Prediction of adolescents doing physical activity after completing secondary education

The purpose of this study, based on the self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000) was to test the prediction power of student's responsibility, psychological mediators, intrinsic motivation and the importance attached to physical education in the intention to continue to practice some form of physical activity and/or sport, and the possible relationships that exist between these variables. We used a sample of 482 adolescent students in physical education classes, with a mean age of 14.3 years, which were measured for responsibility, psychological mediators, sports motivation, the importance of physical education and intention to be physically active. We completed an analysis of structural equations modelling. The results showed that the responsibility positively predicted psychological mediators, and this predicted intrinsic motivation, which positively predicted the importance students attach to physical education, and this, finally, positively predicted the intention of the student to continue doing sport. Results are discussed in relation to the promotion of student's responsibility towards a greater commitment to the practice of physical exercise.     

Use of the Labour-Intensive Method in the Repair of a Rural Road Serving an Indigenous Community in Jocotán (Guatemala)

This paper reports the results obtained in an aid project designed to improve transport in the municipal area of Jocotán (Guatemala). The rural road network of an area occupied by indigenous people was analysed and a road chosen for repair using the labour-intensive method-something never done before in this area. The manpower required for the project was provided by the population that would benefit from the project; the involvement of outside contractors and businesses was avoided. All payment for labour went into the pockets of the local people. The small earth movements made and the use of local materials guaranteed the project's environmental sustainability, while the on-site training of the local community prepared its members for the continued maintenance of the road, thus investing the project with social sustainability.     

Clinical utility of the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) in the Spanish transsexual and nontranssexual population

The aim of the study is to evaluate the usefulness of the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI; Bem, 1974), an overall measurement of the cultural construct of masculinity and femininity, in the psychological assessment of Spanish transsexuals. Seventy male-to-female transsexuals (MF), 51 female-to-male transsexuals (FM), 77 control men, and 79 control women completed the Spanish version of the BSRI. Statistically significant differences between groups were only found on the femininity scale, on which MF transsexuals and control women scored significantly higher than FM transsexuals and control men. The results indicate that (a) only the femininity scale of the BSRI appears to be useful today for evaluating differences in the sex-role identification in Spanish controls and transsexuals; and (b) MF and FM transsexuals score as a function of their gender identity instead of their anatomical sex on the BSRI femininity scale.     

Health-related Quality of Life,Fatigue, and Posttraumatic Growth of Cancer Patients Undergoing Radiation Therapy: A Longitudinal Study

The purpose of this study was to determine health-related quality of life (HRQoL), fatigue, and posttraumatic growth (PTG) among patients with breast or prostate cancer during and following radiation therapy (RT). A total of 91 patients completed measures at three time points as follows: one or two weeks before the start of RT, in the fifth/sixth week of treatment, and four to six weeks post-treatment. Consistent with the previous literature, the results of this study revealed that RT was associated with declines in global HRQoL, Physical Well-being, Social/Family Well-being, and Functional Well-being, as well as an increase in fatigue. By four to six weeks post-treatment, these factors improved significantly and returned to baseline levels with the exception of Social/Family Well-being. The PTG total score and almost all of its subscale scores did not change significantly during the period of the study. However, the subscale of Spiritual Change for PTG significantly increased during the RT, and sustained this improvement at four to six weeks post-treatment. A significant negative correlation was found between Physical Well-being and PTG total score, whereas a significant positive correlation was revealed between Social/Family Well-being and PTG total score. The results from this analysis suggest that a significant decrease in HRQoL is evident in the fifth/sixth week of RT treatment. However, recovery of HRQoL occurs as quickly as a few weeks after the end of treatment. Moreover, patients with high ratings of Social/Family Well-being experience more positive psychological changes (PTG) resulting from the cancer experience.     

On familiarity deficits in mild cognitive impairment: A reply to Migo and Westerberg

In this brief response to Migo and Westerberg we explain why we think that their criticism of our previous research showing familiarity deficits in mild cognitive impairment patients (MCI) is not sound. More concretely, we have replicated the effect several times previously, and we justify statistically the fact that in the previous paper we had to combine two MCI samples to demonstrate a reliable familiarity deficit. We note that there are several studies showing conflicting results. However, although the basis for these discrepancies remains uncertain, a new report has replicated the presence of deficits in familiarity, and more importantly, demonstrated its correlation with structural imaging biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease.     

