to feelings of pressure and coercion in the parent–adolescent relationship. The second dimension reflected “distance versus proximity”, which involves the degree of interpersonal distance in the parent-adolescent relationship. Whereas volition related to higher well-being, less problem behavior and a secure attachment style, distance was associated mainly with more problem behavior and an avoidant attachment style. These associations were not moderated by age. The discussion focuses on the meaning of adolescent autonomy and on the broader implications of the current findings.     

Drivers and Consequences of Citizen Satisfaction: An Application of the American Customer Satisfaction Index Model to New York City

Using data from two telephone surveys of New York City residents conducted during 2000 and 2001, this article employs the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) model to examine the drivers—and behavioral consequences—of overall satisfaction with local government services. While the ACSI model has been widely used to analyze customer satisfaction in the private sector and, more recently, in the federal government, it has not been tried in a local government context. Applying the ACSI model to New York City, we find the perceived quality of public schools and especially the police, as well as road conditions and subway service, are the most salient drivers of satisfaction, but the significance of each service varies across income, race, and geography. For all groups in the city, overall satisfaction drives both trust in local government officials and intentions to move out of the city. Advantages and limitations of using the ACSI model to assess the quality of local government services are discussed.     

Interesting but irrelevant: Social capital and the saliency of politics in Western Europe

Abstract. Many explanations of political involvement are based on the idea that higher levels of resources will be matched by higher levels of political involvement. Yet these kind of interpretations seem to overlook the fact that resources potentially increase individual autonomy and widen the scope of alternative actions, and so facilitate a decrease of political involvement. The analyses presented here are based on the rather paradoxical expectation that we will find a higher level of subjective political interest and, simultaneously, a lower level of political saliency among people commanding relatively high levels of social capital or other resources. The empirical evidence available for Western European countries in 1990 and 1998 essentially confirms the notion of diverging consequences of social capital (and other resources) for political involvement. People combining high political interest with a low saliency of politics are labelled spectators here. For them politics has lost its obligatory character – it is interesting and probably important to follow what goes on in this area, but compared with other matters its relevance is relatively low. Besides, a strong gender bias still can be found for each and every aspect of political involvement.     

Konsequenzen von Staatsreformen für die demokratische Steuerungsfähigkeit. Vergleichende Analyse zu vier Schweizer Kantonen

In the last decade the public body has undergone changes along the lines of New Public Management concepts in the context of the reform of state structures and processes. The consequences of such reforms for democratic steering capacities have been discussed controversially. On the one hand, scholars argue that NPM strengthens democratic steering capacities while critics on the other warn that NPM reduces just such capacities. Our research analyses this question in the context of case studies about reform activities in four Swiss cantons. The results provide evidence of neither an improvement in nor a reduction of democratic steering capacities through NPM reforms. On the whole, the observed changes in democratic steering capacities proved to be marginal, in either direction.