The study investigated whether obese children are more impulsive than lean children, taking into account the multidimensionality of the construct. Responses of 41 overweight children were compared to those of 40 lean children. The Stop Task, Circle Drawing Task and Opposite Worlds Task were administered to measure executive inhibitory control, and the Maudsley Index of Childhood Delay Aversion and the Door Opening Task were administered to measure motivational inhibitory control. On the Stop Task, the overweight children showed less inhibitory control. On the Opposite Worlds task, we found no significant difference, whereas on the Circle Drawing Task an unexpected group difference was found. Although on the Door Opening Task the overweight children showed greater reward sensitivity, they were equally motivated to wait on the Maudsley Index of Childhood Delay. We conclude that the findings were different depending on the measure used, but that they suggest that overweight children can be characterised by a decrease in executive and motivational inhibitory control.

Research carried out in several Anglo-Saxon countries shows that many undergraduates identify oral sex and anal sex as examples of abstinent behaviour, while many others consider kissing and masturbation as examples of having sex. The objective of this research was to investigate whether a sample of Spanish students gave similar replies. Seven hundred and fifty undergraduates (92% aged under 26, 67.6% women) produced examples or definitions of the term ‘abstinence’. Spanish students made similar errors to those observed in the Anglo-Saxon samples, in that behaviours that were abstinent from a preventive point of view (masturbating and sex without penetration) were not considered as such, while a number of students reported oral sex as abstinent behaviour. The results suggest that the information on risky and preventive sexual behaviour should cease to use ambiguous or euphemistic expressions and use vocabulary that is clear and comprehensible to everyone.

The mental health correlates of male aggression or violence against an intimate partner (IPV) are examined using exploratory cluster analysis for 81 men who self-reported risk factors for IPV perpetration on a computer-based health risk assessment. Men disclosing IPV perpetration could be meaningfully subdivided into two different clusters: a high pathology/high violence cluster, and lower pathology/low violence cluster. These groups appear to perpetrate intimate partner violence in differing psychoemotional contexts and could be robustly identified using multiple distinct analytic methods. If men who self-disclose IPV in a health care setting can be meaningfully subdivided based on mental health symptoms and level of violence, it lends support for potential new targeted approaches to preventing partner violence perpetration by both women and men.

This article reports four case studies illustrating the implementation of the Choose Health Program, a cognitive behavioural lifestyle intervention for overweight and obese adolescents. Participants were an overweight (12 years) and obese (15 years) female, and an overweight (14 years) and obese (12 years) male. The program was delivered by provisional psychologists with program specific training and supervision. All participants demonstrated improvements in body composition, and maintained or improved dietary quality and psychosocial wellbeing. The program had variable effects on physical activity and minimal effect on cardiovascular fitness for three of the four participants. While parents and adolescents required considerable assistance to develop and monitor long term program goals, these goals were a useful clinical tool to support the adolescent and parent to recognise the improvements they had made. Identification and monitoring of specific, measurable, and realistic behaviour change strategies was particularly important in assisting adolescents and their parents to translate session information into improved health behaviours. Results indicate that an adolescent overweight and obesity treatment program that promotes adolescent responsibility and autonomy, and emphasises the importance of parent support and family change is both effective and highly acceptable to both adolescents and parents.

A 64-year-old male who met criteria for social and generalised anxiety was treated using a brief behavioural activation (BA) approach. The intervention was delivered in twelve weekly 60-minute individual sessions. The effects of the intervention were assessed using a simple A-B-C phase change with repeated measurement design. Change in reported anxiety was recorded across phases. Decreased scores in self-reported anxiety measures were obtained and significant clinical improvement was maintained during a 4-month no treatment maintenance phase. This preliminary investigation suggests BA could be an efficient and effective treatment for anxiety and that replications are warranted.