Transformational teaching and adolescent physical activity: multilevel and mediational effects.

BACKGROUND: Regular physical activity is associated with a range of physical and psychological health benefits. In North America the majority of adolescents are insufficiently active. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the prospective relationship between adolescents' perceptions of transformational leadership displayed by their school physical education teachers and their own physical activity behaviors, both with respect to within-class physical activity (WCPA) and also leisure time physical activity (LTPA). METHOD: The study used a prospective observational design. Using multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM), we examined the extent to which adolescents' affective attitudes mediated the effects of teachers' behaviors on adolescents' physical activity responses. Two thousand nine hundred and forty-eight adolescents (M age = 14.33, SD = 1.00, N female = 1,641, 55.7 %) from 133 Grade 8-10 classes in British Columbia (Canada) provided ratings of their physical education teachers' behaviors midway through the school year. Two months later, students completed measures of affective attitudes, WCPA, and LTPA. RESULTS: The results indicated that adolescents' perceptions of transformational teaching explained significant variance in both WCPA and LTPA, and these effects were fully mediated by adolescents' affective attitudes (total indirect effect: b = 0.581, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that transformational leadership behaviors displayed by physical education teachers may be an important source of adolescent enjoyment of physical education as well as health-enhancing physical activity involvement within school and outside of school.

Nonbiological fractionation of iron isotopes.

Laboratory experiments demonstrate that iron isotopes can be chemically fractionated in the absence of biology. Isotopic variations comparable to those seen during microbially mediated reduction of ferrihydrite are observed. Fractionation may occur in aqueous solution during equilibration between inorganic iron complexes. These findings provide insight into the mechanisms of iron isotope fractionation and suggest that nonbiological processes may contribute to iron isotope variations observed in sediments.

Single injection digital anaesthesia: an easy technique for paediatric finger injuries.

The novel use of a single injection digital anaesthesia technique in children is described, which was found to be effective.

Prevalence and stability of physical aggression between spouses: a longitudinal analysis.

Community couples (N = 272) were assessed in a longitudinal study of early marriage. More women than men reported physically aggressing against their partners at premarriage (44% vs. 31%) and 18 months (36% vs. 27%). At 30 months, men and women did not report significantly different rates of aggression (32% vs. 25%). However, using either the self-report or the partner's report, the prevalence of aggression was higher for women than men at each assessment period. Modal forms of physical aggression for both men and women were pushing, shoving, and slapping. Conditional probability analyses indicated that the likelihood of physically aggressing at 30 months given that one had engaged in such aggression before marriage and at 18 months after marriage was .72 for women and .59 for men. Furthermore, 25-30% of the recipients of physical aggression at all three assessment periods were seriously maritally discordant at 30 months.

Linking retirement experiences and marital satisfaction: a mediational model.

The authors propose and test a mediational model linking the experience of retirement with marital satisfaction. The experience of retirement (financial strain, time structure, a sense of purposefulness, and interpersonal contacts) is held to predict marital satisfaction indirectly through its sequential effects on context-specific well-being (retirement-specific satisfaction with health, activities, and peers) and context-free well-being (depressive symptoms). Both this model and a revised model in which retirement satisfaction also exerted a direct effect on marital satisfaction were supported using structural equation modeling on data from 164 retirees (mean age = 69 years). An alternative model in which depressive symptoms assume a predictive rather than mediational role was not supported; cross-lagged regression analyses excluded the possibility that marital dissatisfaction resulted in depressive symptoms. The conceptual and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Predictors and outcomes of elder-care-based interrole conflict.

The authors propose and test a model of the predictors and outcomes of the role conflicts experienced by individuals simultaneously holding full-time employment and providing care for elderly parents. It is proposed that interrole conflict is predicted by physical and psychological involvement in elder care and predicts both partial absenteeism from work and psychological strain. In turn, psychological strain predicts marital interactions. Data from 141 full-time employees from 2 universities provided strong support for the proposed mediational model using LISREL VII. In contrast, 2 alternative models were not supported by the data.

Homemaker role experiences affect toddler behaviors via maternal well-being and parenting behavior.

A model delineating the relationship between homemakers' role experiences and toddler behavior was developed, and tested using path analysis. We proposed that the relationship between homemakers' role experiences (skill use, perceived financial equity, homemaking satisfaction, and role overload) and toddler's internalizing and externalizing behaviors is mediated by maternal psychological well-being (positive mood, negative mood, and cognitive difficulties) and parenting behavior (positive, punishing, and rejecting). Using confirmatory path analysis, the proposed model fit the data [Q = .73, W(34) = 47.4; p > .05] obtained from a sample of 187 homemakers. The results suggest that, as for employed mothers, it is important to understand how homemakers experience their role, because those experiences indirectly predict children's behavior.

