Eating and Exercise Behaviors, and Motivational Differences Between Kinesiology Majors and Non-Majors

Eating and exercise behaviors have garnered a substantial amount of research attention. Several health risks are known to be lower in individuals who exercise, yet only 35% of college students exercise on a regular basis (Silliman, Rodas-Fortier, & Neyman, 2004). Despite the evidence suggesting healthy eating and exercise habits to reduce chronic disease, college students typically do not meet their own stated goals for exercise and nutrition, or goals set forth by national guidelines (Walace, et al., 2000). Therefore, a college campus is a challenging yet necessary setting for people to overcome barriers and obstacles in their lives that may hinder their exercise or eating behaviors. These behaviors not only affect physical aspects, but also psychosocial aspects. Individuals who exercise on a regular basis report having higher self-esteem as compared to those who do not (Edwards et al., 2005), and an individual’s motivation to establish healthy eating and exercise habits can impact their resulting behavior. Kinesiology is a major that is primarily health and fitness based where healthy nutrition and exercise habits are generally valued by students. As such, it seems that kinesiology majors should be more motivated to exercise and eat a balanced diet when compared to non-kinesiology majors. The purpose of this study was to examine motivational components for eating and exercise behaviors, as well as individuals’ differences in these behaviors between kinesiology and non-kinesiology majors. Participants (N = 330; 58% kinesiology majors) completed psychometrically sound measures designed to assess eating and exercise behaviors and motivation toward these behaviors in the college environment. Participants’ BMI was also calculated. ANOVA was utilized to compare kinesiology majors and non-majors on the study variables. Kinesiology majors reported healthier exercise behaviors and greater motivation to exercise than non-majors (p \u3c .001), however no differences were found between the groups with regard to eating behaviors or eating motivation. Additionally, there were no significant differences found between the groups on BMI. Differences among kinesiology majors on differing degree tracks (i.e., exercise science, physical education, and recreation/sport business) was examined using ANOVA. There were no differences found with regard to eating behaviors, exercise behaviors, eating motivation, or exercise motivation. There was a significant difference between the degree tracks with regard to BMI (p \u3c .01) where exercise science majors had healthier BMIs than physical education or recreation/sport business majors. This study extends previous research by identifying differences between kinesiology majors and non-majors’ eating and exercise behaviors, motivation for such behaviors, and body mass index

The Effect of Music Tempo on Heart Rate and Rating of Perceived Exertion During Submaximal Exercise

Many people listen to music during exercise, possibly attempting to dissociate from the activity. PURPOSE: To examine the effect of music tempo on time-to-target heart rate (THR) and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) during submaximal exercise. METHODS: Eighteen college-age subjects were recruited (n=18). Prior to participation in the experimental trials, subjects were measured for mass, stature, and resting heart rate. Subjects then performed the Bruce Treadmill protocol on three different days to a target heart rate of 85% of predicted maximal heart rate (HRmax=220-age). Using a balanced crossover design over the three experimental trials, subjects performed one bout with fast tempo music (FST, ≥140 beats.min-1), one bout with slow tempo music (SLO, ≤85 beats.min-1), and one bout with no music (CON). THR was compared across music tempo (FST, SLO, CON) using an ANOVA with repeated measures, α=0.05. RPE at target heart rate was compared across music tempo using Friedman ANOVA by ranks, α=0.05. Adjustments to post-hoc analyses were made to maintain the experimentwise error rate at 0.05. RESULTS: THR did not differ between the experimental trials (FST=9.2±2.6 min; SLO=9.6±2.3min; CON=9.3±2.2min)(p=0.4820). RPE did differ significantly between the three experimental trials (p=0.041). Post-hoc analysis revealed specific differences between RPE at SLO (14.9±2.1) and FST (13.9±2.3), but neither SLO nor FST differed significantly from CON (14.5±2.5). CONCLUSION: The use of fast tempo music as a dissociative device while exercising does decrease RPE compared to slow tempo music, but does not change THR (i.e., submaximal heart rate). These findings are consistent with most previous research. However, the data suggest that exercising with no music at all yields a similar RPE response as exercising with fast tempo music

