Understanding injuries in sports: Self-reported injury and perceived risk of injury among adolescents

IntroductionAlthough exposure and perceived risk of injury in sports among adolescents is a well-known phenomenon today, their understanding remains poorly explored.ObjectiveThis study examines the relationships between demographics, sport motives, and sport-related characteristics in a sample of French adolescents involved in sports.MethodsThe sample included 394 adolescents involved in sports, between 13 and 19 years old. The adolescents filled out a questionnaire requesting information about their age, sex, sport motives, sport-related characteristics, the number of injuries, and perceived risk of injury in their preferred sport.ResultsThe findings showed that the number of injuries was related to age, sex, type of sport and the participant's motives. The will to play to the limit increased with the exposure to injury. Participation in risky sports and the will to play to the limit were predictors of the adolescents’ risk of exposure to sports injuries. Time devoted to sports appears to be a confounding factor. Moreover, boys exhibited higher number of injuries than girls, and they perceived their preferred sport as riskier.ConclusionExposure to the risk of injury in sports and the exacerbated perception of that risk may provide a means of enhancing one's self-image, procuring an emotional experience, and constructing one's masculinity.     

Accuracy of household planning of car use: comparing prospective to actual car logs

Measures aiming at changing car use are frequently based on the assumption that car use is under motivational and volitional control. The aim of this study is to investigate the degree to which this is the case and how it relates to different purposes of car trips and characteristics of car users. Data obtained from 1-week prospective car logs made by 40 adult households living in Göteborg, Sweden, were compared to subsequent actual car use. In line with previous results suggesting that households have a modest degree of motivational and volitional control over their car use, it was found that 80% more car trips were made the following seven days than indicated in the prospective car logs. The largest discrepancies were observed for shopping and chauffeuring trips, the least discrepancy for work trips. Households having more than one car made more shopping trips than planned, households with children more chauffeuring trips than planned, and households with a higher income more leisure trips than planned. Weather conditions, illnesses, mode switches, and unspecified unexpected events were reported as reasons for the discrepancies between planned and actual trips.     

Teenagers' perceived and actual probabilities of pregnancy

This study sought to determine how teenagers' actual and perceived probabilities of pregnancy are related. Data were collected from interviews with 425 women aged nineteen or younger who attended the Door, a multiservice center for youth in New York City. Subjects were asked to estimate their likelihood of becoming pregnant the last time they had intercourse, and to indicate the dates of both last intercourse and last menstrual period in order to determine their objective and subjective assessments of risk of pregnancy. It was found that the perceived probability of pregnancy was not highly correlated with actual risk: the distributions of perceived probability of pregnancy were nearly identical for both those who were and were not at actual risk. Moreover, respondents' level of knowledge about the timing of ovulation was not significantly related to the accuracy of their risk assessment. The findings also indicate that teenagers' use of contraception is guided more by their perceived risk of pregnancy than by the actual risk. Policy implications are discussed.     

Patterns in perceived crash risk among male and female drivers with and without substantial cycling experience

Perceived risk of crashes is generally higher in female than in male cyclists. No study has assessed whether these gender differences only apply to riding bicycles. Using an online risk assessment task and survey, this study (a) tested the hypothesis that compared to men, women perceive higher risks, irrespective of traffic mode and (b) explored gender differences in the predictors of perceived risk. Data were analysed from 595 driver licence holders in Australia: 444 who cycled regularly, termed ‘cyclists’ from here on (31% women) and 151 regular drivers who did not (63% women), who are referred to as ‘drivers’. Cyclists in their role as cyclists and drivers in their role as drivers (traffic role) were instructed to imagine being in a specified traffic scenario and to assess crash likelihood. Each of 6 traffic scenarios was presented twice but differing in configuration: a violating car and a violating bicycle. A mixed ANOVA, with rated probability of a crash as the dependent variable, gender and traffic role as grouping factors, and configuration as the repeated measure, resulted in a main effect of configuration, showing that both drivers and cyclists perceived higher levels of risk of violating cars than of violating bicycles (η_p2 = 0.34). The interaction of traffic role and configuration showed this difference to be smaller for drivers than for cyclists (η_p2 = 0.18). This suggests that drivers are aware of the car’s high injury potential in crashes with cyclists. The main effect of gender showed that irrespective of traffic role, women perceived higher risk than men, which supported the hypothesis that gender differences are not limited to cycling (η_p2 = 0.03). The main effect of traffic role was not significant.For the predictors of perceived risk, ANOVA showed main effects for traffic role and gender, with small effect sizes (from η_p2 = 0.02 to η_p2 = 0.03). Cyclists were more confident, less inattentive and more in favour of stricter laws. Women felt less skilled and were more concerned about risks. None of the interactions between gender and traffic role were significant, which lent further support to the hypothesis that gender differences were a general rather than a cycling specific characteristic. Thus, perceived risk does not differ between women who regularly cycle and those who do not. These findings may inform interventions about the role of perceived risk in the uptake of cycling.     

