Publications by authors named "Kerstin K Blomquist"

The present study examined the impact of writing different types of comments in response to fitspiration (fitness inspiration) images on women's body dissatisfaction and negative affect. Women (N = 256) from the general population (age range: 18 to 49) were randomized to write one of three types of comments on the same fitspiration images: appearance (comment on the woman's appearance), functionality (comment on what the woman's body can do), or background (comment on the image background). Participants completed measures of state body dissatisfaction and negative affect pre- and post-exposure and measures of appearance comparison and functionality appreciation post-exposure.

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Introduction: Despite the value of clinical competencies for masters- and doctoral-level practitioners as well as the tremendous variability in preparedness for graduate school and at graduation from graduate school, there are no competency standards for students pursuing mental healthcare careers prior to graduate study. This study aimed to identify potential pre-mental health competency standards for undergraduates pursuing mental healthcare careers.

Methods: Faculty at masters and doctoral programs in a range of mental healthcare fields were asked to rate their expectations of entry-level competence and the perceived entry-level competence of their first-year, bachelor-level graduate students on 42 sub-competencies derived from the APA's Competency Benchmarks in Professional Psychology.

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This proof of concept, controlled pilot study expands on existing dissonance-based body image promotion programs by testing a modified version of the Body Project for 136 mothers and daughters aged 11-18 years old in church settings called Reclaiming Beauty. Mothers (n = 30) and their daughters (n = 35) who participated in Reclaiming Beauty were compared to mothers (n = 32) and daughters (n = 39) in a waitlist, assessment-only, control group on body image, eating psychopathology, and risk factor measures (thin-ideal internalization, physical appearance comparison) at pre-, post-, and 6-month-follow-up assessments. Intent-to-treat, multilevel modeling indicated that mothers and daughters in the Reclaiming Beauty group experienced significant improvement in body appreciation, body shape concerns, eating psychopathology, thin-ideal internalization, and physical appearance comparison over a six-month period compared to control participants.

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Exposure to media images portraying the thin ideal is associated with increased body dissatisfaction and disordered eating in women. Organizations and policymakers globally have proposed polices requiring warning or disclaimer labels on altered images. Research examining efficacy of disclaimer labels is growing but has largely overlooked adult women.

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Background: Limited research has validated eating pathology assessments in Iranian men and women. The purpose of the current study was to translate and validate a Farsi version of the Eating Pathology Symptoms Inventory (F-EPSI) in Iranian university students.

Methods: Men (n = 279) and women (n = 486) completed questionnaires including the F-EPSI.

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Objective: Despite research findings that transgender individuals have higher rates of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating than their cisgender peers, reasons for greater eating pathology remain unclear. We propose a Misgendering-Congruence Process by which being misgendered (i.e.

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Purpose: Although some studies have been conducted to examine general psychosocial impairment in Iran, there is no research to date on clinical impairment secondary to disordered eating in Iranian adolescents. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the Farsi version of the Clinical Impairment Assessment (F-CIA) among Iranian adolescents.

Methods: A total of 1112 adolescents (age = 15.

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Objective: Few studies have been conducted on disordered eating in Iran, with limited research on loss of control (LOC) eating in adolescents. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the validation of a Farsi version of the Loss of Control over Eating Scale (F-LOCES) among Iranian adolescents.

Method: Participants were 504 boys (Age  = 15.

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Adult women report significant body dissatisfaction yet are often overlooked in body image promotion programs. Although few venues afford opportune settings for intervening with adult women, the church serves as a regular meeting place for many in the South of the United States. This study tested a dissonance-based body image program, Reclaiming Beauty (RB), adapted for adult women in church settings.

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Background: Ads depicting models promoting calorie-dense foods and beverages are ubiquitous and no known research has examined their effects on consumers. Drawing from social comparison theory, we hypothesized that participants who viewed ads with models (versus without models) would be more likely to rate models and less likely to rate themselves as able to consume the calorie-dense foods regularly and still maintain their weight/shape. We also hypothesized that participants who viewed ads with models (versus without models) would report more body dissatisfaction and, consistent with consumer research, a greater intention to purchase the product.

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Purpose Of Review: To review the status of community-based disordered eating and obesity prevention programs from 2014 to 2019.

Recent Findings: In the last 5 years, prevention programs have found success in intervening with children and parental figures in wellness centers, physical activity centers, childcare centers, workplaces, online, and over-the-phone through directly reducing disordered eating and obesity or by targeting risk factors of disordered eating and obesity. Community-based prevention programs for disordered eating and programs targeting both disordered eating and obesity were scarce, highlighting the critical need for the development of these programs.

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Purpose: Weight/shape concerns and disordered eating are common among young adults. Minimal research has examined these variables longitudinally by gender and in connection to self-control. The present study examined the level of weight/shape concerns and disordered eating at the end of the first and fourth year of college separately by gender and explored differences in self-control.

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Objective: To explore food perceptions among grandparents and understand the influence of these perceptions on food choice for the younger generations in their family.

Design: Qualitative methodology, thematic analysis of the transcripts from fourteen focus groups.

Setting: Grandparents in the southern region of the United States.

