Multidimensional motivation for exercise: A latent profile and transition analysis

ObjectivesTo: a) identify motivational profiles for exercise, using Self-Determination Theory as a theoretical framework, among a sample of parents of UK primary school children; b) explore the movement between motivational profiles over a five year period; and c) examine differences across these profiles in terms of gender, physical activity and BMI.DesignData were from the B-Proact1v cohort.Methods2555 parents of British primary school children participated across three phases when the child was aged 5–6, 8–9, and 10–11. Parents completed a multidimensional measure of motivation for exercise and wore an ActiGraph GT3X + accelerometer for five days in each phase. Latent profile and transition analyses were conducted using a three-step approach in MPlus.ResultsSix profiles were identified, comprising different combinations of motivation types. Between each timepoint, moving between profiles was more likely than remaining in the same one. People with a more autonomous profile at a previous timepoint were unlikely to move to more controlled or amotivated profiles. At all three timepoints, more autonomous profiles were associated with higher levels of MVPA and lower BMI.ConclusionsThe results show that people’s motivation for exercise can be described in coherent and consistent profiles which are made up of multiple and simultaneous types of motivation. More autonomous motivation profiles were more enduring over time, indicating that promoting more autonomous motivational profiles may be central to facilitating longer-term physical activity engagement.     

文化背景与社会行为和适应:城市、农村和流动三类儿童的比较研究

本研究探讨城市、农村和流动三类儿童在共同相处的社会环境下的社会行为和适应。结果显示:(1)女孩在同伴接纳、领导地位、社交性-合作、害羞敏感、教师评定能力和学习成绩方面的得分显著高于男孩,而男孩的受欺负得分显著高于女孩。(2)流动儿童的同伴拒绝显著高于城市儿童和农村儿童;而城市儿童的社交合作显著高于农村儿童和流动儿童。(3)农村儿童的害羞敏感能够预测同伴接纳;城市和农村儿童的害羞-敏感均能够预测社交性-合作和同伴拒绝;三类儿童的害羞-敏感均能预测受欺负行为。此外,流动儿童的性别与害羞-敏感交互作用能预测消极提名。     

Person-in-Environment Transitions: Developmental Analysis

The holistic, developmental, systems-oriented perspective, an extension of the work of Heinz Werner and his associates, is characterized including basic assumptions of the approach and explication with respect to such problems as child development (including transition to nursery school; child-centered urban planning; microgenesis and ontogenesis); adult development (including becoming a parent and retiring); social relationships (including residential living of first year undergraduates; abused women; marital interaction); health problems (including protection against sexual transmission of HIV, reading disabilities, weight loss, and alcohol and tobacco use); changes in the physical environment; cross-cultural psychology (including cultural differences in values; values mothers hold for preschoolers; necessities, amenities, and luxuries; sojourner experience and action; cross-cultural differences in compliance with automobile safety belt legislation); psychopathology including neuropathology; organizational psychology; conditions facilitating developmental advance; and some significant open research problems.     

Questionner le sens dans l’accompagnement d’une transition vers la reconversion professionnelle : une recherche-intervention

This contribution is based on a research-intervention contracted by a team of researchers in social psychology with a local authority. It focuses on the support of public sector workers, declared medically inapt to occupy their current position, during the transition that is redeployment period. The contributions of two theoretical approaches allowing to understand this question are first crossed: existential psychology relative to the life-span career counseling on the one hand, and psychology of the socialization, underlied by the activities of personalization mobilized in the construction of meaning on the other hand. Secondly, these approaches are discussed in the light of the experience of support workshops developed and implemented in the field of this research. These workshops, organized in four sessions, aim to help participants to objectify the questions inherent in this professional transition and to give meaning to their life course and their experience of the situation. The exchanges made it possible for the participants to share views on issues such as the situation of inaptitude, their relationships to work or the redeployment package itself. These workshops give evidence of the possibility of supporting subjects, concerned by ruptures in their life, towards the development of a capacity to act and to transform their environment and highlight the psychosocial effects of a support designed as a social support for the change of professional activities.     

