On Passion and Sports Fans:A Look at Football

The purpose of the present research was to test the applicability of the Dualistic Model of Passion (Vallerand et al., 2003) to being a sport (football) fan. The model posits that passion is a strong inclination toward an activity that individuals like (or even love), that they value, and in which they invest time and energy. Furthermore, two types of passion are proposed: harmonious and obsessive passion. While obsessive passion entails an uncontrollable urge to engage in the passionate activity, harmonious passion entails a sense of volition while engaging in the activity. Finally, the model posits that harmonious passion leads to more adaptive outcomes than obsessive passion. Three studies provided support for this dualistic conceptualization of passion. Study 1 showed that harmonious passion was positively associated with adaptive behaviours (e.g., celebrate the team’s victory), while obsessive passion was rather positively associated with maladaptive behaviours (e.g., to risk losing one’s employment to go to the team’s game). Study 2 used a short Passion Scale and showed that harmonious passion was positively related to the positive affective life of fans during the 2006 FIFA World Cup, psychological health (self-esteem and life satisfaction), and public displays of adaptive behaviours (e.g., celebrating one’s team victory in the streets), while obsessive passion was predictive of maladaptive affective life (e.g., hating opposing team’s fans) and behaviours (e.g., mocking the opposing team’s fans). Finally, Study 3 examined the role of obsessive passion as a predictor of partner’s conflict that in turn undermined partner’s relationship satisfaction. Overall, the present results provided support for the Dualistic Model of Passion. The conceptual and applied implications of the findings are discussed

Lung function decline: a cohot study in a population exposed to coal dust

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), is characterized by coughing, shortness of breath, sputum production, rapid breathing, wheezing, and weight loss due to the energy required for labored breathing. COPD includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema chronic bronchitis inflammation of the lining of the bronchial tubes emphysema permanent destruction of the alveoli. Chronic respiratory diseases have a preeminent role in the health conditions of people residing near coalmine areas with implications for morbidity and excess mortality from specific causes. Atmospheric pollution from anthropogenic sources such as coal mining, industrial sources is a serious worldwide concern as it is associated with adverse health effects.The aim of this study was to find a correlation between coal dust and reductions in lung function. An environmental health survey was conducted in and around the surrounding areas of opencast coal mine, Tirap to determine the prevalence of various respiratory symptoms and to assess pulmonary function among the villagers. Although cigarette smoking is the main environmental risk factor, only about 15% of smokers develop clinically significant disease suggesting other influences on disease expression. We screened 412 individuals during surveys at the coal mine site, Assam to find out possible occurrences of COPD and associated environmental risk factors, mainly coal dust exposure. Lung function test was done with a portable spirometer. COPD was diagnosed on the basis ATS guidelines. The subjects were categorized into COPD (Smokers and NonSmokers) and NonCOPD (Smokers and NonSmokers). Air quality was monitored using Respirable Dust Sampler and analyzed for Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM), SO2 and NO2.Coal dust exposure was a potential factor in development of COP

Alpha 1 antitrypsin gene: A case-control study in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency is an inherited disorder that causes low levels of, or no AAT in the blood. The most common illness in adults with AAT deficiency is lung disease during the third and fourth decades of life. Most commonly, it is associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Mutations in the protease inhibitor (PI) gene, located on chromosome 14, are associated with this genetic disorder. The Z protein is due to a single amino acid substitution of 342 glutamine lysine. Although cigarette smoking is the main environmental risk factor, only about 15% of smokers develop clinically significant disease suggesting other influences on disease expression. The study included hospital based age and sex matched 100 cases of COPD and 100 controls without COPD recruited from Christian Medical Centre, Jorhat, Assam. These cases were recruited from February 2009 to December 2009. Subjects were included in the COPD group on the basis of lung function test. DNA extraction was done by DNA extraction kit and amplification for AAT gene was done by site directed mutagenesis polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method as described by Tazellar et al. (1992). We found that smoking was the prior cause of COPD. A1AT deficiency is not prevalent in our population subset but certain other genes could be the attributable factor for COPD

Passion in the Workplace: Empirical Insights from Team Sport Organisations

Although sport management scholars have focused on a fairly wide number of psychologically-related constructs in the workplace, passion has not been part of this research agenda. The present study is the first attempt to fill this gap by exploring employees’ passion in the workplace setting of sport organisations. It does so by applying for the first time the dualistic model of passion developed by Vallerand et al. (2003), which measures two distinct types of passion: harmonious and obsessive. Online survey data were gathered from administrative employees in the United Kingdom’s football industry, responsible for either business-related functions or the clubs’ social agenda (N=236) in order to measure the passion experienced by individuals guided by different institutional logics. The particular instrument has two components: harmonious and obsessive passion towards the job. Besides the passion scales, the survey contained measures related to demographic variables (e.g., age, gender and education), to employment position in the organisation and to previous job experience. Data were statistically analysed in Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and analysis of variance, using SPSS and Amos 18.0. To determine the effect of contextual variables on the passion for the job, t-test and ANOVA were also used. Both groups of employees are passionate about their job. They remain harmoniously passionate throughout their career and show low level of obsessive passion. The type of work activities influences both levels of harmonious and obsessive passion experienced by personnel within sport organisations with employees responsible for the social agenda being slightly more harmoniously and obsessively passionate compared to those responsible for the business agenda. Vallerand et al.’s (2003) dualistic model of passion has been adapted to measure passion at workplace within sport organisations. The particular working environment that forms these organisations attracts and/or facilitates employees to experience a positive work–life balance