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With the prevalence of overweight and obesity on the rise in America, the role of educators in creating transformative learning contexts that minimize obesity bias and that foster tolerance has [...]

This interpretive study explores how mothers and their adolescent daughters respond to and interact about the body malleable ideology, or cultural discourses that normalize thinness and promote the body as changeable. In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 mothers and their daughters. Grounded theory analysis revealed two responses to the body malleable ideology--the acceptance or rejection of the body as a malleable object. Participants expressed ambivalence about this ideology and related cultural discourses. Further, through their interactions, mothers and daughters both constructed and deconstructed the ideology of a malleable body. Three patterns of dyadic experience were identified: Pattern A, in which both the mother and daughter accepted the body malleable ideology, Pattern B, in which both the mother and daughter rejected the body malleable ideology, and Pattern C, in which the mother rejected and the daughter accepted the body malleable ideology. In taking an in-depth look at the cases of three dyads, we explore defining characteristics of these patterns. We also present a grounded theory model developed to illustrate relationships discovered in this study.

The interpretive study reported in this article focused on the process by which mothers and daughters interact about body and dieting. In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 mothers and their adolescent daughters. Constant comparison analysis of data revealed four patterns of mother-daughter interaction about body and dieting: (a) the direct verbal approach, including encouragement/facilitation, dissuasion, and fault-finding messages; (b) the avoidance/guardedness approach; (c) the modeling approach; and (d) the laissez-faire approach. These four patterns of communication varied in terms of content and were used in different contexts and combinations. These mother-daughter interactions (a) were shaped by mothers' and daughters' thoughts about the self, the other, and the mother-daughter relationship; (b) were used by mothers and daughters to plan future interactions with one another; and (c) served to guide lines of personal action with respect to dieting, especially in the case of daughters. Keywords: mothers; daughters; interaction; dieting; body

Issues regarding the possibility that teenage daughters model their mothers' diet-related thoughts and behaviors are discussed. Findings indicated that modeling effects alone could not adequately explain the diet-related patterns, and intervening variables such as a daughter's degree of identification with her mother or a mother's verbal reinforcement of a modeled attitude may also provide an effect.

This study examined whether divorced women's gender role orientation is related to interest in work clothing and satisfaction with physical appearance. Extremely non-traditional divorced women showed greater concerns about modesty and less interest in looking sexually attractive in their work dress. Divorced women's marital experience was found to be related to body satisfaction and interest in work clothing. The relationships among marital experience, body satisfaction, and interest in work clothing deserve further research to better understand the impact of divorce on one's perception of the self and appearance management behavior. Suggestions are made for practitioner application of the findings.

Adolescents' clothing interests, body satisfaction, and eating behaviors were examined for conceptual dimensions and possible interrelationships. Generation of hypotheses was the goal of this exploratory research. Instruments measuring adolescents' dress concerns, body satisfaction, and eating behaviors were administered to 751 females. Principal component analysis was used to identify five clothing dimensions (experimentation, self-enhancement, conformity, economics and practicality, and modesty), two body satisfaction dimensions (face and extremities, midsection and weight), and two eating dimensions (drive for thinness and binging). Items measuring clothing interests, body satisfaction, and eating behaviors were conceptually independent; clothing factors showed little or no correlation with either body satisfaction or eating factors. Hypotheses were generated related to concepts identified in the factors.

A study on the attachment of aging adults to their living places, and the process of their adaptation to new communities, is presented.

The findings of a study conducted to examine the usage of internet by rural consumers for product information and purchases are presented, with reference to their online furniture shopping practices.

The need for the consumers to seek better bodies so that they can achieve better beauty and desirable life style is discussed. The role of Body Malleable Ideology (BMI) in studying the perceptions of malleability, desire to change the body or attempts to change the body are discussed.

The effect of hands-on trial of retail Web sites on attitudes of rural consumers towards Internet shopping was examined based on E.M. Rogers' innovation diffusion theory. During the knowledge stage of innovation diffusion, prior conditions and characteristics of the rural consumer influence information search.