转型时期的民间信仰:现状与思考

民间信仰历史悠久,在普通民众生活中有着顽强的生命力和持久广泛的影响力,具有文化传承的强大惯性。本文从民间信仰的概念、现状趋势等方面进行了一些分析,并就民间信仰研究和民间信仰事务管理工作做了一些思考,认为在新时期新阶段,对民间信仰的研究和民间信仰事务管理工作,都需要结合时代发展和社会进步的要求,进行新的探索。     

Robustness to temporal constraint explains expertise in ball-over-net sports

The present study investigated motor expertise in interpersonal competitive ball-over-net sports in terms of a dynamical system with temporal input. In a theoretical framework, the behavior of the system is characterized by a fractal-like structure according to switching input, which changes uniquely according to the duration of input and internal parameter of the system. We investigated periodic movements, in which the player executed a forehand or backhand stroke repeatedly, and continuous switching movements, in which the player continuously switched between two movement patterns corresponding to hitting the ball under two ball directions and with six temporal constraint conditions during a table tennis rally. In the periodic movement, we observed two limit-cycle attractors corresponding to each direction in the phase space independent of temporal constraint or skill level. Conversely, in the continuous switching movement, a transition in trajectories between the two limit-cycle attractors was observed in the phase space, and this transition was characterized by a fractal-like structure. The fractal-like structure moved closer to the random structure as temporal constraint increased independent of skill level. However, the temporal constraint condition closest to the random structure was higher for the advanced players than for the novices, indicating that robustness to the temporal constraint was higher for the advanced players than for the novices. Our results suggest that motor expertise in interpersonal competitive ball-over-net sports is more robust to temporal constraints with various inputs.     

The relationship between dual-career and post-sport career transition among elite athletes in South Africa,Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe

The primary objective of this study was to get an in-depth account of the role of dual careers on elite athletes' post-sport career transition and to examine these issues cross-culturally between South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe. This study also examined the availability of support services for student-athletes’ dual-careers in their respective countries. Lastly, this study examined the retirement transition experiences of dual-career elite athletes compared to non-dual career elite athletes. To achieve the study objectives, the study used online survey, semi-structured interviews and focus groups to collected data on retired athletes from Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. A total of 17 retired athletes (12 males and 5 females) from various sports (athletics-6, swimming-2, Boxing-2, rowing-2, field hockey-2, gymnastics-1, triathlon-1, biking-1) in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe participated in the study. All athletes had competed at the Olympic games except one athlete who competed at world championships and the commonwealth games. The study observed three major themes (type of retirement, dual-career, and challenges) as crucial in elite athletes' retirement transition and post-sport career. Consistent with the literature on retirement transition, the study observed that athletes' experiences in elite sport are crucial in explaining not only their retirement transition, but also their post-sport career adaptation.     

Integrating new soldiers: The role of leaders and unit members

The benefits of positively integrating newcomers into organizations are well known in civilian contexts. Less known is the role of integration among US soldiers who frequently relocate and integrate into new units. Perceptions of integration were examined both cross-sectionally and longitudinally as predictors of mental health, anger reactions, unit climate and functional impairment for soldiers who recently joined their unit. In addition to rating their perceptions of integration, soldiers also rated their leader and unit member support for integration. Cross-sectional correlations indicated that positive personal integration was significantly associated with fewer mental health problems, fewer anger reactions, better unit climate, and less functional impairment. Positive leader and unit support for integration was significantly associated with better unit climate. Positive leader support was also associated with fewer mental health symptoms. Only the associations of positive personal integration, with anxiety symptoms and unit climate held over time. Mediation analyses showed that personal integration fully mediated the cross-sectional relationship between leader support for integration and depression symptoms and partially mediated the relationship between leader support for integration and anxiety symptoms and unit climate. Personal integration also partially mediated the relationship between unit member support for integration and unit climate. These findings identify the importance of the individual’s personal perception of integration in predicting reduced mental health symptoms and increased unit climate, both in the short and long term. Leaders and unit members facilitate this process and could therefore benefit from training on how best to integrate new members to the unit.     

The Transition Experiences of British Military Veterans

The aim of the current research was to investigate the transition experiences of British military veterans upon exiting the military and rejoining civilian society, asking the specific research question: What effect does the transition from military to civilian life have on the individual's identity? Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was employed and seven semistructured interviews were carried out with ex‐military personnel. Analysis of the data revealed three superordinate themes: (1) Several Selves: Identity; (2) Soldier and Society: Separation, and (3) Transition Time: Personal Perspective. Current findings suggest that transition from the military back to civilian life is often problematic, with identity complications, feelings of loss, and disconnection both from the military and from society in general. Individuals with a more salient military identity had more difficult transition experiences. Findings are discussed with reference to theories of identity formation, maintenance, and salience and recommendations for future research are made.