Adolescent Boys and Body Image: Weight and Muscularity Concerns as Dual Pathways to Body Dissatisfaction

This research evaluated a dual pathway model for body dissatisfaction among adolescent boys. The study provides empirical support for the importance of distinguishing between weight and muscularity concerns in understanding male body image. A total of 128 boys from grades 8 and 11 completed a self-report questionnaire. Results indicated that weight and muscularity concerns each made unique contributions to body dissatisfaction and were associated with distinct individual and peer context characteristics. Weight concern was associated with elevated BMI and more frequent appearance conversations with friends. Muscularity concern was significantly greater among boys who reported more frequent muscle-building conversations, had lower BMI, and were older. The results support the importance of distinguishing between and assessing both muscularity and weight concerns in the development of body image dissatisfaction among adolescent boys.     

A review of the analysis of vegetable oil residues from fire debris samples: spontaneous ignition, vegetable oils, and the forensic approach

This paper reviews the literature on the analysis of vegetable (and animal) oil residues from fire debris samples. The process of self-heating and spontaneous ignition is well-known by fire investigators and causes many fires. Vegetable oils are often the chemicals that originate such phenomenon. Vegetable oils are composed of lipids, which contain fatty acids. The autooxidation of the double bonds present in unsaturated fatty acids is the exothermic reaction at the origin of the self-heating process. The degree of unsaturation of fatty acids directly influences the propensity of an oil to undergo self-heating and, eventually, spontaneous ignition. When fire debris samples are collected, it is possible to examine them at the laboratory to extract and identify vegetable oil residues. This is typically performed by solvent extraction, followed by gas chromatographic(-mass spectrometric) analysis of the extract. Such analyses differ from ignitable liquid residue analyses, so a different forensic approach is necessary.     

Family Representative Payeeship and Violence Risk in Severe Mental Illness

Although representative payeeship is prevalent among people with mental illness and shows promise to positively influence clinically relevant outcomes, research also suggests this legal mechanism could be implemented in ways that are problematic. The current study examined whether family representative payeeship was associated with elevated risk of family violence perpetrated by persons with severe mental illness (SMI). Data were collected every 4 months for 1 year in structured interviews with N = 245 persons with SMI who received disability benefits. Multivariate analyses showed that substance abuse, history of violence, frequency of family contact, and family representative payeeship were associated with elevated odds of family violence. Analyses also showed family contact and family representative payeeship had a cumulative effect on increasing the predicted probability of family violence (controlling for covariates such as violence history and substance abuse). The data shed light on the potential for family representative payeeship to be associated with increased risk of interpersonal conflict and violence in SMI.     

Community-based care for people with severe mental illness in Canada

The development of mental health services for people with severe mental illness has in many ways paralleled that in other countries, particularly the United States. As reliance on inpatient psychiatric care has been sharply reduced, a wide range of community supports have been developed. Several distinct institutional and legal features have contributed to shaping the nature of these community supports, which are described herein. At present, the result is a highly fragmented system of care. Key evidence-based practices, notably assertive community treatment, supported employment, and integrated treatment for concurrent severe mental illness and substance use disorder, achieve considerable integration at the clinical level, but remain relatively unavailable in most provinces. The policy of regionalization of services risks inhibiting the development of such practices, which require more centralized technical assistance and monitoring. An evolutionary approach of gradually introducing integrated, evidence-based programs may provide the most feasible strategy for improving the system.     

Public opinion and the politics of obesity in America

Health policy experts have recently sounded the warning about the severe health and economic consequences of America's growing rates of obesity. Despite this fact, obesity has only begun to enter America's political consciousness and we have little information about what average Americans think of obesity or whether they support obesity-related policies. Using unique survey data collected by the authors, this essay examines public attitudes toward obesity and obesity policy. We find that, contrary to the views of health experts, most Americans are not seriously concerned with obesity, express relatively low support for obesity-targeted policies, and still view obesity as resulting from individual failure rather than environmental or genetic sources. Given the absence of elite discourse on this problem, we also find that typical determinants of policy preferences, such as ideology or partisanship, are not good predictors of attitudes on obesity policy. Rather, with a low-valence issue such as obesity, the public utilizes other attitudinal frameworks such as their opinions on smoking policy and the environmental culpability for obesity. The implications of these findings for obesity policy and research on health-related public opinion are discussed.     

Carbon monoxide-related deaths in a metropolitan county in the USA: an 11-year study

Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning as a cause of death is well documented in industrialized countries. The objective of this study was to compare demographic data in deaths due to accidents (in fires) and suicides in the same population between 1988 and 1998. Furthermore, the potential effect of a community wide education effort regarding safety in the home was assessed. Postmortem reports were reviewed for all deaths examined at the Office of the Cuyahoga County Coroner in Cleveland, OH, USA. During the study period, there were 209 accidental deaths due to fires in the home (6.5% of all accidents in the home) and 182 CO deaths by suicide (9.8% of all suicides). Demographic characteristics of the two groups differed: while males represented the majority of cases in both groups (55% of accidents, 70% suicides), race specific death rates were higher for whites than blacks (18/100,000 white, 3/100,000 black) in suicides compared with 29/100,000 deaths for blacks and 11/100,000 for whites in accidental cases. Fire deaths were prevalent in the young (0-9 years) and old (>60) whereas in the suicide group the age specific death rate was highest for those over 70 years. The majority of fire deaths occurred in the city of Cleveland but suicides were prevalent in the suburbs. More fire deaths occurred in December than any other month whereas more suicides occurred in April. In 1992, there was a community wide effort to provide free smoke detectors to residents in Cleveland. In 1992, there were 4.2/100,000 fire deaths in the city. This decreased to 0.6/100,000 in 1996, increased to 1.2/100,000 in 1997 followed by a decrease to 0.8/100,000 in 1998. This suggested that the program may have aided in decreasing these types of deaths. Deaths due to fires in the suburbs were <1/100,000 throughout the study period.     

Differences in attitudes toward gays and lesbians among criminal justice and non-criminal justice majors

The criminal justice system is supposed to protect and serve all members of the community equally; therefore, any prejudicial attitudes harbored by criminal justice students may negatively impact their job performance as future justice professionals. Four hundred and eighty-four students at a large Midwestern university were surveyed on their views toward gay and lesbian persons and issues. The responses of criminal justice majors were compared to the responses of students majoring in other fields. Criminal justice majors tended to have more negative views of gays and lesbians than students in other majors. However, there was not a significant difference between the two groups of students in their willingness to extend rights to and socialize with gay and lesbian individuals.