Delivering in‐school interventions to improve dietary behaviours amongst 11‐ to 16‐year‐olds: A systematic review

Childhood obesity is a global health concern, which has both short‐and long‐term health consequences for the individual, and is a potential burden on health care services and the wider economy. The school environment is a setting where changes can be applied to dietary behaviours, as schools have direct and intensive contact with children. This systematic review evaluated school‐based interventions designed to improve dietary behaviours among adolescents (11‐to 16‐year‐olds). The aims were to review types of interventions delivered, dietary behaviours targeted, and interventions' effectiveness in improving dietary behaviour and associated intervention components. Twenty‐nine school‐based interventional studies with this population were identified for review. The data were synthesized by identifying and comparing individual studies' results, intervention components, and characteristics.Interventions appeared more effective when they involved peers, used educational media to deliver health messages, increased availability of healthy foods in school,and incorporated computer‐based individualized feedback with normative information on eating behaviours. A limitation of the review was the lack of description in cer-tain reviewed studies and the nonfeasibility of conducting a meta‐analysis owing to study heterogeneity. Future interventions with this population could consider including the aforementioned components, gender‐specific feedback, and both short‐and long‐term follow‐ups as change may not be apparent immediately and to determine if changes are sustained

Nutritional supplement and doping use in sport. Possible underlying social cognitive processes

There is growing evidence suggesting that nutritional supplement (NS) use is strongly associated to doping use in elite and amateur sports. However, there is a paucity of research on the psychological processes that underlie this association. The present study investigated the cognitive and behavioral components of the association between NS use and doping among adolescent sub-elite athletes. Six hundred and fifty adolescent athletes completed a questionnaire including measures of doping intentions, attitudes, norms, and beliefs about NS use. The results showed that NS users who did not report doping use had significantly stronger doping intentions and more positive attitudes and favorable beliefs toward doping use, as compared with athletes who did not use NS. In support of the "shared mental representations" hypothesis, the present findings show that NS use is associated with biased reasoning patterns in favor of doping use. This mechanism may explain why some NS users decide to engage in doping

Impact factors of the sport sciences journals: Current trends, relative positions, and temporal stability

The impact factor is a bibliometric index that reflects the frequency with which the oaverage articleo of a scientific journal has been cited in subsequent publications. The purpose of the present study was to examine the current trends of the impact factor of the sport sciences journals, its relative position in relation to journals belonging to other scientific fields, and its temporal stability. Scientific journals' impact factors classified under the oSport Scienceso subject category of the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) database from 2000 to 2006 were included in the present study. Results showed that during that period of time, 78 journals appeared in the oSport Scienceso subject category. The mean impact factor rose from 0.851 (median=0.747) in 2000 to 1.178 (median=1.155) in 2006, following a linear trend or even a quadratic trend. The overall mean impact factor of the oSport Scienceso category was 0.954 (median=0.876). In relation to the other 172 subject categories of the Science Edition of the JCR, oSport Scienceso was placed slightly below the middle for the year 2006. Finally, intra-class correlation coefficients (0.850) suggested that oSport Scienceso journals' impact factors remained relative stable during the seven years examined

Extending the trans-contextual model in physical education and leisure-time contexts: Examining the role of basic psychological need satisfaction