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Background: Assessing the complexities of eating behaviors in patients who undergo bariatric surgery is challenging. The Eating Loss of Control Scale (ELOCS), a measure of loss-of-control (LOC) eating, has not yet been evaluated psychometrically among bariatric surgery patients.

Objective: This study presents a psychometric examination of the ELOCS in postoperative bariatric surgery patients.

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Objective: Fashion warning labels that caution readers about digitally altered images have been recommended and adopted by several countries to prevent body dissatisfaction and eating disorders. This study investigated the short- and longer-term influence of fashion warning labels on affect, body dissatisfaction, eating disorder symptoms, and snack consumption using a randomized-controlled experiment.

Method: Female undergraduates (n = 118) were randomized to view and rate responses to fashion images either with or without a warning label.

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Objective: The present study employed a longitudinal design to examine the moderating role of self-compassion in the relationship between weight/shape concerns and the outcomes of eating pathology and stress in a diverse college student population.

Method: Participants were 765 students who completed measures of self-compassion, weight/shape concerns, eating pathology, and stress over their first 2 years of college. We tested whether self-compassion attenuated the relation between weight/shape concerns at the beginning of college and eating pathology, and stress later in college.

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The alternative food network (AFN) refers to connections between consumers, producers, and sellers of organic, local/regional, "sustainably grown," and other artisanal and niche food not produced by the conventional system (Goodman & Goodman, 2007). Alternative foods are often viewed as the "right" consumption choice while conventional counterparts are positioned as ethically "wrong." A moral positioning of food, avoidance of certain food groups, and anxiety elicited by food consumption choices bears similarities to disordered eating behaviors (Hesse-Biber, Leavy, Quinn, & Zoino, 2006), including a newly proposed eating syndrome, orthorexia nervosa (ON; Vandereycken, 2011; Zamora, Bonaechea, Sánchez, & Rial, 2005).

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Objective: A preliminary examination of the significance of family histories of anxiety in the expression of binge eating disorder (BED) and associated functioning.

Methods: Participants were 166 overweight patients with BED assessed using diagnostic interviews. Participants were administered a structured psychiatric history interview about their first-degree relatives (parents, siblings, children) (N=897) to determine lifetime diagnoses of DSM-IV anxiety disorders and completed a battery of questionnaires assessing current and historical eating and weight variables and associated psychological functioning (depression).

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Recurrent objective bulimic episodes (OBE) are a defining diagnostic characteristic of binge eating disorder (BED) and bulimia nervosa (BN). OBEs are characterized by experiencing loss of control (LOC) while eating an unusually large quantity of food. Despite nosological importance and complex heterogeneity across patients, measurement of LOC has been assessed dichotomously (present/absent).

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Objective: The aim of the present study was to explore associations between specific interpersonal constructs and the developmental progression of behaviors leading to binge eating disorder (BED).

Method: Eighty-four consecutively evaluated, treatment-seeking obese (body mass index ≥30 kg/m(2)) men and women with BED were assessed with structured diagnostic and clinical interviews and completed a battery of established measures to assess the current and developmental eating- and weight-related variables as well as interpersonal functioning.

Results: Using the interpersonal circumplex structural summary method, amplitude, elevation, the affiliation dimension, and the quadratic coefficient for the dominance dimension were associated with eating- and weight-related developmental variables.

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Metabolic syndrome (MetSyn), characterized by vascular symptoms, is strongly correlated with obesity, weight-related medical diseases, and mortality and has increased commensurately with secular increases in obesity in the United States. Little is known about the distribution of MetSyn in obese patients with binge eating disorder (BED) or its associations with different developmental trajectories of dieting, binge eating, and obesity problems. Furthermore, inconsistencies in the limited data necessitate elucidation.

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Objective: Research has consistently shown that anxiety disorders are common among individuals with eating disorders. Although social phobia has been found to be highly associated with eating disorders, less is known about social anxiety in individuals with binge eating disorder (BED). The present study examined associations between social anxiety and self-consciousness with body mass index (BMI) and eating disorder psychopathology in BED.

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Objective: Widespread bias against obese individuals may lead to the internalization of weight bias in obese persons. This study examined correlates of internalized weight bias (IWB) in obese patients with binge eating disorder (BED).

Method: One hundred treatment-seeking obese patients with BED were administered with the eating disorders examination interview and questionnaires assessing IWB, fat phobia, depression, and self-esteem.

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Treatments for obese patients with binge eating disorder (BED) typically report modest weight losses despite substantial reductions in binge eating. Although the limited weight losses represent a limitation of existing treatments, an improved understanding of weight trajectories before treatment may provide a valuable context for interpreting such findings. The current study examined the weight trajectories of obese patients in the year before enrollment in primary care treatment for BED.

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Objective: To examine the significance of parental histories of substance use disorders (SUDs) in the expression of binge eating disorder (BED) and associated functioning.

Method: Participants were 127 overweight patients with BED assessed using diagnostic interviews. Participants were administered a structured psychiatric history interview about their parents (N = 250) and completed a battery of questionnaires assessing current and historical eating and weight variables and associated psychological functioning (depression and self-esteem).

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