Factors underpinning unsafe driving: A systematic literature review of car drivers

ObjectivesThe purpose was to provide a systematic review of the literature related to the personality and well-being of social, domestic, pleasure and commuting (SDP&C) car drivers.MethodsThe following databases were searched: PsychINFO (PsychNET), Scopus (Elsevier), Web of Science (Social Sciences Index; WoS), ORCA (Online research at Cardiff University), Science Direct (Elsevier), Taylor and Francis Online, and PubMed. Grey literature was sourced using the Transport Research International Database (TRID) as well as conference proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society and Driver Assessment. In parallel, an internet search of Google Scholar was undertaken. Two researchers reviewed papers suitable for inclusion. Eligible papers were those published in the English language, during the last decade; the latter to allow for a more contemporary appraisal of the literature. The search yielded thirty peer reviewed articles and ten reports relevant to the personality and well-being of SDP&C road users.ResultsThe findings show that anxiety, stress and depression were predictive of unfavourable driving outcomes (e.g. risk-taking, aggression, poor driving behaviour.) Further, driving discourtesy by others was found to not only induce stress reactions in drivers, but also led to riskier driving practice, such as deliberately engaging in intimidating driving behaviour. Negative personality traits were related with negative driving behaviours, whilst higher levels of well-being and life satisfaction appear to safeguard drivers against deliberate driving violations. There was a dearth of literature focusing on UK drivers, as well as research examining the impact of driving itself on the well-being of the driver.ConclusionsFurther longitudinal, multivariate research is required to examine all well-being/personality predictors, whilst controlling for established predictors (such as fatigue) such that the factors underpinning unsafe driving behaviour (in isolation and in combination) may be revealed.     

Sleepy at the wheel: Knowledge,symptoms and behaviour among car drivers

Driver sleepiness has been shown to be one of the most important risk factors in road crashes. The aim of the present study was to increase the understanding of drivers’ actions when feeling sleepy. A national Internet panel survey was conducted among private drivers in the autumn of 2003. Reported symptoms of sleepiness differed between drivers who had fallen asleep and those who had not, but had been afraid to do so. The results indicate that drivers in general have a good knowledge of the various factors influencing the risk of falling asleep while driving. Furthermore, most of them are well aware of the most effective measures to prevent falling asleep at the wheel, such as stopping the car and take a nap. In spite of all their knowledge, most of the drivers continue driving when recognising sleepiness while driving. A short trip, appointments, and the wish to arrive at a reasonable hour are the most frequently reported reasons for continuing driving while fatigued or sleepy.     

How to define the accident risk level of car drivers by combining objective and subjective measures of driving style

Perceived risk can be defined as the expectation of being involved in a traffic accident. Traffic risk perception is often subjectively evaluated being risk perception as highly individual, and depending on experiences with accidents. For this reason, a subjective measure of risk level can be useful. On the other hand, accident risk level can be measured also through objective measures, consisting in kinematic parameters defining the driving style. At this aim, it is very important to analyse instantaneous and geo-referenced travelling kinematic parameters of the vehicle recorded by real tests on the road.The aim of this paper is to identify the accident risk level of each driver based on a methodology combining both subjective and objective parameters. Specifically, by using the proposed methodology the risk can be measured immediately by using only the kinematic parameters adopted when driving; we defined three levels of risk of being involved in a road accident (low, medium, and high risk). We retain that our research can give a contribution in terms of improvement of road safety, because the distorted perception of risk level is one of the main causes of road accidents. Very often, drivers are not aware of the risk taking; therefore, it is necessary to raise the awareness of drivers to have safer driving. The proposed method can be useful for informing the driver on the level of risk he/she assumes, so that he/she can take the necessary precautions next time that will cover that stretch of road.     

Metacognition, risk behavior, and risk outcomes: the role of perceived intelligence and perceived knowledge.

