College of Education
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The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations..
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Item Body Image and Social Anxiety: Integration, Comparison, and Extension of Bioecological Models(2012) Klingaman, Elizabeth Ann; Hoffman, Mary Ann; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Women entering their first year of college are at risk of developing both pathological body image and social anxiety. The bioecological framework of human development (Bronfenbrenner, 1977) was used to guide the selection and synthesis of three relevant models linking the following outcomes to various predictors relevant to first-year-to-college women: social physique anxiety as a subcomponent of body image concerns, and fear of negative evaluation as a subcomponent of social anxiety. While several differences were found between Asian, Black, and White racial groups, the new bioecological model fit well across all racial groups, explaining between 52% and 57% of the variance in social physique anxiety, and from 40% and 47% of the variance in fear of negative evaluation. For all racial groups, social physique anxiety mediated the relation between self-esteem and fear of negative evaluation. Self-esteem was not supported as a moderator of the relation between body mass index and social physique anxiety. Results suggest the importance of assessing social physique anxiety among college women, as well as studying the bioecological model longitudinally. Further results and implications are discussed for theory, research, and practice.Item A Biopsychosocial Model of Body Image in New Mothers(2009) Welsh, Anne Cavanaugh; Hoffman, Mary Ann; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The vast majority of eating disorders literature to date focuses on adolescent and college aged women. However, recent research suggests that eating disorders and struggles with body image are not limited to younger women, but instead occur in women of all ages (e.g. Hay, 1998). One group of women that might be particularly at risk for decreases in body image are first time mothers, as their bodies go through immense changes during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Thus far, the literature has shown a relationship between biological changes, such as weight retention, and low body image in postpartum women (e.g. Walker, 1998). However, little research has explored the role of psychosocial factors in postpartum body image. The current study explored a biopsychosocial model of postpartum image, drawing on psychosocial variables that had been shown to relate to body image in adolescent and college aged women. This study found that psychosocial factors (internalization of the thin ideal, pressure for thinness, and negative affect) accounted for variance in body satisfaction and disordered eating, above and beyond that of biomedical factors (weight change, postpartum BMI, and shape change). Additionally, psychosocial factors partially mediated the effect of weight change and shape change on body satisfaction and disordered eating. These findings have important implications for psychologists and health care professionals who work with new mothers.