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Biomedical subjects

J Rierdan

Publications and source records attributed to J Rierdan.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Perceptions of weight and attitudes toward eating in early adolescent girls.

Sixth grade girls (n = 206) responded to questions about their weight, body image, dieting practices, and attitudes toward weight and eating. Results suggested that feeling too fat and wishing to lose weight were becoming normative for young adolescent girls in that the majority of girls wished to weigh less and said that they dieted at least occasionally. For most girls, weight concerns had emerged between the ages of 9 to 11. A sizeable proportion of girls seemed to have adopted a "dieting mentality," claiming to be avoiding fat, counting calories, thinking excessively about food, feeling guilty after eating and overeating, and exercising to lose weight. Such practices were common even among girls who did not describe themselves as overweight or who were satisfied with their appearance. The emergence of these attitudes and behaviors at increasingly younger ages is of grave concern, as several of them are risk factors for the development of serious eating disorders.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed1990

Premenarcheal predictors of the experience of menarche: a prospective study.

The goals of this study were (1) to assess, with a prospective design, the impact of premenarcheal menstrual attitudes and personality attributes for menarcheal experience and (2) to assess the relative strength of these variables, in relation to menarcheal timing and preparation for menarche, for predicting menarcheal experience. The subjects were 92 girls, who changed from pre- to postmenarcheal between two test occasions, 6 months apart. When premenarcheal menstrual attitudes and personality attributes were examined independently, results revealed that affirmation, a menstrual attitude, and depression significantly predicted emotional response to menarche. When these two variables were examined, together with preparation and timing variables, the two significant predictors of menarcheal experience were preparation and affirmation. The results provide direction for, and optimism about, the potential efficacy of menstrual education in promoting more positive menarcheal experience.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Conceptions and misconceptions of the menstrual cycle.

Eighty college women were queried about their knowledge of three aspects of the menstrual cycle (menstruation, ovulation, and menopause). Questions concerned the biology of each event and the physical, emotional, and cognitive changes believed to be associated with them. Reasoning from the biases and limitations in the scientific and popular literature, it was predicted that: (1) women would be relatively uninformed about the menstrual cycle, but more informed about menstruation than about ovulation or menopause, and (2) negatively valued changes would be described more frequently than positively valued ones. Results indicated that basic knowledge of the menstrual cycle, even among well-educated women, is at times incorrect, generally incomplete, and negatively biased. These findings confirm the need for a more comprehensive approach to menstrual education that speaks both to the biology of the menstrual cycle and to norms and variability of associated physical and behavioral changes.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Flashbulb memories of menarche and adult menstrual distress.

Ninety-nine female college students completed a questionnaire in which they recounted their memories of menarche, described menarcheal circumstances, and completed the Menstrual Distress Questionnaire (MDQ). Consistent with previous research, inadequate emotional preparation for menstruation was associated with negative feelings at menarche. However, menarcheal circumstances were not strongly predictive of adult MDQ scores. Consistent with memory theory, the amount of information in memories of menarche was negatively related to adequacy of prior knowledge about menstruation: Women who reported feeling less knowledgeable at menarche provided more information about the first episode. While memories of menarche contain information that is relevant to subsequent menstrual experiences, the relationship between menarcheal events and adult menstrual distress appears to be minor.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1978

Verbal conditioning of male and female schizophrenics as a function of experimenter proximity.

Verbal conditioning of male and female schizophrenics and nonschizophrenics was observed as Ss sat at different distances and orientations from an E who delivered a positive word/positive tone reinforcer ("Good"). Results indicated that the presence vs. absence of diagnostic differences in learning depended on (a) the sex of the Ss; and (b) the distance that Ss sat from the E. The absence of overall diagnostic group differences in learning and the finding that in some proxemic conditions schizophrenics learned more than nonschizophrenics are consistent with the view that under appropriate conditions schizophrenics emit behaviors that are incompatible with an assumption of schizophrenic deficit.

Conditioning, Classical↗
PubMed1977

Spatial behavior of schizophrenic and non-schizophrenic psychiatric patients.

The spatial behavior of schizophrenic and non-schizophrenic psychiatric patients (n equal to 64) was assessed as subjects seated themselves for an interview. The methodology employed was one for which normative data were already available. Results indicated no differences in the seating selections of the patient groups, although the spatial behavior of the patient groups differed from that of normals. The results are interpreted in terms of factors generally associated with patient status rather than uniquely associated with a particular diagnosis.

Female↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Conceptions and misconceptions of menstruation.

College women were asked a series of open-ended questions about their conceptions of menstruation prior to menarche as part of a retrospective study. Their responses were rated as indicating correct information, misinformation, or lack of information. A conceptual analysis of these descriptive data reveals some of the emotional and cognitive limitations of pre-adolescence that lead ostensibly well-informed girls to harbor misconceptions about menstruation. Based on this conceptual analysis, a revised approach to menstrual education is suggested.

Adult↗