Biomedical subjects

P R Costanzo

Publications and source records attributed to P R Costanzo.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2001

The mediating effect of eating self-efficacy on the relationship between emotional arousal and overeating in the treatment-seeking obese.

In this study, we tested the proposition that the emotion-based eating of obese individuals is mediated by the effects of emotional arousal tendencies on brittle dieting self-restraint. Our indices of emotion-aroused eating, overeating, and brittle restraint were derived from a set of measures administered to 632 female and 254 male participants in a residential weight control and lifestyle change program. Mediation analyses indicated that (a) the relationship between positive emotion and overeating was entirely mediated by restraint tendencies and (b) the relationship between negative emotion eating and overeating was only partially mediated by brittle restraint. These findings held for both males and females. The results are discussed in relation to the viability of the psychosomatic hypothesis for understanding the relationship between emotions and overeating.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1999

The gender specificity of emotional, situational, and behavioral indicators of binge eating in a diet-seeking obese population.

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the unique gender correlates of binge eating severity in a diet-seeking population. METHOD: This sample consisted of 288 self-admitted patients enrolled in a residential weight loss program between 1996 and 1997. Subjects were administered several questionnaires including (a) the Binge Eating Scale, (b) the Beck Depression Inventory, (c) the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, (d) 5-point scales of eating related foci, and (e) 7-point scales of subject confidence in controlling their eating under various circumstances. Data were analyzed in terms of stepwise regression analyses. RESULTS: Regression results revealed that while men and women share some common predictors of binge eating severity, there are also some gender-specific correlates. Men in our sample were prone to binge eat because of negative emotions (i.e., depression and anger), while binge eating severity for women in our sample was most strongly related to diet failure and tests of moderate eating. DISCUSSION: The strength of the distinctive gender-specific regressions for binge eating severity suggests that the problems of binging in obese males and females are derivatives of differential sex role expectations. This interpretation and clinical implications are the focus of the discussion.

Adult↗

PubMed1998

The comorbidity of depression and eating dysregulation processes in a diet-seeking obese population: a matter of gender specificity.

OBJECTIVE: To explore gender differences in depression vulnerability among an obese, treatment-seeking population and to discern those components of eating-related phenomena that discriminate the depression-comorbid obese from their noncomorbid counterparts. METHOD: This sample consisted of 1,184 self-admitted patients enrolled in a residential weight loss program between 1990 and 1995. Subjects were administered several questionnaires including (a) the Beck Depression Inventory, (b) 5-point scales of eating-related foci, and (c) 7-point scales of subject's confidence in their eating control under various circumstances. Data were analyzed via analyses of variance (ANOVAs) and stepwise regression. RESULTS: Greater depression was accompanied by more disruptive, dysregulatory eating tendencies, and stronger inclination to engage in affectively and socially disrupted eating. Regression results revealed gender-specific predictors of comorbid depression. For obese females, negative-emotion disrupted eating and binge-purge behaviors were prominent predictors of depression. For males, eating induced by experiences of social or physical inadequacy and fasting relating to eating behaviors were the depression-relevant variables. DISCUSSION: These results are discussed in terms of their theoretical implications for gender-mediated models of obesity-depression comorbidity, and in terms of their clinical significance.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1990

Does marital agony precede marital ecstasy? A comment on Gottman and Krokoff's "Marital interaction and satisfaction: a longitudinal view".

In a recent article, Gottman and Krokoff (1989) presented a fascinating and counterintuitive portrayal of a temporally related dynamic relationship of marital conflict and marital satisfaction. Unfortunately the results from which their conclusions spring are quite problematic. In a 2-wave, extreme-groups design, Gottman and Krokoff used raw change in satisfaction as a correlate of Time 1 conflict variables for purposes of analysis. Serious psychometric questions arise with this approach to the causal assessment of change. Given the considerations raised, there is a high likelihood that Gottman and Krokoff's data result from statistical artifact. Alternative approaches to the measurement of change are discussed in the context of illustrating the problematic components of Gottman and Krokoff's analysis.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1989

Thinness--not obesity--has a genetic component.