Predicting child behavior problems in maritally violent families.

Previous research indicates that children from violent marriages are more likely to suffer from conduct problems and/or anxiety disorders than children from nonviolent, satisfactory marriages. However, knowledge regarding specific factors present in violent marriages relating to child problems is limited. The present study examined the relationships involving interspousal aggression, parent-child aggression, and child behavior problems in a sample of 45 children from maritally violent families. Mothers indicated how often their children witnessed interspousal aggression and were victims of parent-child aggression. Mothers also rated their children's problem behaviors while children reported on their own depressive symptoms. The witnessing of interspousal aggression was highly associated with parental aggression directed toward children. Parent-child aggression related to attention problems, anxiety-withdrawal, motor excess, and conduct problems in children. However, the witnessing of interspousal aggression was not significantly related to child behavior problems. These results are consistent with theoretical predictions linking marital problems to child behavior by virtue of their association with parenting.

Parents' job insecurity affects children's academic performance through cognitive difficulties.

The authors developed and tested a model in which children who perceive their parents to be insecure about their jobs are distracted cognitively, which in turn affects their academic performance negatively. Participants were 102 female and 18 male undergraduates (mean age = 18 years), their fathers (mean age = 49 years), and their mothers (mean age = 47 years). Students completed questionnaires measuring perceived parental job insecurity, identification with parents, and cognitive difficulties; 3 months later, they also reported their midyear grades. Fathers and mothers each completed questionnaires assessing their job insecurity. Support for the model was obtained using LISREL 8, and as predicted, children's identification with their mothers and fathers moderated the relationship between their perceptions of their mothers' and fathers' job insecurity and their own cognitive difficulties.

Effects of parents' job insecurity on children's work beliefs and attitudes.

The authors hypothesized that children's perceptions of their parents' job insecurity mediate the effects of parental job insecurity and layoffs on children's work beliefs and work attitudes. Male and female undergraduate students (N = 134; M age = 18.9 years), as well as their mothers (M age = 47.0 years) and fathers (M age = 49.1 years), participated voluntarily. With structural equation modeling as implemented by LISREL VIII, support for the proposed model was obtained, whereas no support was obtained for a competing model. Moreover, identification with fathers moderated the influence of perceived paternal job insecurity on children's humanistic work beliefs, but no comparable effect emerged for mothers.

Personal and organizational predictors of workplace sexual harassment of women by men.

The authors investigated the predictors of workplace sexual harassment in 278 male university faculty and staff (M age = 45 years). Workplace variables (perceptions of organizational sanctions against harassment and perceptions of a sexualized workplace) and personal variables (adversarial sexual beliefs, sexual harassment beliefs, perspective taking, and self-esteem) were studied as predictors of sexualized and gender harassment. Social desirability was controlled. Both organizational variables and beliefs about sexual harassment predicted gender harassment and sexualized harassment. Perspective taking, adversarial sexual beliefs, and sexual harassment beliefs moderated the effects of perceived organizational sanctions against harassment on sexualized harassment. Findings are discussed as they relate to organizational efforts to reduce or prevent sexual harassment.

Eldercare responsibilities, interrole conflict, and employee absence: a daily study.

A model was developed specifying that the number of hours employees spend providing care to or interacting with elderly parents predicts conflict between the roles of employee and caregiver. Interrole conflict was subsequently expected to predict partial absence from work (e.g., arriving late). Seventeen employed eldercare providers completed a daily questionnaire for 20 work days. The data were standardized and pooled, and the proposed model was tested by using structural equation modeling. The proposed model provided a good fit to the data. A competing model that added the direct effects of hours of interacting with and hours of providing care to parents on partial absence provided a significantly better fit. The potential impact of the findings on employees and organizations is discussed.

Parents' job insecurity affects children's grade performance through the indirect effects of beliefs in an unjust world and negative mood.

The authors postulated a model in which children's perceptions of their parents' job insecurity indirectly affect their grade performance through the effects of beliefs in an unjust world and negative mood. A total of 127 undergraduate students (55 male, 72 female) completed questionnaires on their perceptions of their parents' job insecurity and their own beliefs in an unjust world and negative mood. The parents reported on their own job insecurity. In addition, students provided their course grades from the previous semester 3 months after completing the questionnaires. Support for the proposed model was provided using LISREL 8.

Behind closed doors: in-home workers' experience of sexual harassment and workplace violence.

