Psychosocial Dimensions of Student Athletes: Implications for Developmental Studies

This article takes as its point of departure the enrollment in U.S. colleges of many highly skilled athletes who are severely lacking academically, and argues that remedial success could be maximized if practitioners in developmental studies programs better understand the unique psychosocial dimensions of the student athlete.     

COMMUNICATION AND PARTICIPATIVE DECISION MAKING: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY

Traditional models of participative decision making neglect the role subordinates play in establishing a participative environment. In this study, participative decision making is viewed as a social phenomenon defined through interaction between superiors and subordinates. Data obtained from 264 employees of a large social service organization were used to test hypotheses predicting positive associations between participation and superior-subordinate communication behavior. The results provide support for the contention that, for subordinates, participation in decision making is associated strongly with the quantity and quality of communication they experience with their superior. Considering the impact of superior-subordinate communication in the establishment of participative decision making may aid in understanding what preconditions are necessary before such arrangements can become successful.     

SCIENTIFIC AND RELIGIOUS WORLDVIEWS: ANTAGONISM,NON‐ANTAGONISTIC INCOMMENSURABILITY AND COMPLEMENTARITY

This article reviews three basic ways in which the relationship between Abrahamic religion and science has been construed: as fundamentally antagonistic; as non‐antagonistically incommensurable; and as complementary. Unfortunately, while each construal seems to offer benefits to the religious believer, none, as the article demonstrates, is without considerable cost.     

PROMOTING REGULAR EXERCISE IN ORGANIZATIONAL FITNESS PROGRAMS: HEALTH-RELATED DIFFERENCES IN MOTIVATIONAL BUILDING BLOCKS

Hypotheses are proposed about relations among "building block" components of the motivation to attain exercise goals in an organizational fitness program, as well as about health-related individual differences in those components. The hypotheses are tested in a longitudinal field study involving questionnaire, physiological, and behavioral data from 107 participants in such a program. In support of the componential hypotheses, goal attainment was a positive function of goal commitment. Goal commitment was an additive function of goal attractiveness and goal-specific self-efficacy/perceived control. In support of the individual difference hypotheses, physiological variables were associated with work- and health-related perceived barriers to goal attainment. Employees with high health risks ranged from .5 to 1.2 SDs higher in perceived barriers than employees with low risks. Evidence suggests that for goal setting to succeed as a program intervention, managers must concentrate on reducing the perceived work- and health-related barriers to exercise participation and goal attainment, especially for employees with high health risks.