The body mass of adoptees was compared with the body mass of both biologic and adoptive parents using data from the Danish Adoption Register. Chi-square analyses revealed that biologic heritability is small and is confined to thin, not obese body mass. It is probable that the inheritance of thin body mass constitutes a mild protective factor that mitigates against development of obesity caused by environmental factors.

Adoption↗

PubMed1980

Behavioral determinants of mental illness concerns: a comparison of community subcultures.

A stratified sample (race, sex, and social class) of 469 laymen from two North Carolina communities responded to a 190-item MMPI-based questionnaire with the degree of mental illness concern evoked by each item. The results reflected systematic race and social class differences in the behavioral bases for mental illness attributions--differences not explainable by overall differences in toleration for deviance. Although laymen had roughly similar rank orderings for the 13 homogeneous clusters of items, blacks indicated greater concern over breakdowns in social orientation than whites, while the opposite pattern held for traditionally defined psychopathy (internal distresses). Upper-class concerns were, comparatively, with cognitive dysfunction, middle-class with moral and social responsibility, and lower-class with social inadequacies.

Adult↗

PubMed1980

The effect of social cues on the eating behavior of obese and normal subjects.

Schachter's externality hypothesis suggests that overweight individuals are more likely to be induced to eat by salient external cues than normal weight individuals. While a range of studies have demonstrated the plausibility of this hypothesis in the case of sensory stimuli (e.g., taste cues), there is little evidence that the hypothesis applies to social stimuli. The current study examines this latter proposition by exposing male and female, overweight and normal weight subjects to a same-sex or opposite-sex peer model. Under the guise of engaging in a taste experiment, the subjects were either exposed to a model who tasted no crackers (no eat), one cracker (low eat), or twenty crackers (high eat). In addition, control model-absent conditions were also run for purposes of establishing baseline eating rates. If the externality hypotheses were to prevail in social domains, one would expect overweight subjects to be more prone to model the cracker-eating behavior of the peer than normal weight individuals. However, the findings indicate that all subject groups regardless of weight evidence a rather clear modeling effect and all subjects evidence social inhibition effects on their eating behavior as well. Several intriguing interactions among subject sex, model sex, subject weight, and social condition were also found. The discussion explores the relevance of an externality model of overweight eating in social domains, and focuses upon the interesting and somewhat distinct pattern of socially mediated eating exhibited by overweight females.

Cues↗

PubMed1979

Externality as a function of obesity in children: pervasive style or eating-specific attribute?

The developmental sources of the link between stylistic externality and food-related externality found in the obese by Schacter and others were explored by testing whether the externality phenomena that have been found to differentiate obese and normal adults are also discriminators of obese and normal children. The results suggest that obese children as young as 7-12 years of age show an external responsiveness to salient food cues but not yet a generally external perceptual style. The implications of these findings for the development of obese externality are examined.

Child↗

PubMed1979

Death anxiety, dissent, and competence.

A total of 64 male undergraduates were administered a multistage interview which was structured to assess (a) their level of overtly expressed death anxiety, (b) covert (GSR) arousal to death stimuli (c) self-perceived competence, and (d) agreement with or dissent from life threatening national policies. The analyses that followed were concerned with examining the relationships among these variables. In previous studies of this kind it had been typically found that (1) self-perceived competence and magnitude of expressed death concern are inversely related and (2) overt expressions of death concern and covert physiological arousal to death cues are inversely related. Psychodynamic formulations centering on the ego-defensive nature of inhibited expressions of death anxiety have been cited to explain these past data. The current investigation proposed that the magnitude of expressed death concern would bear an inverse relationship to both felt competence and covert death arousal only when the level of overt concern was not contingent upon the individual's attitudes concerning the imminence of real life threatening circumstances in the environment. The rationale behind these predictions inheres in the notion that the neurotic components of strongly expressed death anxiety derive from its lack of anchoring in "real" external threats. Conversely, the expression of low death fear can only be regarded as "defensive" when real threats are perceived and acknowledged. The obtained results strongly support this rationale and the discussion centers on the impact of social conditions on psychodynamic processes.

Achievement↗

PubMed1976