Associations of students' self-reports of their teachers' verbal aggression, intrinsic motivation, and perceptions of reasons for discipline in Greek physical education classes

In this study were examined associations among physical education teachers' verbal aggressiveness as perceived by students and students' intrinsic motivation and reasons for discipline. The sample consisted of 265 Greek adolescent students who completed four questionnaires, the Verbal Aggressiveness Scale, the Lesson Satisfaction Scale, the Reasons for Discipline Scale, and the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory during physical education classes. Analysis indicated significant positive correlations among students' perceptions of teachers' verbal aggressiveness with pressure/ tension, external reasons, introjected reasons, no reasons, and self-responsibility. Significant negative correlations were noted for students' perceptions of teachers' verbal aggression with lesson satisfaction, enjoyment/interest, competence, effort/importance, intrinsic reasons, and caring. Differences between the two sexes were observed in their perceptions of teachers' verbal aggressiveness, intrinsic motivation, and reasons for discipline. Findings and implications for teachers' type of communication were also discussed and suggestions for research made.     

Verbal aggressiveness and state anxiety of volleyball players and coaches

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relation of verbal aggressiveness and state anxiety (somatic, cognitive, and self-confidence) in sports settings based on the ratings by volleyball coaches and their athletes. The sample consisted of volleyball athletes (n=208; 98 men and 110 women) and their coaches (n=20; 16 men and 4 women). Analysis showed that male volleyball players rated somatic anxiety higher and were more affected by the verbal aggressiveness of their coaches than female volleyball players. No mean differences were significant for male and female coaches on somatic or cognitive anxiety, self-confidence, or verbal aggressiveness. Also, correlation between subscale scores for male and female volleyball players and coaches was found. The correlations of verbal aggressiveness with self-confidence and anxiety were positive for these athletes, leading them to better behavior. This relationship needs further examination in sport settings.     

Age-differential motivational consequences of optimization versus compensation focus in younger and older adults

Four studies investigated age-related differences in goal focus in younger and older adults. Studies 1 and 2 confirmed the hypothesis that younger adults are more persistent when the same sensorimotor task offers possibility for optimizing performance than when the task requires counteracting a loss in performance (compensation). In contrast, older adults were more persistent in the compensation than in the optimization condition. Study 3 showed that the age-differential effects of goal focus on persistence were not simply due to perceiving the 2 conditions as easy versus difficult. Study 4 ruled out that the age differences were due to differences in the 2 tasks themselves. Taken together, the studies underscore the importance of situating motivational research into a life span context.     

First graders' literacy and self-regulation gains: The effect of individualizing student instruction

We examined the effect of individualizing student instruction (ISI; N = 445 students, 46 classrooms) on first graders' self-regulation gains compared to a business-as-usual control group. Self-regulation, conceptualized as a constellation of executive skills, was positively associated with academic development. We hypothesized that the ISI intervention's emphasis on teacher planning and organization, classroom management, and the opportunity for students to work independently and in small groups would promote students' self-regulation. We found no main effect of ISI on self-regulation gains. However, for students with weaker initial self-regulation, ISI was associated with greater self-regulation gains compared to peers in control classrooms. The ISI effect on self-regulation was greater when the intervention was more fully implemented.     

Perceptual Judgments of Sports Officials are Influenced by their Motor and Visual Experience

We examined the relation between previous motor and visual experience and current officiating experience of expert judges and referees and their judgments from an embodied cognition viewpoint. A total of 370 sports officials from soccer, handball, ice hockey, and trampoline took part in the study. Analyses revealed that cognitive judgments are related to motor, visual, and officiating experience to different degrees in the analyzed sports. Our findings indicate that, depending on the sport, sports officials should either specialize early in officiating, or gather visuo-motor experience as an athlete or spectator first, and then switch roles to become a sports official.     

Assessing At‐Risk Youth Using the Reynolds Adolescent Adjustment Screening Inventory With a Latino Population

Factor analyses were conducted on scores from the Reynolds Adolescent Adjustment Screening Inventory (RAASI; Reynolds, 2001 ) representing at‐risk Latino youth. The 4‐factor model of the RAASI did not exhibit a good fit. However, evidence of generalizability for Latino youth was noted.     