Background. The trans-contextual model (TCM) is an integrated model of motivation that aims to explain the processes by which agentic support for autonomous motivation in physical education promotes autonomous motivation and physical activity in a leisure-time context. It is proposed that perceived support for autonomous motivation in physical education is related to autonomous motivation in physical education and leisure-time contexts. Furthermore, relations between autonomous motivation and the immediate antecedents of intentions to engage in physical activity behaviour and actual behaviour are hypothesized. Aims. The purpose of the present study was to incorporate the constructs of basic psychological need satisfaction in the TCM to provide a more comprehensive explanation of motivation and demonstrate the robustness of the findings of previous tests of the model that have not incorporated these constructs. Sample. Students (N = 274) from Greek secondary schools. Method. Participants completed self-report measures of perceived autonomy support, autonomous motivation, and basic psychological need satisfaction in physical education. Follow-up measures of these variables were taken in a leisure-time context along with measures of attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control (PBC), and intentions from the theory of planned behaviour 1 week later. Self-reported physical activity behaviour was measured 4 weeks later. Results. Results supported TCM hypotheses. Basic psychological need satisfaction variables uniquely predicted autonomous motivation in physical education and leisure time as well as the antecedents of intention, namely, attitudes, and PBC. The basic psychological need satisfaction variables also mediated the effects of perceived autonomy support on autonomous motivation in physical education. © 2010 The British Psychological Society.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Effect of muscle dysmorphia on image-and-performance-enhancement drugs use intentions in a non-clinical sample: The role of social cognition

Objectives The use of image-and-performance-enhancement drugs (IPEDs) among exercisers represents an emerging public health challenge, and muscle dysmorphia (MD) presents an important risk factor for this behavior. However, there is little evidence on the direct and indirect association of MD dimensions with IPEDs use, via the effects of more proximal, social cognitive variables. The present study used an integrative model that assessed the direct and indirect association between MD dimensions and intentions to use IPEDs via the effects of behavior-specific social cognitive variables. Method One hundred and ninety-seven recreational exercisers (M age = 24.5 years, 66.3% males) completed a survey including the Muscle Dysmorphia Inventory (MDI), social cognitive variables related to IPEDs use, and intentions to use IPEDs in the next year. Results Hierarchical linear regression analysis and regression-based mediation modelling showed that the MD dimensions of exercise dependence, drive for size/symmetry and pharmacological use were indirectly associated with intentions, via the effects of attitudes and situational temptation. Conclusions The present results indicate that MD dimensions may be differentially associated with intentions to use PEDs among recreational exercisers, and highlight the importance of social cognitive variables that are more closely related to IPEDs use. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed

Postural stability and hand preference as constraints on one-handed catching performance in children

Effects of postural state and hand preference as constraints on 1-handed catching performance were investigated in different ability groups of children aged 9-10 years. On the basis of pretest data, the authors classified 48 participants into groups of good, intermediate, and poor catchers (n = 16 in each) and asked them to perform 1-handed catches with their preferred and nonpreferred hands while standing and sitting. The good catchers' performance was not affected by the imposed postural constraints but did improve when they used the preferred hand. A similar effect of hand preference was evident in the intermediate and poor catchers, but there was also an effect of postural constraint. Independent of hand preference, intermediate catchers' performance while seated improved significantly compared with that during standing. For poor catchers, there was an interaction between hand preference and posture; significant improvement was evident only when they used the preferred hand in the sitting condition. The finding that manipulation of posture and hand preference affected performance outcomes indicates that perceptual skill is not the only influence on catching performance in children. Manipulation of those key constraints may facilitate the acquisition of catching skill, but more research is needed to determine the permanence of those effects

Teachers' reporting of suspected child abuse and neglect: Behaviour and determinants

By reporting suspected child abuse and neglect, teachers can make an important contribution to the early detection and prevention of abuse. However, teachers are sometimes reluctant to report their suspicions. This study investigated the determinants of teachers' reporting behaviour using concepts from the Integrated Change Model. Self-report data were collected from 296 teachers employed in 15 Australian schools. Compared to their colleagues, teachers who had never suspected child abuse or neglect (non-detectors, N=57, 19%) were more likely to have a lower confidence in their skills for recognising the signs of abuse, a higher degree of perceived social support regarding reporting, less years teaching experience and lower academic qualifications. Among those who had suspected cases of child abuse or neglect (N=239, 81%), teachers who always reported their suspicions (consistent reporters, 82%) were more likely to have firm action plans about reporting and detecting signs of CAN than teachers who did not always report their suspicions (inconsistent reporters, 18%). While only a small proportion of the variance in detection and reporting status was explained, the results illustrate the utility of health promotion theory and methods for improving our understanding of these behaviours