The authors developed and tested a structural model predicting personal and organizational consequences of workplace violence and sexual harassment for health care professionals who work inside their client's home. The model suggests that workplace violence and sexual harassment predict fear of their recurrence in the workplace, which in turn predicts negative mood (anxiety and anger) and perceptions of injustice. In turn, fear, negative mood, and perceived injustice predict lower affective commitment and enhanced withdrawal intentions, poor interpersonal job performance, greater neglect, and cognitive difficulties. The results supported the model and showed that the associations of workplace violence and sexual harassment with organizational and personal outcomes are indirect, mediated by fear and negative mood. Conceptual implications for understanding sexual harassment and workplace violence, and future research directions, are suggested.

Occupational health psychology: an emerging discipline.

There is growing concern that rapidly changing patterns of work organization and employment pose risk for occupational illness and injury. In the present article, we assert that these changes create new needs and opportunities for research and practice by psychologists in the area of work organization and health. We begin with an historical overview of the contribution of psychologists to the occupational safety and health field, and to the study of work organization and health. We then describe new initiatives by the American Psychological Association and national health organizations in the United States and Europe to frame a new field of study--called "occupational health psychology"--that focuses on the topic of work organization and health. We conclude with a discussion of emerging research needs and trends within this field.

Self-instruction and learning disabilities: maintenance, generalization, and subject characteristics.

The present study assessed the effects of self-instructional training on learning-disabled children's perceptual deficits. Twenty-nine children (M age = 9.70 years) were assigned randomly to a control (n = 10), an attention-placebo control ( = 9), and self-instruction group (n = 10). Analyses of covariance (with the pretest score as the covariate) yielded significant treatment effects at post- and maintenance testing, although there was no evidence whatsoever of any generalization to academic performance of classroom behavior. Analysis of the frequency of overt self-verbalizations at post- and maintenance testing further suggested the efficacy of self-instructions for direct treatment effects. Finally, the importance of S characteristics in self-regulation programs was emphasized: Children with an internal locus of control orientation tended to use overt self-verbalizations most frequently.

Dietary factors and hyperactivity: a failure to replicate.

Recent research suggests that sucrose consumption may be a factor in children's hyperactivity. Yet, the manner in which hyperactive behavior was assessed confounded hyperactivity and aggression, thereby reducing the conceptual validity of the findings. In addition, accepting a probability level of 0.06 as significant with 36 correlations, and using grams rather than portions as an index of food consumption might have contributed to a Type I error. When these three issues were addressed in the present study, no significant relationships emerged between sucrose consumption and hyperactivity or aggression assessed as separate dimensions. The age of the hyperactive children in this sample (M = 9.15 years) contrasted with that of the original research (M = 6 years 2 months) and this may contribute to the differential results. Suggestions for further research are outlined, and the need to separate hyperactive children according to whether they receive stimulant medication or not, and assess attention deficit disorders in addition to behavioral components of hyperactivity are stressed.

Effects of a remedial program on visual-motor perception in spina bifida children.

Most studies dealing with spina bifida children concentrate on medical or physical factors, largely ignoring any psychosocial and educational consequences. The present study assessed the effect of a remedial program on visual-motor perception in spina bifida children. Thirty-six spina bifida boys and girls (mean age 82.87 months) with a myelomeningocele and an associated hydrocephalus were assigned randomly to either a control, attention-placebo, or experimental group. Following the administration of the Frostig Program for the Development of Visual Perception, the experimental group significantly improved on a global index of visual perception and the five subtests of Frostig's Development Test of Visual Perception; at a maintenance test two months later, all treatment gains (except on the visual spatial perception subtest) were still evident. These results are discussed in terms of the provision of remedial education for spina bifida children, and a possible cognitive mechanism mediating the behavioral change in the experimental group.

Effects of alcohol on moral functioning in male social drinkers.

The present study investigated the effect of alcohol consumption on both moral reasoning and moral values, cognitive variables which are likely to mediate moral behavior. Fifty-five male social drinkers (Mean age = 19.75 years) participated in a one-way pretest-posttest design incorporating two experimental (alcohol) and three control groups. Results showed that alcohol did not affect moral stage reasoning on the Defining Issues Test. However, the endorsement of meaningless items was significantly, but differentially, affected by the alcohol doses administered. No group differences were found in regard to moral values. These findings are related to previous research on alcohol and cognitive processes.

Predicting retirement anxiety: the roles of parental socialization and personal planning.

It was proposed that anxiety about retirement begins long before retirement, and that perceptions on one's parents' socialization into retirement and one's own planning for retirement are associated with retirement anxiety. Data from 213 Canadian respondents (mean age = 44 years) were analyzed. Path analysis indicated that both parental socialization and own planfulness affect retirement anxiety.