Objectives To examine purging for weight control, diet pill use, and obesity across sexual orientation identity and ethnicity groups. Method Anonymous survey data were analyzed from 24,591 high school students of diverse ethnicities in the federal Youth Risk Behavioral Surveillance System Survey in 2005 and 2007. Self-report data were gathered on sexual orientation identity, height, weight, purging and diet pill use in the past 30 days, gender, and ethnicity. We used multivariable logistic regression to estimate odds of purging, diet pill use, and obesity associated with sexual orientation identity in gender stratified models and examined for the presence of interactions between ethnicity and sexual orientation. Results Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) identity was associated with substantially elevated odds of purging and diet pill use in both females and males (odds ratios [OR] range: 1.9 to 6.8). Bisexual females and males were also at elevated odds of obesity compared to same-gender heterosexuals (OR: 2.3 and 2.1, respectively). Conclusions Interventions to reduce eating disorders and obesity are urgently needed that are appropriate for LGB youth of diverse ethnicities.

Three experiments assessed the influence of the Ebbinghaus illusion on size judgments that preceded verbal, grasp, or touch responses. Prior studies have found reduced effects of the illusion for the grip-scaling component of grasping, and these findings are commonly interpreted as evidence that different visual systems are employed for perceptual judgment and visually guided action. In the current experiments, the magnitude of the illusion was reduced by comparable amounts for grasping and for judgments that preceded grasping (Experiment 1). A similar effect was obtained prior to reaching to touch the targets (Experiment 2). The effect on verbal responses was apparent even when participants were simply instructed that a target touch task would follow the verbal task. After participants had completed a grasping task, the reduction in the magnitude of the illusion remained for a subsequent verbal-response judgment task (Experiment 3). Overall, the studies demonstrate strong connections between action planning and perception.