The present study explores 2 key variables in social metacognition: perceived intelligence and perceived levels of knowledge about a specific content domain. The former represents a judgment of one's knowledge at an abstract level, whereas the latter represents a judgment of one's knowledge in a specific content domain. Data from interviews of approximately 8,411 female adolescents from a national sample were analyzed in a 2-wave panel design with a year between assessments. Higher levels of perceived intelligence at Wave 1 were associated with a lower probability of the occurrence of a pregnancy over the ensuing year independent of actual IQ, self-esteem, and academic aspirations. Higher levels of perceived knowledge about the accurate use of birth control were associated with a higher probability of the occurrence of a pregnancy independent of actual knowledge about accurate use, perceived intelligence, self-esteem, and academic aspirations.     

Comprehension of new instructions for car drivers in merging areas

This article describes some key results of a study with the aim of measuring the time and accuracy of comprehension of the new instructions ‘keep lane’ and ‘merge alternately’. These instructions shall allow for a more efficient merging behaviour when approaching a working zone with a lane closure on a motorway, and thus increase the capacity of such bottlenecks. One hundred and ninety seven randomly selected car drivers were surveyed by means of face-to-face interviews. A computer-aided survey design ensured a precise measurement of the comprehension time and the testing of animated signs. The instruction ‘merge alternately’ performed well in every respect, though the tested signs were new to drivers. The instruction ‘keep lane’ refers to a completely new meaning. It lags behind both in time and accuracy of comprehension. In this case, the results suggest using a variable message sign (VMS) with a simple text rather than a picture. Moreover, a considerable learning effect was identified. Comprehension improved significantly with the third repetition of the instruction.     

Conditions for speeding behaviour: A comparison of car drivers and powered two wheeled riders

Against a UK background of decreases in collisions involving car drivers, motorcycle collisions are on the increase. To throw light on this process, this paper explores differences between motorcyclists and car drivers in the conditions for speeding behaviour. Some predictions derived from the model of Task-difficulty Homeostasis (TDH) were tested using self-report data from samples of older (>35 years), male car drivers (n = 269) and motorcyclists (n = 102). As predicted, riders were more likely to speed on rural roads and less likely to speed on urban roads, and, riders were much more likely to speed in daytime than at night.Riding a motorcycle offers opportunities for expressive use of the vehicle and riders are more likely to say they really enjoy riding fast. However amongst older riders this behaviour appears to be largely confined to daytime riding on rural roads. Compared with cars, motorcycles provide more of an opportunity to manoeuvre around obstacles in controlling task demand, rather than using speed as the primary controlling variable. Although this provides more options for the rider, it carries with it vulnerability to loss of control from variation in road surface adhesion and maintaining too high a speed.     

Measuring perceived stress in adolescents: a cross validation

A brief (24-item) version of the Adolescent Life Change Event Scale (ALCES), a self-report measure of stressfulness, was administered to 94 students between the ages of 12 and 29. Rank order coefficients computed between ratings obtained by the current sample and those obtained by the original sample exceeded .90. These results suggest ALCES may be a valid tool for use in stress research with adolescents.     

The perceived position of the hand in space

This paper reports a series of experiments of the perceived position of the hand in egocentric space. The experiments focused on the bias in the proprioceptively perceived position of the hand at a series of locations spanning the midline from left to right. Perceived position was tested in a matching paradigm, in which subjects indicated the perceived position of a target, which could have been either a visual stimulus or their own fingertip, by placing the index finger of the other hand in the corresponding location on the other side of a fixed surface. Both the constant error, or bias, and the variable error, or consistency of matching attempts, were measured. Experiment 1 showed that (1) there is a far-left advantage in matching tasks, such that errors in perceived position are significantly lower in extreme-left positions than in extreme-right positions, and (2) there is a strong hand-bias effect in the absence of vision, such that the perceived positions of the left and right index fingertips held in the same actual target position in fact differ significantly. Experiments 2 and 3 demonstrated that this hand-bias effect is genuinely due to errors in the perceived position of the matched hand, and not to the attempt at matching it with the other hand. These results suggest that there is no unifying representation of egocentric, proprioceptive space. Rather, separate representations appear to be maintained for each effector. The bias of these representations may reflect the motor function of that effector.     

Predicting dysphoria in adolescence from actual and perceived peer acceptance in childhood

Predicted dysphoria in midadolescence using actual and perceived peer acceptance of 68 4th and 5th graders (48% male, 30% minority). Main effect, additive, and interactive models for predicting dysphoria were examined. Perceived acceptance predicted later dysphoria, after controlling for initial levels of dysphoria, supporting the main effect model. Actual acceptance did not uniquely contribute to prediction of later dysphoria, and actual acceptance did not moderate the prediction of dysphoria from perceived acceptance. Sex differences in dysphoria were significant, but sex did not moderate the predictive links between perceived acceptance and dysphoria.     

