The Society for Research on Adolescence conference has accepted three poster presentations by Beth Blodgett Salafia, assistant professor of human development and family sciences. The conference is scheduled for March in Philadelphia.
In a study for the poster titled "Mothers, Fathers, Friends, Siblings and the Media: Whose Disordered Eating Patterns Influence Adolescent Girls and Boys?" Blodgett Salafia found that both middle school girls and boys most often witnessed disordered eating behaviors by the media when compared to their mothers, fathers, friends and siblings. However, when it came to who was the most influential source in the adolescents’ own disordered eating behaviors, an interesting pattern of results unfolded. For girls, their friends were the most significant influence, but for boys, their siblings were the most important influence. "Often, siblings have been neglected from research on eating disorders, so this was a particularly noteworthy finding," Blodgett Salafia said.
Co-written by Dawn Gondoli from the University of Notre Dame, "How Mothers and Fathers May Impact Adolescent Girls’ Body Dissatisfaction, Dieting and Bulimic Symptoms," examines mothers’ and fathers’ encouragement to lose weight and then their discussion of dieting as predictors of girls’ body dissatisfaction, dieting and bulimic symptoms. The researchers discovered fathers’ encouragement for their daughters to lose weight contributed more strongly than mothers’ encouragement in predicting girls’ body dissatisfaction and dieting. "Mothers seemed to be more influential regarding girls’ bulimic symptoms and fathers’ discussion of dieting contributed more strongly than mothers for girls’ body dissatisfaction," Blodgett Salafia said. "Both fathers and mothers affected girls’ dieting and neither mothers nor fathers influenced girls’ bulimic symptoms. The results suggest that fathers are highly influential in girls’ development of disordered eating attitudes and behaviors."
"How Different Types of Stress Affect Disordered Eating Among Girls and Boys in Middle School," was co-written by Jessica Lemer, an NDSU human development and family science graduate student. One purpose of this study was to determine gender differences in types of stress. The researchers discovered girls reported higher levels of performance and relationship stress. Blodgett Salafia said a second purpose of the study was to determine how specific types of stress affect girls’ and boys’ bulimic and dieting behaviors. "We found that while no type of stress was significantly associated with girls’ bulimic symptoms, performance, relationship and family stress were all associated with their dieting," she said. "Second, education and family stress were associated with boys’ bulimic symptoms whereas education, financial and relationship stress were associated with their dieting."