IMPACT OF MATERNAL DEPRESSION ON PREGNANCIES AND ON EARLY ATTACHMENT

The relatively high prevalence and duration of depression in the prenatal and postpartum periods reinforce the need for better understanding of maternal depression. The purpose of this article is to explore the main effects of depression to pregnancies’ outcome and to early attachment reviewing research from the last decade and to find the best way to prevent the negative effects of maternal depression to infants. Recent studies have reported significant associations between maternal depression and several adverse obstetric, fetal, and neonatal outcomes. Antenatal depression has been associated with shorter gestation and lower birth weight, with consequences for infant development. A number of studies have demonstrated an association between prenatal depression and attachment difficulties, which seems to play an important mediating role in the development of further adverse outcomes for children. This review reveals some potential risks of untreated depression during the antenatal and postnatal periods, with possibly significant implications for practice and further research. Considering the high prevalence of depression, antenatal detection of depressive symptoms and intervention before childbirth has huge importance in prevention. Early interventions also may need to focus on mother–infant interactions as a key factor of later child development.     

Body image distortions in healthy adults

Distortions of body image have often been investigated in clinical disorders. Much of this literature implicitly assumes healthy adults maintain an accurate body image. We recently developed a novel, implicit, and quantitative measure of body image — the Body Image Task (BIT). Here, we report a large-scale analysis of performance on this task by healthy adults. In both an in-person and an online version of the BIT, participants were presented with an image of a head as an anchoring stimulus on a computer screen, and told to imagine that the head was part of a mirror image of themselves in a standing position. They were then instructed to judge where, relative to the head, each of several parts of their body would be located. The relative positions of each landmark can be used to construct an implicit perceptual map of bodily structure. We could thus measure the internally-stored body image, although we cannot exclude contributions from other representations. Our results show several distortions of body image. First, we found a large and systematic over-estimation of width relative to height. These distortions were similar for both males and females, and did not closely track the idiosyncrasies of individual participant's own bodies. Comparisons of individual body parts showed that participants overestimated the width of their shoulders and the length of their upper arms, relative to their height, while underestimating the lengths of their lower arms and legs. Principal components analysis showed a clear spatial structure to the distortions, suggesting spatial organisation and segmentation of the body image into upper and lower limb components that are bilaterally integrated. These results provide new insight into the body image of healthy adults, and have implications for the study and rehabilitation of clinical populations.     

Acquisition and generalization of action effects

Three experiments studied the acquisition of action-contingent events (action effects). In a first, acquisition phase participants performed free-choice reactions with each keypress leading to the presentation of either a particular category word (e.g., animal or furniture) or an exemplar word (e.g., dog or chair). In the test phase, choice responses were made to category or exemplar words by using a word-key mapping that was either compatible or incompatible with the key-word mapping during acquisition. Compatible mapping produced better performance than incompatible mapping if the words in the practice and the test phase were the same (e.g., animal M animal), if they had a subordinate-superordinate relationship (e.g., dog M animal), belonged to the same category (e.g., dog M cat), or referred to visually related concepts (e.g., orange M circle). The findings support the assumption that action effects are acquired and integrated with the accompanying action automatically, so that perceiving the effect leads to the priming of the associated response. And, most importantly, they demonstrate that effect acquisition generalizes to other, feature-overlapping events.     

Goal orientations, motivational climate, equality, and discipline of Spanish physical education students

This study analyzes how dispositional goal orientations and perception of different motivational climates are related to the students' perception of sex-related egalitarian treatment and the appearance of disciplined or undisciplined behaviors in physical education classes. Analyses showed that ego orientation is a predictor of undisciplined behavior. Task orientation was positively associated to discipline. The perception of task-involving motivational climate is related to the students' perception of equal treatment. On the contrary, the perception of ego-involving climate has been linked positively to the prediction of the perception of sex discrimination in physical education classes and negatively to the perception of equality and the appearance of disciplined behavior. This study discusses the implications of these results related to teaching instructional actions in physical education classes.