Does gender moderate the exercising personality? An examination of continuous and stage-based exercise.

For nearly 60 years, researchers have examined the relationship between personality traits and exercise participation. Rhodes and Smith (2006), using meta-analytic procedures reported that extraversion, conscientiousness, and neuroticism were significantly related to exercise participation (Personality correlates of physical activity: A review and meta-analysis. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 40, 958-965). Gender as a moderator of the personality and exercise relationship remained inconclusive. In addition, researchers have suggested that the stage approach may lend greater insight as to the importance of personality. The investigator's primary purpose was to determine whether gender moderated the personality and exercise relationship. The secondary purpose was to determine the importance of personality within a stage approach. Participants were 827 females and 657 males college-aged students who completed measures of the "big five" personality traits and two exercise measures. The results indicated that gender was not a moderator and that the stage approach offers insight as hypothesized differences resulted in personality between intentional exercisers and non-exercising individuals as well as within exercising individuals.

A longitudinal study of students' academic self-concept in a streamed setting: the Singapore context.

BACKGROUND: Although several studies support the existence of a negative stream effect on lower-ability stream students' academic self-concept, there is not enough longitudinal research evidence to preclude the possibility that the stream effect may only be temporary. In addition, not much is known about the effect of streaming on changes in students' academic self-concept over time. AIMS: The main aims of the study were to examine the effect of streaming on (a) the students' academic self-concept immediately after the streaming process, and at yearly intervals for 3 consecutive years, and (b) the changes in students' academic self-concept over a 3 year period. SAMPLE: The sample comprised 495 Secondary 1 students (approximate age 13) from three government coeducational schools in Singapore. METHOD: A longitudinal survey using a self-reported questionnaire. RESULTS: Results showed that the lower-ability stream students had a more negative academic self-concept than the higher-ability stream students immediately after streaming, but they had a more positive academic self-concept 3 years after being streamed. In addition, it was established that the students' academic self-concept declined from Secondary 1 to Secondary 3. Nonetheless, the decline was more pronounced for the higher-ability stream students than the lower-ability stream students. CONCLUSIONS: Streaming may have a short-term negative impact on lower-ability stream students' academic self-concept. However, in the long run, being in the lower-ability stream may not be detrimental to their academic self-concept.