Exercise Behavior Change and The Effect Of Lost Resources

Abstract

This study was designed to assess the effects of lost resources on exercise behavior among a sample of 30 foreign exchange students who were identified as having experienced a relapse in their level of physical activity. The first phase of the study was longitudinal in nature, comparing baseline data collected from a sample of 110 exchange students from Malaysia on their initial arrival in England with data collected from the same sample 4 months later. Results of a multivariate analysis of variance indicated a significant effect for scores on processes of change, self-efficacy, and decisional balance, F(12, 18) = 12.74, p < .001. Subsequent examination of univariate F values also revealed significant differences for self-reevaluation, reinforcement management, self-liberation, and self-efficacy. Results from the second phase of the study, which qualitatively assessed the relationship between reductions in physical activity and personal/material resources, revealed that exercise behavior was significantly influenced by resources lost as a result of being in an unfamiliar environment. Implications for health promotion practitioners and researchers are discussed.     

The temporal stability and predictive validity of pupils' causal attributions for difficult classroom behaviour

Background. Recent studies have investigated the causal attributions for difficult pupil behaviour made by teachers, pupils, and parents but none have investigated the temporal stability or predictive validity of these attributions. Aims. This study examines the causal attributions made for difficult classroom behaviour by students on two occasions 30 months apart. The longitudinal stability of these attributions is considered as is the predictive validity of the first set of attributions in relation to teachers' later judgments about individual students' behaviour. Sample. Two hundred and seventeen secondary school age pupils (114 males, 103 females) provided data on the two occasions. Teachers also rated each student's behaviour at the two times. Method. A questionnaire listing 63 possible causes of classroom misbehaviour was delivered to pupils firstly when they were in Year 7 (aged 11–12) and then again, 30 months later. Responses were analysed through exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Additionally, teachers were asked to rate the standard of behaviour of each of the students on the two occasions. Results. EFA of the Years 7 and 10 data indicated that pupils' attributions yielded broadly similar five‐factor models with the perceived relative importance of these factors remaining the same. Analysis also revealed a predictive relationship between pupils' attributions regarding the factor named culture of misbehaviour in Year 7, and teachers' judgments of their standard of behaviour in Year 10. Conclusion. The present study suggests that young adolescents' causal attributions for difficult classroom behaviour remain stable over time and are predictive of teachers' later judgments about their behaviour.     

sprees and runs: opportunity construction and criminal episodes

Criminal decision-making researchers generally focus either on offenders' criteria for identifying promising targets or on how offenders' lifestyles condition crime's appeal. Obviously, significant events bridge offenders' routines and discrete criminal choices. However, researchers often neglect the immediate experiences and events that enact lifestyles in particular choices. Drawing on 110 accounts of criminal events by street thieves, this article examines criminal choice. The findings indicate that offenders assess opportunity in light of recent decisions and events. Like all agents, they reference a general outlook and lessons taken from recent choices; looking backward as well as forward, they frame their options within a line of relevant events. When offenders confront potentially criminal situations or promising targets, perceptual outcomes of recent crimes operate alongside a temporary sense of commitment to criminal trajectories of action to inspire a serendipitous optimism. This complex decision-making can happen in an instant and is imperceptible without asking offenders to reflect on the sequential events that precede crime.     

The shapes associated with approach/avoidance words

People prefer curved and symmetrical shapes to their angular and asymmetrical counterparts. While it is known that stimulus valence is central to approach and avoidance motivation, the exact nature of the relationship between curvature/symmetry and approach/avoidance motivation still needs to be clarified. Experiment 1 was designed to investigate whether simple shapes are associated with approach and avoidance words. Participants found it easier to match more symmetrical shapes with approach words. In Experiment 2, symmetry was differentially associated with approach words and was rated significantly higher on the approach dimension than asymmetry. Next, we assessed whether object valence and object curvature (Experiment 3) or symmetry (Experiment 4) would lead to different associations to approach and avoidance words. Only object valence had a significant influence on participants’ ratings, with the positively-valenced objects being more closely associated with approach words than their negatively-valenced counterparts. These results highlight the complex relation between visual properties of objects, their valence, and appetitive and aversive categories.     

Explaining the gender difference in depressive symptoms

It was hypothesized that women are more vulnerable to depressive symptoms than men because they are more likely to experience chronic negative circumstances (or strain), to have a low sense of mastery, and to engage in ruminative coping. The hypotheses were tested in a 2-wave study of approximately 1,100 community-based adults who were 25 to 75 years old. Chronic strain, low mastery, and rumination were each more common in women than in men and mediated the gender difference in depressive symptoms. Rumination amplified the effects of mastery and, to some extent, chronic strain on depressive symptoms. In addition, chronic strain and rumination had reciprocal effects on each other over time, and low mastery also contributed to more rumination. Finally, depressive symptoms contributed to more rumination and less mastery over time.