A Biopsychosocial Model of Body Image Concerns and Disordered Eating in Early Adolescent Girls

Body image and eating concerns are prevalent among early adolescent girls, and associated with biological, psychological and sociocultural risk factors. To date, explorations of biopsychosocial models of body image concerns and disordered eating in early adolescent girls are lacking. A sample of 488 early adolescent girls, mean age = 12.35 years (SD = 0.53), completed a questionnaire assessing depressive symptoms, self-esteem, body mass index (BMI), sociocultural appearance pressures, thin-ideal internalization, appearance comparison, body image concerns and disordered eating. Structural equation modelling was conducted to test a hypothetical model in which internalization and comparison were mediators of the effect of both negative affect and sociocultural influences on body image concerns and disordered eating. In addition, the model proposed that BMI would impact body image concerns. Although the initial model was a poor fit to the data, the fit was improved after the addition of a direct pathway between negative affect and bulimic symptoms. The final model explained a large to moderate proportion of the variance in body image and eating concerns. This study supports the role of negative affect in biopsychosocial models of the development of body image concerns and disordered eating in early adolescent girls. Interventions including strategies to address negative affect as well as sociocultural appearance pressures may help decrease the risk for body image concerns and disordered eating among this age group.     

Using Experiments to Estimate the Effects of Education on Voter Turnout

The powerful relationship between education and voter turnout is arguably the most well-documented and robust finding in American survey research. Yet the causal interpretation of this relationship remains controversial, with many authors suggesting that the apparent link between education and turnout is spurious. In contrast to previous work, which has relied on observational data to assess the effect of education on voter turnout, this article analyzes two randomized experiments and one quasi-experiment in which educational attainment was altered exogenously. We track the children in these experiments over the long term, examining their voting rates as adults. In all three studies, we find that exogenously induced changes in high school graduation rates have powerful effects on voter turnout rates. These results imply that the correlation between education and turnout is indeed causal. We discuss some of the pathways by which education may transmit its influence.     

Victimization and Relational Aggression in Adolescent Romantic Relationships: The Influence of Parental and Peer Behaviors, and Individual Adjustment

Consistent with the view that adolescent relationships are established in the context of important characteristics of their social networks, we examined the effects of adolescents’ experiences of parenting (psychological control and positive monitoring) and of peer aggression and victimization, on their self reports of dating victimization and aggression. We also examined the effects of individual differences in emotional and behavioral problems. We used questionnaire data from a population-based sample of youth 12–18 years old who were in dating relationships (n = 149). Parental monitoring emerged as a protective factor in reducing both dating victimization and relational aggression. Our findings also point to a significant transfer of aggression in peer relationships to relational aggression in dating relationships.

Design and Crime: Proofing Electronic Products and Services against Theft

This paper introduces the work of Project Marc (an EU-funded project to develop mechanisms for assessing the risk of crime) and discusses both difficulties encountered throughout the project and progress made since the project ended. The authors introduce the papers contained within this special edition and summarise their relevance to crime-proofing. The paper discusses progress made within this field in the decade prior to Project Marc and makes recommendations to ensure that the ideas move forward.

Family learning environment: The subjective view of adolescent males and females

This study investigates sex differences in two aspects of family learning environment as subjectively viewed by adolescents: parents' educational expectations and relationships with parents. Analysis of the data collected from 105 young Israeli adolescents (65 males and 40 females) shows sex differences in both aspects of family learning environment. These differences are (a) a negative relation between idealistic expectations and academic performance for females and a positive relation between realistic expectations and academic performance for males, and (b) a positive relation between estimated similarity with father and academic performance for females and a negative relation between social emotional relationship with father and academic performance for males. These sex differences are viewed in light of the greater complexity of female identity as it is related to low achieving females' perceived pressure to improve academic performance and high achieving females' feeling closer to their fathers.Received Ph.D. from Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Current research interests include social aspects of adolescents' development and schooling with special emphasis on adolescents' self-image and future time orientation.     

Central and East European Bank Responses to the Financial ‘Crisis’: Do Domestic Banks Perform Better in a Crisis than their Foreign-Owned Counterparts?

In the context of transition, nine out of the 10 post-communist countries that ultimately joined the European Union reluctantly privatised the bulk of their banking sectors with foreign capital. The financial crisis of 2008–2009 therefore sparked fears that foreign banks would remove their operations from their Central and East European markets because of a ‘home bias’ in lending. Such fears were predicated on the widely held beliefs that banks' loyalties lie with their home markets and that it is therefore desirable to protect domestic bank ownership to help combat an economic downturn. This essay casts doubt on the value of banking sector protectionism by comparing foreign and domestic bank behaviour in Central and Eastern Europe during the crisis. The essay finds no consistent relationship between domestic control and either limited economic vulnerability or countercyclical lending.