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The purpose of this study was to explore why consumers wear and repair Patagonia brand apparel, thus extending the lifespan of the apparel beyond a typical period of consumption. Using a qualitative case study, we examined Patagonia's "Stories We Wear" blog posts from 2015 to 2017. Six emergent themes were identified as consumers' motivation to engage in sustainability practices of repairing and extending the use of Patagonia brand apparel. The findings indicate that the blog posts (a) supported brand attachment and (b) enhanced our understanding of consumer–object relations with apparel items. Recommendations for future research and businesses seeking to expand sustainability practices are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to examine how multiple age identities-chronological, ideal, and feel ages-influence social comparison with media images, body satisfaction, and appearance self-discrepancy. Building on the possible selves theory that a closer approximation between chronological age and subjective ages-ideal age and feel age-occurs over time, a conceptual model was tested to identify individual variations of age identities and self-perceptions to body image across the life span. A convenience sample of 279 women between the ages of 30 and 80 years completed the survey at several women's philanthropic and social organizations. Findings indicated that ideal age, rather than chronological age and feel age, played a more important role in influencing participants' perceptions of body and social comparison as their age identities changed. The findings highlight the significance of multiple age identities in predicting social comparison behavior and body image among women across the life span. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reasoned action theory is adapted to study the influence of body satisfaction and subjective norm (the role of others) on behavioral intention and behavior to change the body. Data are collected from 301 female undergraduate students. Causal model analyses are conducted by a maximum-likelihood estimation procedure using LISREL 8.72. Overall, fit of the model is highly adequate. Participants who have high body satisfaction scores are less likely to want to change their bodies. Participants who think that significant others (parents, siblings, and friends) want them to change their bodies and who are inclined to comply with those significant others are more likely to want to change their bodies. Participants with greater intention to change their bodies are more likely to try to change them. The results support reasoned action theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the utility of body-related behaviors, body attitudes, normative beliefs, and body mass index (BMI) in predicting perceptions of malleability and the utility of body attitude, subjective norms, perceptions of malleability, and BMI in predicting desires to change the body and attempts to change the body. Aquestionnaire was administered to undergraduates. Regression analyses suggested that female and male perceptions of malleability were predicted by attempts to change the body. Among females, body attitudes and normative beliefs about siblings and friends predicted perceptions of malleability. For both females andmales, adding perceptions of malleability to a regression model including body attitude and subjective norm increased the variance explained in desire and attempts to change the body. BMI did not predict perceptions of malleability, desire to change the body, or attempts to change the body. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This interpretive study focused on mothers' and their adolescent daughters' diet-related thoughts and behaviors and explored the possibility that daughters model their mothers' patterns. In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 mothers and their adolescent daughters. Grounded theory analysis revealed that mothers' diet-related experiences were complex, varying across the life span. Among daughters, three types of dieters emerged: nondieters; short-term, low-commitment dieters; and serious dieters. Both mothers and daughters distinguished between "going on a diet" and "watching what you eat." Mother and daughter dieting and watching patterns varied in terms of content, duration, and motive. Findings indicated that modeling effects alone cannot adequately explain diet-related patterns of mothers and their daughters. Intervening variables, such as a daughter's degree of identification with her mother or a mother's verbal reinforcement of a modeled attitude, may affect whether a child models a given maternal behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]