Psychological Responses Prior to a Strenuous Task Involving an Injured Joint

Injuries are an inherent risk of sport participation. Roughly 68% of athletes experience an athletic injury during their college career, with over half being injuries to the lower extremity (Hootman, Dick & Agel, 2007). While much attention has been given to the physical effects of an injury, the psychological ramifications can also affect an athlete’s recovery from injury. According to Quinn & Fallon (2008), an athlete can physically recover from an injury however they may not attain a complete psychological recovery. An athlete’s performance can be affected negatively if they return to sport participation without recovering psychologically from their injury, which can also lead to a risk of re-injury or receiving additional injuries (Quinn & Fallon, 2008). Two variables related to psychological recovery include re-establishment of confidence and a decrease in fear of re-injury (Magyar & Duda, 2000; Walker & Heaney, 2013). Additionally, an athlete may feel reluctance to perform skills that require the site of injury to be used which affects subsequent performance. An athlete’s fear of re-injury can negatively affect athletes’ performance by undermining an athlete’s confidence in obtaining their pre-injury sport performance (Arden, Taylor, Feller & Webster, 2012). The purpose of this study was to determine how psychological responses to injury, namely sport resumption confidence, fear of re-injury, and injury perception change throughout the rehabilitation process. These variables were examined in relation to performing a strenuous isokinetic dynamometer task on an injured joint (e.g., knee, ankle). Participants (N=21; 62% female) completed psychometrically sound measures designed to assess confidence, fear and injury perception across three groups of athletes: healthy (n = 9), injured (n = 6), and rehabilitated (n = 6). All subjects were told they would be completing a maximal isokinetic contraction task on the lower extremity that had been injured before completing the survey. Only healthy and rehabilitated athletes actually performed the task at the completion of the survey. ANOVA was utilized to compare group differences on study variables. There was a significant difference between groups with regard to fear (healthy=1.62 ± 0.03; injured=4.09 ± 0.10; rehabilitated=3.17 ± 0.61; p \u3c .05) and confidence (healthy=5.82 ± 0.68; injured=2.99 ± 0.06; rehabilitated=4.06 ± 0.58; p \u3c .01) where healthy athletes reported the highest confidence and lowest fear across groups. Additionally, injured athletes reported the lowest confidence and highest fear across groups. There were no group differences found with regard to injury perception (healthy=0.00 ± 0.00; injured=1.01 ± 0.41; rehabilitated=0.07 ± 0.09). This study extends the current sport injury research base by identifying changes in key psychological variables across the healthy-injured-rehabilitated continuum of the collegiate sport experience

Concurrent Verbal Encouragement and Wingate Anaerobic Cycle Test Performance in Females: Athletes vs. Non-Athletes

International Journal of Exercise Science 5(3) : 239-244, 2012. To examine the effect of concurrent verbal encouragement on the performance of the WAnT in female athletes vs. female non-athletes. College-age female subjects were recruited where ten of the subjects were intercollegiate athletes (ATH, n1=10) and the nine were non-athletes (NON, n2=9). The WAnT was novel to all subjects and the subjects were blinded to the study’s purpose. Prior to the experimental trials, subjects were measured for body composition and performed a familiarity WAnT trial without verbal encouragement. Subjects then performed the WAnT twice, once with concurrent verbal encouragement (VE) and once without (NVE), in a balanced cross-over design. Peak (PP) and mean power (MP), and total work (TW) were compared between ATH and NON across VE and NVE using an ANOVA (1 between, 1 within), α=0.05. ATH and NON did not differ (p\u3e0.05) in age or body composition with the exception of fat-free mass which differed significantly (ATH=53.7±6.6, NON=46.1±5.7 kg) (p\u3c0.05). A significant (p\u3c0.05) main effect for ATH/NON was observed where ATH outperformed NON when pooled across VE/NVE trials for PP (ATH=13.0±1.4, NON=11.3±1.7 W·kg-1), MP (ATH=7.7±1.1, NON=6.7±0.9 W·kg-1) and TW (ATH=232±35, NON=201±26 J·kg-1). When pooled across all subjects (ATH and NON), the VE/NVE trials did not differ (p\u3e0.05) for PP (VE=12.4±1.7, NVE=12.0±1.9 W·kg-1), MP (VE=7.3±1.1, NVE=7.2±1.2 W·kg-1) and TW (VE=219±33, NVE=215±35 J·kg-1). The ATH/NON interaction with VE/NVE was not significant (p\u3e0.05). Concurrent verbal encouragement does not affect performance on the WAnT in females, nor does it affect WAnT performance in female athletes and non-athletes differently

