Biomedical subjects

Marrie H J Bekker

Publications and source records attributed to Marrie H J Bekker.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Relations between negative affect, coping, and emotional eating.

The study was designed to examine the relations between negative affect, coping, and emotional eating. It was tested whether emotion-oriented coping and avoidance distraction, alone or in interaction with negative affect, were related to increased levels of emotional eating. Participants were 125 eating-disordered women and 132 women representing a community population. Measures included the Positive and Negative Affectivity Schedule (PANAS), the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS), and the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ). Both emotion-oriented coping and avoidance distraction were related to emotional eating, while controlling for levels of negative affect. Negative affect did not have a unique contribution to emotional eating over and above emotion-oriented coping or avoidance distraction. The findings suggest that emotional eating is related to reliance on emotion-oriented coping and avoidance distraction in eating-disordered women as well as in relatively healthy women.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2006

The role of autonomy-connectedness in depression and anxiety.

The relationship between autonomy-connectedness, and depression and anxiety was investigated in 94 primary mental health care patients and 95 psychology students. All participants completed the Autonomy-Connectedness Scale-30 (ACS-30), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and the Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90). Results indicated that the primary mental health care group compared with the control group scored lower in Self-Awareness and Capacity for Managing New Situations, and higher in Sensitivity to Others. Women compared with men had higher levels of self-reported Sensitivity to Others. Regression analyses showed that both (low) Self-Awareness and (high) Sensitivity to Others predicted depression, as well as anxiety; also, (low) educational level had predictive value. These results indicate that low autonomy-connectedness might be a risk factor for depression and anxiety.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

Relations between dietary restraint, depressive symptoms, and binge eating: A longitudinal study.

OBJECTIVE: Temporal relations between dietary restraint, depressive symptoms, and binge eating were tested by means of three competing models positing that (1) dietary restraint and depressive symptoms predict future increases in binge eating, (2) binge eating predicts future increases in dietary restraint and depressive symptoms, and (3) binge eating is reciprocally related to these two factors. METHOD: Longitudinal data from a community sample of Dutch females (N = 143; M age = 19.6) was used to test these relations while controlling for initial levels of these factors. RESULTS: Dietary restraint did not predict future increases in binge eating, nor did binge eating predict future increases in dietary restraint. Depressive symptoms predicted future increases in binge eating, but binge eating did not predict future increases in depressive symptoms. CONCLUSION: Although this study had limited statistical power, the pattern of relations and effect sizes suggest that depressive symptoms, but not dietary restraint, increase risk of binge eating for late adolescent females.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

A short form of the Autonomy Scale: properties of the Autonomy-Connectedness Scale (ACS-30).

The Autonomy Scale (Bekker, 1993) measures individual differences in gender-linked autonomy, a psychological condition resulting from the process of individuation and separation. The theoretical background of the concept is found in a combination of feminist, neoanalytical object relations theory and attachment theory. The 3 subscales are Self-Awareness, Sensitivity to Others, and Capacity for Managing New Situations. We report the development and properties of the Autonomy-Connectedness Scale (ACS-30), a shortened 30-item version of the Autonomy Scale. We present 2 studies. In the first study, we examined the structure of the scale as well as its validity and reliability. The second study was aimed at further validation by relating the ACS-30 to various indexes of psychopathology. Exploratory as well as confirmatory factor analyses provided support for a 3-factor structure that was identical to that of the original scale. The ACS-30 showed good internal consistency reliability and an expected pattern of convergent validity with personality and mental health variables. The psychometric properties of the ACS-30 suggest it can be used to assess gender-linked autonomy. It also has the advantage of being more economical and simple as compared with the original 50-item version.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Effects of negative mood induction and impulsivity on self-perceived emotional eating.

OBJECTIVE: The current study investigates the influence of negative mood induction and impulsivity on self-perceptions with respect to emotional eating. Negative affect as well as high impulsivity was expected to increase levels of self-perceived emotional eating. METHOD: College students who were high versus low in impulsivity were assigned randomly to either a negative (failure on a quiz) or a neutral mood induction. Their levels of self-perceived emotional eating were measured after and before mood induction. RESULTS: Negative affect appeared to enhance the level of self-perceived emotional eating significantly (p < .01). There was no statistically significant effect of impulsivity. The interaction effect of affect and impulsivity approached significance (p = .08), indicating that highly impulsive subjects compared with subjects low in impulsivity were more strongly influenced by negative affect in self-perceived emotional eating. DISCUSSION: Negative affect substantially influences self-perceptions in terms of emotional eating, which is relevant for both prevention and treatment.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2004

The relationships among part-time work, work-family interference, and well-being.

The authors investigated the effect of part-time work on work-family interference and well-being among 160 part-time and 29 full-time employed mothers (with a partner) working at 2 insurance companies in the Netherlands. The authors controlled for working part time as a strategy for reducing work-family imbalance and found that part-time work was associated with a lower level of work-to-family interference. Also, high levels of work-family interference were associated with diminished well-being. Work-to-family interference played a mediating role in the relationship between part-time work and well-being. Results indicate that part-time jobs can enhance the work-family balance not only for those explicitly choosing part-time employment as a means to reduce work-family imbalance but also for other employees.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Inner body and outward appearance: the relationships between appearance orientation, eating disorder symptoms, and internal body awareness.

This study investigated the associations of appearance orientation and eating disorder symptoms with internal body awareness in an eating-disordered group of women and a general sample of women. In the eating-disordered group, appearance orientation was positively associated with internal body awareness. Eating disorders symptoms were negatively related to the awareness of bodily signals. No significant associations were found in the general sample of women. The results indicate that in eating-disordered individuals preoccupation with the body and eating-disordered behaviors are not only negatively associated with hunger, but with awareness of other bodily signals as well.

Journal Article↗