Sex differences in perceived importance of hamstring stretching among high school athletes

Adolescent athletes completed a hamstring stretching technique and opinion survey and were measured for hamstring extensibility during preparticipation examination. Hamstring muscle group stretching practices, extensibility, and perception of importance to injury prevention, athletic performance, warming-up, cooling down, and coaches were contrasted by sex. As expected, girls displayed greater hamstring muscle group flexibility than boys. Boys and girls reported similar hamstring stretch repetitions and stretch duration. Boys scored hamstring stretching as being more important to improved athletic performance and to their coaches than did girls. Differences were not evident between groups for prevention of injury, warm-up, or cool-down. The lower perception of hamstring stretching importance for improving athletic performance and a lesser perception of hamstring stretching importance to their coaches suggests that adolescent female athletes and their coaches may not fully understand the value of static hamstring stretching. Modified hamstring stretching technique may selectively increase hamstring extensibility among girls without contributing to increasing capsuloligamentous knee joint laxity.     

Relationships between being traditional and sense of gratitude among Taiwanese high school athletes

This study examined the association of scores on measures of traditionality and gratitude. Briefly defined, traditionality refers to how strongly one endorses the traditional value of submission to authority for harmony and benefits in a collective group. Traditional Taiwanese culture is linked with collectivism, and the society tends to encourage members to respect authority and harmony. As people of a collectivistic view seek to maintain harmony within the group, gratitude and reciprocity of good is expected from members. Nevertheless, traditionality of values differs among group members, as is also true for gratitude. It is not known how scores on traditionality might relate to feelings of gratitude among athletes in the competitive sports setting. 289 Taiwanese high school athletes were administered the Sport-domain Gratitude Questionnaire by Chen and Kee and the Traditionality Scale by Kao and Lu. Data, subjected to structural equation modeling, show that traditionality scores were related to those on gratitude. Implications and limitations were discussed.     

The communicative process of drug resistance among high school students.

This article reports the results of the second of two studies designed to examine social influences on adolescents' responses to drug offers. In the first study, a typology of both drug offers and drug resistance strategies was developed. The present study provides an analysis of the associations between offers and resistance and the differences between drug and alcohol offers. To accomplish this, sixty-nine narrative accounts of both successful and unsuccessful attempts to say no were collected from high school students. Analysis of the interviews indicated that peer pressure was applied in approximately 70% of the offers; however, much of that pressure was applied after the initial offer had been refused. It also was determined that simple offers were more likely with alcohol, while drug offers were more likely to be persuasive and involve pressure during the initial offer.     

Autonomy-supportive coaching and self-determined motivation in high school and college athletes: A test of self-determination theory

ObjectivesUsing self-determination theory as a framework, this study tested whether perceived competence, autonomy, and relatedness mediated the relationship between perceived autonomy-supportive coaching and athletes’ motivational orientation.DesignA cross-sectional, survey study conducted during a regularly schedule training session.MethodMale and female high school and college athletes (N=581) completed questionnaires assessing the key variables of interest.ResultsStructural equation modeling revealed support for a mediational effect. Specifically, results indicated that the degree to which athletes perceived their coaches to be autonomy-supportive significantly predicted the athletes’ perceived competence, autonomy, and sense of relatedness, which, in turn, each predicted their motivational orientation. This pattern of relationships was invariant across gender and level of competition.ConclusionsResults support self-determination theory and highlight the motivational benefits of autonomy-supportive coaching behaviors.     

Ethics of Research Involving Mandatory Drug Testing of High School Athletes in Oregon

There is consensus that children have questionable decisional capacity and, therefore, in general a parent or a guardian must give permission to enroll a child in a research study. Moreover, freedom from duress and coercion, the cardinal rule in research involving adults, is even more important for children. This principle is embodied prominently in the Nuremberg Code (1947) and is embodied in various federal human research protection regulations. In a program named "SATURN" (Student Athletic Testing Using Random Notification), each school in the Oregon public-school system may implement a mandatory drug-testing program for high school student athletes. A prospective study to identify drug use among student-athletes, SATURN is designed both to evaluate the influence of random drug testing and to validate the survey data through identification of individuals who do not report drug use. The enrollment of students in the drug-testing study is a requirement for playing a school sport. In addition to the coercive nature of this study design, there were ethically questionable practices in recruitment, informed consent, and confidentiality. This article concerns the question of whether research can be conducted with high school students in conjunction with a mandatory drug-testing program, while adhering to prevailing ethical standards regarding human-subjects research and specifically the participation of children in research.     

Tobacco use among high school athletes and nonatieletes: results of the 1997 youth risk behavior survey

In the United States today, the use of tobacco has become an entrenched part of teenage culture. The present study used the 1997 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), which collected data from a nationally representative sample of 16,262 students in public and private high schools, to compare the tobacco use patterns of athletes and nonathletes. The independent variable, athletic participation, differentiated between moderately involved (1 or 2 teams) and highly involved (3 or more teams) athletes. Frequency of cigarette and cigar smoking and smokeless tobacco use served as the operational measure of tobacco use. Age, race/ethnicity, parental education, and residence were controlled. Logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios for female and male athletes and nonathletes for each of the tobacco use variables. It was found that both male and female athletes were less likely to have ever smoked regularly, the effect being stronger for more highly involved athletes of both genders. Cigar smoking was unrelated to athlete status. Both female and male athletes were more likely to have used smokeless tobacco, the effect being stronger for more highly involved athletes of both genders. The findings are discussed in terms of access to health information, performance considerations, social status factors, the salience of an athletic identity, and the influence of the athletic subculture on its members.     

