The power of weight and the weight of power in adolescence: a comparison between young and adult women

Abstract

Obesity is an important emerging problem in adolescence because it causes psychological distress and social prejudice. Using Ugazio’s theory, this study aims to test if the construct ‘winner/loser’ and its associated meanings are used and considered important among obese adolescents. The personal constructs of 68 participants (young and adult; obese and normal weight) were elicited through the repertory grid test and analysed using the log-linear model. The power dimension was the most used in the obese groups (young and adult) but it was considered the most relevant among adolescents rather than women, regardless of the weight variable. The results allow us to provide several suggestions on a clinical level and on a wider social perspective

Mental Health Through the COVID-19 Quarantine: A Growth Curve Analysis on Italian Young Adults

“…Follow-up investigations are also needed. Considering the high levels of Withdrawal that emerged from the results, future investigations should explore the function and the role played by virtual environments and e-communities during pandemic in-depth, taking into account the roles played by the online environments and by the use of social media in terms of both risks and protective functions ( Faccio et al, 2019 ; Gargiulo and Margherita, 2019 ; Margherita and Gargiulo, 2018 ; Procentese et al, 2019 ; Boursier et al, 2020 ). In this sense, future investigations might be also directed to investigate the changes in the dynamics of social and love relationships ( Mannarini et al, 2013 , 2017a ; Balottin et al, 2017 ; Margherita et al, 2018 ) as well as the role of social support ( Ratti et al, 2017 ) post-lockdown and post-pandemic.…”

A Couple in Love Entangled in Enigmatic Episodes: A Semantic Analysis

“…One of Ugazio's central theses–recently confirmed by a substantial amount of research (Castiglioni, Faccio, Veronese, & Bell, ; Castiglioni, Veronese, Pepe, & Villegas, ; Faccio, Belloni, & Castelnuovo, ; Faccio et al., ; Ugazio & Fellin, ; Ugazio, Negri, & Fellin, )–is that people with eating, phobic, obsessive‐compulsive disorders, and depression will have grown up in families where certain coherent sets of meaning dominate the conversation. They are the semantics of freedom (phobic disorders), goodness (obsessive‐compulsive disorders), power (eating disorders), and belonging (depression).…”

Intrapersonal, interpersonal, and physical space in anorexia nervosa: a virtual reality and repertory grid investigation

“…The eating and weight domains may offer ways of construing (i.e. placing an interpretation, Kelly 1955 p.50) which enable the person to predict and control the world (Faccio et al, 2016;Salvini et al, 2012).…”