Skin cancer: Assessing perceived risk and behavioural attitudes

Abstract

Measures of attitude concerning exposure to the sun, and judgements of risk and other beliefs concerning skin cancer and four other problems (stomach cancer, deafness, AIDS and sunstroke) were obtained from a questionnaire completed by 176 university students. Subjects also estimated the incidence of each problem using one of three response formats. The highest incidence estimates were obtained when subjects were asked to guess at an absolute number, and the lowest when they used a scale which differentiated between lower frequencies, while grouping higher frequencies into a single response category. The effect of the response scale format, however, did not generalize to other ratings of personal risk. Subjects' ratings of their personal risk, compared with their peers, showed an optimistic bias over the five problems as a whole, particularly for AIDS, but not reliably so in the case of skin cancer. Optimism was inversely related to the amount of thought given to each problem. Men and women did not differ overall in their optimism regarding their own risk of skin cancer. However, differences as a function of gender and optimism were found on various behavioural attitudes. The results are discussed in relation to a tendency of disregard base-rates in subjective risk judgements, unrealistic optimism, and implications for health education.     

The interplay of actual and perceived physical fitness in children: Effects on motivation and physical activity

From a sport and exercise psychology perspective, both the actual and perceived physical fitness become important for motivation towards physical activity and persistent physical activity in children no later than middle childhood (Stodden et al., 2008). To date, the effects of actual and perceived physical fitness have been investigated from a variable-centered approach (Jekauc et al., 2017). However, within this approach, the accuracy of the perceived physical fitness remains unconsidered. As actual and perceived physical fitness levels can be divergent, especially in children due to greater egocentricity and hence less comparison processes (Harter, 2006), also the accuracy of perceived physical fitness should be considered.In total, 462 children from 3rd and, approximately nine months later, from 4th grade participated in this study (M_age = 8.79 years). Third-grade students were assessed on their actual physical fitness, perceived physical fitness, and physical activity. In fourth grade, students were asked to fill out questionnaires that assess motivational regulations and physical activity. Polynomial regressions with response surface analyses were conducted to analyze main effects and accuracy effects of actual and perceived physical fitness on motivation and physical activity. Analyses revealed that children with higher actual and perceived physical fitness levels show greater autonomous motivation, higher current physical activity levels and higher physical activity levels nine months later. In addition, children who perceive their physical fitness more accurately show more current physical activity. Results indicate that the interplay between actual and perceived physical fitness does not only have an effect on physical activity but also on autonomous motivation, which is a predictor for long-term physical activity. Therefore, intervention should focus on the promotion of actual and perceived physical fitness. In addition, the ability to accurately assess fitness should be promoted in this age group.     

Age-related differences in actual and perceived levels of physical activity in adolescent girls

Age-related differences in actual and perceived physical activity were investigated in a sample of adolescent girls, also considering the relationship between physical activity and motor abilities. Self-reported physical activity was measured in 11-year-old (n=66) and 13-year-old (n=52) girls by means of the physical activity questionnaire-children form, and actual levels of activity were assessed by means of the Lifecorder uniaxial accelerometer. The Sit-and-Reach Test was employed to estimate flexibility, while lower limb strength was measured by squat jump and counter-movement jump tests. Weight and height were measured, and sex-specific age-related body mass index cutoff points were used to identify overweight and obesity. Findings showed a drop in objective vigorous physical activity in older girls, which was also reflected in the physical activity questionnaire. Contrary to expectations, no association was found between motor abilities and measured physical activity. Results highlight the need to understand the reasons why girls progressively reduce their involvement in physical activity as they get older, so as to plan interventions aimed at preventing this decline.     

Self-reported psychological stress and the risk of breast cancer: a case-control study

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between severe life events and breast cancer risk. This study was based on a case-control examination of 858 Polish invasive breast cancer cases and 1085 controls matched for age and place of residence. Data on life events, sociodemographic characteristic, reproductive factors, family history of breast cancer, current weight and height, and lifestyle habits were collected between January 2003 and May 2007 using a self-administered questionnaire. Odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals were estimated as the measure of the relationship between life event stress and breast cancer risk using unconditional logistic regression analyses. After adjustment for potential breast cancer risk factors, women with four to six individual major life events had 5.33 times higher risk for breast cancer, compared with those in the lowest quartile. Similarly, women with a lifetime life change score greater than 210 had about 5 times higher risk compared to women with corresponding scores in the range 0-70. Several life events (death of a close family member, personal injury or illness, imprisonment/trouble with the law, retirement) were significantly associated with breast cancer risk. These findings suggest that major life events can play an important role in the etiology of breast cancer.