Is There a Correlation Between Static and Dynamic Postural Balance Among Young Male and Female Dancers?

Aimed to investigate whether young male and female dancers have different patterns of association between static and dynamic postural balance (PB), 60 dancers from the Australian Ballet School (14–19 years old) were tested for static and dynamic PB with head and lumbar accelerometers. Monotonic relationships between static and dynamic PB were found in head movements among young female dancers in all three directions, but were found for young male dancers in the mediolateral (ML) and anteroposterior (AP) directions only. In lumbar movements, monotonic relationships were found for young female dancers in the AP direction only. Comparing head with lumbar movements in static PB, young male dancers demonstrated monotonic relationships between head and lumbar movements in all 3 directions; however, young female dancers demonstrated monotonic relationships in the AP direction only. In the dynamic measurements, both male and female dancers demonstrated monotonic relationships between head and lumbar movements for all parameters measured in the ML and vertical directions (p < .05). In conclusions, among female dancers static PB ability is correlated with their dynamic ability, whereas among male dancers, no relationship between the static and dynamic PB in the AP direction exists. Male dancers showed head and lumbar coordination in the static PB movement, but both genders manifested no head and lumbar coordination in the AP direction measured for dynamic PB.     

Neuropsychological impairment as a consequence of football (soccer) play and football heading: a preliminary analysis and report on school students (13-16 years).

Footballers run the risk of incurring mild head injury from a variety of sources, including the intentional use of the head to play the ball, known as heading. This paper presents a preliminary exploratory analysis of data collected to examine whether cumulative incidence of mild head injury, or cumulative heading frequency, are related to neuropsychological functioning in male adolescent footballers. In a quasi-experimental cross-sectional design, neuropsychological test scores of school team footballers were compared with those of similarly aged rugby players and noncontact sport players. Cumulative mild head injury incidence was estimated using self-reports, and cumulative heading was estimated using a combination of observation and self-reports. No participants had sustained a head injury within 3 months of testing. There was no relationship between head injury and neuropsychological performance, and there were no decrements in either the footballers or the rugby players in comparison with the noncontact sport players. Within the footballers, cumulative heading did not predict any of the neuropsychological test scores. These findings indicate the absence of neuropsychological impairment arising due to cumulative mild head injury incidence, or cumulative heading. Although these null findings may be reassuring to players, parents, and football organizers, we stress that they are preliminary. Further data is being collected from the same populations to provide more reliable effect estimates.     

Body Dissatisfaction in College Women and Their Mothers: Cohort Effects, Developmental Effects, and the Influences of Body Size, Sexism, and the Thin Body Ideal

A study of body dissatisfaction, as measured by the Figure Rating Scale (Stunkard, Sorenson, & Schlusinger, 1983) and the Body Esteem Scale (Franzoi & Shields, 1984), in 75 college women and their mothers indicated that both daughters and mothers experienced body dissatisfaction. When body size was statistically controlled, either no difference was found between the groups or daughters were found to have greater body dissatisfaction than mothers. The results supported the hypotheses that (1) there are generational differences in body dissatisfaction, (2) both cohort and developmental effects contribute to these differences, and (3) that a developmental effect (mothers' greater body size) may obscure a cohort effect (daughters' greater exposure to the thin body ideal). Body dissatisfaction measures based on the mothers' retrospective ratings of how they felt at their daughters' age were consistent with these hypotheses. Relationships between body dissatisfaction and the Sociocultural Attitudes Toward Appearance Questionnaire (Heinberg, Thompson, & Stormer, 1995) were stronger and more frequent for daughters than for mothers and for the Internalization Scale than for the Awareness Scale. Relationships between the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (Glick & Fiske, 2001) and body dissatisfaction were stronger for mothers than for daughters and for Benevolent Sexism than for Hostile Sexism.     

Aversive racism in Britain: the use of inadmissible evidence in legal decisions

The aversive racism framework (S. L. Gaertner & J. F. Dovidio, 1986 ) suggests that bias against Blacks is most likely to be expressed by Whites when it can be explained or justified along non‐racial grounds. The present experiment adopted a 2 (Evidence: admissible vs. inadmissible) × 2 (Defendant Race: White vs. Black) between subjects design, asking White participants, whose self‐reported prejudice was assessed, to judge a legal case. As predicted, increased guilt ratings and longer sentencing recommendations were forwarded for the Black (vs. White) defendant only when DNA evidence linking the defendant to the crime had previously been ruled inadmissible. This result was not qualified by self‐report racial attitudes. The implications for evidence inadmissibility in interracial contexts are considered, along with the repercussions of finding experimental evidence of aversive racism outside of North America. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dimensions of Perfectionism and Anxiety Sensitivity

The current study investigated the extent to which dimensions of perfectionism are associated with components of the anxiety sensitivity construct. A sample of 177 undergraduate students completed the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, the Perfectionism Cognitions Inventory, the Perfectionistic Self-Presentation Scale, and the Expanded Anxiety Sensitivity Index developed by Taylor and Cox (1998). The results confirmed that automatic thoughts involving perfectionism and the interpersonal aspects of the perfectionism construct are associated with anxiety sensitivity. Examination of the Anxiety Sensitivity Index factors showed that perfectionism cognitions were associated primarily with anxiety sensitivity involving fears of cognitive dyscontrol, while socially prescribed perfectionism and perfectionistic self-presentation were associated primarily with fears of publicly observable anxiety reactions in a manner suggesting that the interpersonal perfectionism dimensions are linked closely with an anxious sensitivity to negative social evaluation and subsequent panic attacks. The theoretical and treatment implications of the link between perfectionism and anxiety sensitivity are discussed.     

Association of the Thin Body Ideal, Ambivalent Sexism, and Self-Esteem with Body Acceptance and the Preferred Body Size of College Women in Poland and the United States

A study of body satisfaction in 111 Polish and 83 U.S. college women indicated that when Body Mass Index (BMI) was controlled Polish women had larger perceived body sizes and desired a larger body ideal. The Polish sample had higher scores on the Hostile and Benevolent Sexism scales (Glick & Fiske, 1996), whereas the U.S. sample scored higher on the Internalization scale of the Sociocultural Attitudes Toward Appearance Questionnaire (SATAQ; Heinberg, Thompson, & Stormer, 1995). Benevolent sexism was related to the acceptance and use of cosmetics in the Polish sample, but not in the U.S. sample. The SATAQ Awareness and Internalization scales were related to low body acceptance in both samples. The Internalization scale was related to discrepancies between the respondents' own bodies and their ideal body types in the U.S. sample but not in the Polish sample. Although the Polish and U.S. samples were more alike than different, sexism was strongly associated with body dissatisfaction in the Polish sample, whereas the SATAQ Internalization scale was strongly associated with body dissatisfaction in the U.S. sample. The results support the hypothesis of globalization of the thin body ideal, illustrate the importance of controlling for BMI in studies of body satisfaction, and demonstrate relationships between sexism, internalization of the thin body ideal, and body dissatisfaction.