The IDENTIFY study: the investigation and detection of urological neoplasia in patients referred with suspected urinary tract cancer - a multicentre observational study

Objective To evaluate the contemporary prevalence of urinary tract cancer (bladder cancer, upper tract urothelial cancer [UTUC] and renal cancer) in patients referred to secondary care with haematuria, adjusted for established patient risk markers and geographical variation. Patients and Methods This was an international multicentre prospective observational study. We included patients aged ≥16 years, referred to secondary care with suspected urinary tract cancer. Patients with a known or previous urological malignancy were excluded. We estimated the prevalence of bladder cancer, UTUC, renal cancer and prostate cancer; stratified by age, type of haematuria, sex, and smoking. We used a multivariable mixed-effects logistic regression to adjust cancer prevalence for age, type of haematuria, sex, smoking, hospitals, and countries. Results Of the 11 059 patients assessed for eligibility, 10 896 were included from 110 hospitals across 26 countries. The overall adjusted cancer prevalence (n = 2257) was 28.2% (95% confidence interval [CI] 22.3–34.1), bladder cancer (n = 1951) 24.7% (95% CI 19.1–30.2), UTUC (n = 128) 1.14% (95% CI 0.77–1.52), renal cancer (n = 107) 1.05% (95% CI 0.80–1.29), and prostate cancer (n = 124) 1.75% (95% CI 1.32–2.18). The odds ratios for patient risk markers in the model for all cancers were: age 1.04 (95% CI 1.03–1.05; P < 0.001), visible haematuria 3.47 (95% CI 2.90–4.15; P < 0.001), male sex 1.30 (95% CI 1.14–1.50; P < 0.001), and smoking 2.70 (95% CI 2.30–3.18; P < 0.001). Conclusions A better understanding of cancer prevalence across an international population is required to inform clinical guidelines. We are the first to report urinary tract cancer prevalence across an international population in patients referred to secondary care, adjusted for patient risk markers and geographical variation. Bladder cancer was the most prevalent disease. Visible haematuria was the strongest predictor for urinary tract cancer

Two Minute Brother: Contestation Through Gender, 'Race' and Sexuality

This article shows how a group of American Black female musicians are rapping themselves into existence against the powerless positions (both economic and cultural) that are offered to them. They ‘talk back talk Black’ (bell hooks, [sic] 1984) to colonialism. Firstly, they ridicule and undermine the strutting, bragging form of masculinity that wants to keep women firmly located as sexual objects. This article shows how this form of Black masculinity is itself a product of Black male cultural resistance to the racist myths that were used to legitimate slavery. Nevertheless, it operates to control and contain women and the expression of their sexuality. Secondly, the female rappers ‘defiantly speak’ to the traditional feminine discourses of maternalism, and its accompanying duties and obligations. Unlike many Black women who are able to use motherhood and the family to resist racism, these female rappers locate themselves firmly against tradition. They use rap music as the form in which to voice these challenges, investing the explicit sexual language of rap with new meanings. They use a ‘demand’ discourse to celebrate female sexuality and autonomy, articulating what is a usually perniciously silenced sexuality. Drawing upon a long tradition in Black female music (see Carby, 1986) the female rappers turn themselves from sexual objects into sexual subjects. In so doing they challenge the basis of the social order which seeks to contain them