Testing the buffering hypothesis: Perceptions of coach support and pre-competitive anxiety among male and female high school athletes

Research suggests that social support moderates or “buffers” the impact of stress on the individual and thus indirectly affects emotional well-being (Cohen and Wills, 1985). The present study sought to extend the “buffering hypothesis” to competitive sport by examining the influence of perceived coach support on competitive state anxiety among young athletes (N = 270). Results from confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) substantiated the validity of the sport-modified Social Provisions Scale (Russell and Cutrona, 1984; Ryska and Yin, 1994). Structural equation modeling analyses revealed a significant support-anxiety effect in the high trait-anxious model only (r =-.27, p .05). The present results suggest that perceived coach support represents an important mediating factor in the sport stress process among highly anxious athletes.     

Testing the buffering hypothesis: Perceptions of coach support and pre-competitive anxiety among male and female high school athletes

Research suggests that social support moderates or “buffers” the impact of stress on the individual and thus indirectly affects emotional well-being (Cohen and Wills, 1985). The present study sought to extend the “buffering hypothesis” to competitive sport by examining the influence of perceived coach support on competitive state anxiety among young athletes (N = 270). Results from confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) substantiated the validity of the sport-modified Social Provisions Scale (Russell and Cutrona, 1984; Ryska and Yin, 1994). Structural equation modeling analyses revealed a significant support-anxiety effect in the high trait-anxious model only (r =-.27, p .05). The present results suggest that perceived coach support represents an important mediating factor in the sport stress process among highly anxious athletes.     

Oversight of research involving the dead

Research involving the dead, especially heart-beating cadavers, may facilitate the testing of potentially revolutionary and life-saving medical treatments. However, to ensure that such research is conducted ethically, it is essential to: (1) identify appropriate standards for this research and (2) assign institutional responsibility and a mechanism for oversight. Protocols for research involving the dead should be reviewed by a special committee and assessed according to nine standards intended to ensure scientific merit, to protect deceased patients and their families, and to promote institutional integrity and responsibility. Federal regulation of research involving the dead will foster appropriate standards and, equally importantly, help establish the acceptability of such research.     

Recent research trends in testing

Summary: Recent trends in test research as measured by references in Buros' Mental Measurements Yearbooks were investigated. The 24 tests with the greatest number of publications were identified, and growth trends of five major tests (Rorschach, MMPI, TAT, Stanford-Bhet, and SVIB) were shown. The correlation between test publications and test usage was .25. The authors speculated that future research trends might include increasing psychometric attention to behavioral assessment and test modifications for minorities. Based on a survey of psychologists' judgments of test quality, the authors concluded that good psychometric properties do not test leaders make.     

Bullying in elementary school, high school, and college

This study investigated the continuity in being a bully, victim, or bully-victim from elementary school through college in 119 undergraduates. Of 25 who bullied in college, 18 (72%) had been bullied in high school and elementary school. Of 26 bullies in college, 14 (53.8%) had been bullies in high school and elementary school. Of 12 bully-victims in college, 5 (41.6%) had been bully-victims in high school and elementary school. There were significant positive correlations between being a bully in college, high school, and elementary school, and being bullied in college and high school, and high school and elementary school, and between being both a bully and victim in elementary school, a bully and victim in high school, and a bully and victim in college.     

Sexual coercion in high school dating

Retrospective data from a survey of Australian undergraduate university students indicated that sexual coercion leading to sex play and sexual intercourse is a feature of dating behavior in high school. Fifty-three percent of 217 females reported that a boy had overestimated the level of sexual intimacydesired, while 45 percent of 72 males reported that a girl had underestimated the level of sexual intimacydesired. While data was not gathered on ethnic origin, the majority of students were Australian born, although family of origin would have been culturally varied. The data illustrate sexual coercion leading to both sex play and intercourse, with a number of factors being implicated in its occurrence, including alcohol and drugs and males saying things they didn't really mean, through to threat and use of force. They support that the existence of sexual coercion among high school students, a population that has received little research attention in this area, is comparable to its existence in the college/university years.     

Ethical issues in psychosocial interventions research involving controls

Psychiatric research is of critical importance in improving the care of persons with mental illness. Yet it may also raise difficult ethical issues. This article explores those issues in the context of a particular kind of research: psychosocial intervention research with control groups. We discuss 4 broad categories of ethical issues: consent, confidentiality, boundary violations, and risk-benefit issues. We believe that, despite the potential difficulties, psychosocial intervention research is vital and can be accomplished in an ethical manner. Further discussion and research into these issues are warranted.