Differences in Rapid Initiation and Termination of Voluntary Postural Sway Associated with Ageing and Falls-Risk

The authors examined differences between young adults (n = 25) and healthy older adults (n = 48) in reaction time and the relations between center of pressure (COP) and center of mass (COM) motions during rapid initiation and termination of voluntary postural sway. Older adults were divided into low and high falls-risk groups based on Physiological Profile Assessment scores of sensorimotor function. Low falls-risk older adults had slower reaction times during anteroposterior sway initiation and decreased COP–COM separation during anteroposterior and medialateral sway initiation and anteroposterior continuous voluntary sway compared with young adults. High falls-risk older adults had slower initiation and termination reaction times in all response directions and decreased COP–COM separation during sway initiation and continuous voluntary sway in the anteroposterior and medialateral directions compared with young adults. Compared with low falls-risk older adults, high falls-risk older adults had slower initiation and termination reaction times in all response directions and decreased COP–COM separation during medialateral continuous voluntary sway. Reaction time and COP–COM measures significantly predicted group status in discriminant models with sensitivities and specificities of 72–100%. Overall, these findings highlight important associations of age-related declines in sensorimotor function related to an increased risk of falling with slower postural reaction time and reduced postural stability.     

Discrimination, Religious Coping, and Tobacco Use Among White, African American, and Mexican American Vocational School Students

This study examined whether religious coping moderates the impact of racial/ethnic discrimination on current (past 30 day) cigarette and cigar/cigarillo use among a racially/ethnically diverse sample of 984 technical/vocational school students (47.1% women; mean age = 25 years). Results indicate that discrimination increased the likelihood of current cigarette use among African American students and current cigar/cigarillo use among white and African American students. Positive religious coping decreased the likelihood of cigarette and cigar/cigarillo smoking for white students only. Negative religious coping increased the likelihood of cigarette use for white students and cigar/cigarillo use for white and African American students. Two 2-way interactions indicate that positive and negative religious coping moderate the discrimination–cigarette smoking relationship for African American and Mexican American students, respectively.     

Labeling: A study of an “autistic” child

Abstract

In this issue we are able to present reports from two very different meetings which, nevertheless, have particular significance for the developing field of family therapy, particularly as it relates to theory and practice. The first is a report by Professors Jeanne L. Thomas and Cecil J. Simons of West Virginia University on the eighth biennial conference on Life-Span Developmental Psychology, held in May 1982, in Mor-gantown, West Virginia. This conference was one of a series sponsored by West Virginia University since 1970 dealing with theoretical and empirical issues in the study of life-span human development. This particular conference highlighted two themes involving the impact of specific historical context on family development as well as the influence of the family on the individual's own experience of these historical events. This kind of broad and in-depth exploration of the multiple factors involved in the historical as well as the personal context of an individual's development promises to provide exciting new opportunities for clinicians and teachers in our field.

The second report from James E. Durkin, Ph.D., of Lincoln University deals with a recent conference on Epistemology, Psychotherapy, and Psychopathology in Houston, September 1982, sponsored by the Houston Galveston Family Institute. Outstanding theoreticans and clinicans in the field of family therapy and systems theory were present, and their exciting discussions have been put into an interesting framework by Dr. Durkin, who has his own way of integrating these issues based on his long work in the application of general systems theory to the field of group psychotherapy. —I. A.     

Quality-of-life assessment in HIV-infected psychiatric outpatients: Perceived health,functional status,symptoms, and preferences for cardiopulmonary resuscitation

Abstract

The current study had two purposes: (1) to describe the reliability and validity of a measure of quality of life (QOL) in HIV-infected psychiatric outpatients, and (2) to predict cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) preferences from disease stage, depression, and other QOL factors. We studied 63 patients, who were seen in one year at an HIV/AIDS psychiatry clinic. The results provide evidence for the validity of our instrument as a measure of health status in an HIV-infected psychiatric population. Overall symptoms were the strongest associates of functional limitations. disability, and perceived health, but depression was also significantly associated with all measures of QOL. Twenty-two patients (35.5%) would not have wanted to be revived if their heart stopped beating the day of the study. Disease stage and poor mental health were independent predictors of this preference, but severity of depression, social support, fatigue, perceived health, functional limitations, and life satisfaction were not.