The problem of this study was the ingestion of certain foods and their observed effects on behavior. The purpose of the study was to investigate the possible relationships between specific foods and (1) weight loss and gain; (2) hunger urges; (3) depression scores; (4) hand-eye coordination; (5) short-term auditory memory; and (6) heart rate. The subject in this study had previously been diagnosed as having sensitivities to certain foods. To determine the effects of certain foods on the subject a repeated measure design was employed. Specifically, an A-B-B-A-B-A design was used where A phases represented a 6-day period in which the subject ate foods to which she was sensitive. During earlier testing, the subject was found to be sensitive to corn, citrus fruit, pork, lamb, carrots, nuts, watermelon, and pineapple. These foods were found to induce irregular psycho-behavioral and physiological characteristics upon repeated and systematic testing procedures. Her nonreactive foods include fish, chicken, most green and yellow vegetables, bananas, cantaloupe, pears, apples, strawberries, and blueberries.

The problem with which this investigation was concerned was that of determining the relationship between the variables of acculturation, imagery, self-concept, anxiety, stress, and seriousness of disease in Mexican-Americans. The purposes of this study were 1) to determine the statistical predictive efficiency of stress and its relation to disease, 2) to determine if a combination of anxiety, acculturation, self-concept, imagery, along with stress, would increase the statistical predictive efficiency concerning seriousness of disease, and 3) to provide information that may help to develope a theoretical base concerning the above variables and disease in Mexican-Americans.

This research study was designed to investigate the relationships of imagery, self-concept, anxiety, stress, subjective stress and seriousness of illness and to determine the potential of certain cognitive mediating variables, especially imagery and an interaction between self-concept and imagery, to significantly increase the efficiency of stress as a predictor of seriousness of illness. The purposes of this study were: (1) to determine the efficiency of stress as a predictor of disease, (2) to determine if cognitive mediating variables will significantly increase the predictive efficiency between stress and disease, (3) to investigate selected correlations among the variables, (4) to provide a research base for current treatment procedures using imagery treating various illnesses.