Demographic and Attitudinal Factors Influencing Doctoral Student Satisfaction

Higher education administrators face challenges in providing a welcoming environment for doctoral students in higher education institutions, as they must identify factors influencing students’ satisfaction in order to provide a supportive environment, reduce attrition rates, and promote persistence. Thus, the purpose of this study was to identify predictors of doctoral student satisfaction from demographics and attitudes concerning the campus environment. Participants were 132 (33 male, 99 female) doctoral students from two private nonprofit universities in the New York metropolitan area of the United States who completed either a web-based or paper/pencil survey in which demographics and opinions regarding student satisfaction were sought. Regression analysis on participant attitudes found that university services, advisor, and students were all significant predictor variables. Other demographic predictor variables included years in graduate school, race, and ethnicity. Of particular importance, as doctoral students progress in their program by year, dissatisfaction increases. This could be due to the increasing pressures of successfully completing the dissertation, the progress of which can be heavily influenced by advisor-student relationship. Overall findings may assist education administrators and institutional planners in making campus environments welcoming to students thereby increasing both student satisfaction and retention

Female Roller Derby Athletes’ Athletic Identity and Systematic Pursuit of Leisure

Athletic identity is a foundational element of an individual’s self-concept and affects psychological, social, and behavioral characteristics. The purpose of this study was to investigate a women-dominated sport, roller derby, by exploring the relationships between athletic identity of women athletes and serious leisure pursuit in the sport. Participants were 578 women registered with the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) who completed an online survey regarding their athletic identity. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed demographic variables (family income) were a minor predictor of participants’ serious leisure pursuit. Internal and external components of athletic identity were positively associated with participant’s level of serious leisure, while internal components (i.e. self-identity and positive affectivity) were stronger in predicting women athletes’ systematic leisure pursuit in roller derby than external ones. Results of this study support that roller derby provides an opportunity for women to enjoy a full-contact sport and develop identity as an athlete with strength and knowledge through their systematic leisure pursuit. Furthermore, findings suggest promoting roller derby programs or other untraditional female sports may foster greater engagement and greater commitment to sport and facilitate equality for women in sports

College mentoring: Alumni views on programme efficacy in shaping leadership ability

This qualitative exploratory case study investigated the perceived role of mentoring in assisting African American males achieve leadership positions. Twenty African American male alumni of the Student African American Brotherhood (SAAB), a college-based mentoring programme, were interviewed. Emerging themes were: 1) educational success, 2) mentoring attitudes, 3) college and professional mentoring, 4) professional success, 5) leadership style and identity, 6) mentoring and the glass ceiling phenomenon, 7) mentoring and making leaders, and 8) satisfaction with mentoring and mentoring programmes. Participants attributed most of their professional success to their SAAB experiences. Findings provide suggestions on how mentoring programmes can shape leadership ability

The Development and Validation of the Adolescent Sport Drug Inventory (ASDI) among Athletes from Four Continents

A significant barrier to understanding the psychosocial antecedents of doping use among adolescent athletes is the lack of valid measures. In order to address this issue, the first aim of this paper was to develop and validate the Adolescent Sport Drug Inventory (ASDI) among adolescent athletes from Asia, Europe, North America, and Oceania. The second aim was to assess the construct validity of the ASDI. As such, this paper is divided into two parts. Part 1 relates to the development of the ASDI and contains two studies: item development (Study 1) and factorial validity (Study 2). Part 2 contains information on how the psychosocial variables measured in the ASDI are associated with situational temptation, and honesty (Study 3), maturation (Study 4), stress and coping (Study 5), and coaching (Study 6). In devising the ASDI, 19 different models were examined, which culminated in a 9-factor, 43-item ASDI. Coping, mastery-approach goals, and cognitive-social maturity were associated with doping attitudes. Caring motivational climates, strong coach-athlete relationships, and positive coach behaviors were associated with athletes being less susceptible toward doping, which provides construct validity for the ASDI. The ASDI is a valid tool to assess the psychosocial factors associated with doping among adolescent athletes. This questionnaire can be used to identify athletes who are the most at risk of doping, assess how the psychosocial factors associated with doping change over time, and to monitor the impact of antidoping interventions for adolescent athletes

Modern microwave methods in solid state inorganic materials chemistry: from fundamentals to manufacturing

No abstract available

Biopsychosocial factors in drives for muscularity and muscle dysmorphia among personal trainers

Muscle dysmorphia (MD) is a type of body dysmorphic disorder related to body image disturbances associated with musculature and leanness. This study surveyed the presence of MD and drive for muscularity (DFM) in both male and female personal trainers (n = 1039, Mage = 35.10, SD = .38) using a biopsychosocial foundation. Prevalence rates for MD and a DFM in the current sample were 23 and 28%, respectively. Kendall’s tau-b revealed that general appearance concerns, muscle concerns, and somatic features were positively related to both MD and a DFM. A DFM and MD were significantly, positively correlated with internalization of thin ideals, muscular/athletic ideals, family and peer pressures, but not media pressures. All psychopathologic variables (depression, anxiety, hostility, somatization, interpersonal sensitivity, obsessive-compulsive) were significantly and positively related to MD and DFM. Men and women who displayed high MD and DFM behaviors did so with little disparity, suggesting that these behaviors may be less gender-specific for personal trainers. Physique concealment was the only subscale of the MDI to depict a significantly positive relationship with every variable across each biopsychosocial dimension except for race, suggesting that this behavior may be more central to MD than putatively believed. This study furthers the extant knowledge of MD and a DFM by exploring an under-researched population and providing data structured in a unique biopsychosocial framework that serves as a viable basis for continued research with this and other populations