Integrating climate resilience with sports, exercise, and public health expenditures on sustainable environment: Evidence from coastal regions of China.

The adoption of environmentally-friendly habits has become more crucial in the present period as a means to mitigate the rate of environmental degradation and its detrimental consequences. The augmentation of sports, exercise and physical activities has been associated with favourable health outcomes, in addition to the ability to mitigate carbon emissions resulting from vehicular transportation. Consequently, the objective of this study is to examine the influence of sports, exercise, and physical activities, along with public health expenditure, on the environmental performance of China's coastal regions throughout the period spanning from 2010 to 2019. The proposed study employs the Feasible Generalized Least Squares (F.G.L.S) and the Generalized Method of Moments (G.M.M) methodologies. Results show that participation in sports and other forms of physical activity significantly improves environmental performance in China's coastal areas. Likewise, a robust negative correlation exists between air pollution and healthcare expenses, hence favouring enhanced environmental outcomes. Nevertheless, it is important to acknowledge that economic expansion has a direct correlation with increased emissions, hence harming environmental performance. There exists compelling evidence indicating a significant impact on environmental quality resulting from the combined influence of heightened health expenditures and increased engagement in sports. This is demonstrated by the presence of an interaction term between health expenses and sports activities. The findings of this study suggest that there is a requirement to re-evaluate healthcare spending initiatives and sporting activities in order to effectively pursue carbon neutrality goals and improve environmental sustainability.

Skin in the game: Race, ingroup identification, and attitudes toward paying college athletes.

OBJECTIVES: The present studies examined two dimensions of racial ingroup identification, using them as predictors of Black and White Americans' attitudes toward paying college athletes. Following Leach et al. (2008), the present work distinguished between ingroup self-investment and ingroup self-definition. The central prediction was that respondent race and self-investment would interact in predicting compensation support. METHOD: In three studies (N = 352, N = 476, & N = 562), U.S. residents who were 18 or older and either Black or White completed an online survey in which they completed a self-report measure of racial identification, as well as reporting their opinion of paying college athletes. RESULTS: The results supported the prediction, demonstrating that Black respondents' support was higher than that for Whites, but this was especially the case at high levels of self-investment. The third study suggests that these effects were driven by respondents who believed that Black athletes made up a larger percentage of the pool of likely beneficiaries of compensation. Ingroup self-definition played no role as a moderator. CONCLUSIONS: Broadly speaking, it may be that, for policies whose likely beneficiaries are disproportionately Black, stronger racial self-investment serves to widen racial divides in support. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Social return on investment (SROI) method to evaluate physical activity and sport interventions: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Physical Activity and Sport (PAS) interventions can reduce the social and economic burden of non-communicable diseases and improve the wellbeing of the population. Social return on investment (SROI) has the capacity to measure broader socio-economic outcomes in a singular monetary ratio to help identify the most impactful and cost-beneficial intervention. This review aimed to systematically identify and review studies using the SROI method within the field of PAS and assess their quality. METHODS: Peer-reviewed and grey literature SROI studies were identified through a systematic search of six databases. Two reviewers independently assessed the identified studies to determine eligibility. Study quality was assessed using the Krelv et al. 12-point framework. For each included study, information was extracted and classified into summary tables. Extracted information included study and participant characteristics, type of outcomes and SROI ratio. The PRISMA guidelines were followed. RESULTS: Seventeen studies published between 2010 and 2018 met the inclusion criteria. Most studies (94%) were non-peer reviewed publicly available reports, primarily conducted in the UK (76%), by private consulting firms (41%) and included all types of stakeholders (76%). PAS interventions included Primary prevention (47%), Sport for development (29%), Secondary and tertiary prevention (18%) and High-performance sport (6%). SROI ratios, which report the social value created in relation to the cost of an intervention, vary between 3:1 and 124:1 for the high-quality studies. CONCLUSIONS: The SROI framework can be a useful tool to inform policy-making relating to PAS investment as it can account for the wide societal benefits of PAS. The quality of studies in the field would benefit from the employment of an impact map (or logic model), reporting negative outcomes and using objective study designs. The application of the SROI method in the PAS field is relatively recent, and thus further research would be beneficial to promote its potential for policy-making bodies in the field.

Five-year cost-effectiveness analysis of the European Fans in Training (EuroFIT) physical activity intervention for men versus no intervention.

OBJECTIVES: Increasing physical activity reduces the risk of chronic illness including Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and certain types of cancer. Lifestyle interventions can increase physical activity but few successfully engage men. This study aims to investigate the 5 year cost-effectiveness of EuroFIT, a program to improve physical activity tailored specifically for male football (soccer) fans compared to a no intervention comparison group. METHODS: We developed a Markov cohort model in which the impact of improving physical activity on five chronic health conditions (colorectal cancer, Type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke and depression) and mortality was modelled. We estimated costs from a societal perspective and expressed benefits as quality adjusted life years (QALYs). We obtained data from a 4-country (England, Netherlands, Portugal and Norway) pragmatic randomised controlled trial evaluating EuroFIT, epidemiological and cohort studies, and meta-analyses. We performed deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses to assess the impact of uncertainty in the model's parameter values on the cost-effectiveness results. We used Monte Carlo simulations to estimate uncertainty and presented this using cost-effectiveness acceptability curves (CEACs). We tested the robustness of the base case analysis using five scenario analyses. RESULTS: Average costs over 5 years per person receiving EuroFIT were €14,663 and per person receiving no intervention €14,598. Mean QALYs over 5 years were 4.05 per person for EuroFIT and 4.04 for no intervention. Thus, the average incremental cost per person receiving EuroFIT was €65 compared to no intervention, while the average QALY gain was 0.01. This resulted in an ICER of €5206 per QALY gained. CEACs show that the probability of EuroFIT being cost-effective compared to no intervention is 0.53, 0.56 and 0.58 at thresholds of €10,000, €22,000 and €34,000 per QALY gained, respectively. When using a time horizon of 10 years, the results suggest that EuroFIT is more effective and less expensive compared to (i.e. dominant over) no intervention with a probability of cost-effectiveness of 0.63 at a threshold of €22,000 per QALY gained. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude the EuroFIT intervention is not cost-effective compared to no intervention over a period of 5 years from a societal perspective, but is more effective and less expensive (i.e. dominant) after 10 years. We thus suggest that EuroFIT can potentially improve public health in a cost-effective manner in the long term.

Reducing financial barriers through the implementation of voucher incentives to promote children's participation in community sport in Australia.

BACKGROUND: Participation in organised sport and physical activity contributes to health-enhancing levels of leisure time physical activity. In Australia, 58% of children aged 0-14 years participated at least once a week in October 2015 - December 2017. To overcome the frequently cited cost barrier, sports voucher incentives have been widely implemented across Australia. METHOD: The financial value of jurisdictional vouchers and the National median financial value were used to calculate the proportion of total annual expenditure on children's participation in sport supported by sports vouchers. Participation rates using AusPlay data were estimated by age, sex and socio-economic index (SEIFA) at state and national level for children aged 0-14 years. RESULTS: Five States and Territories implemented sports vouchers from 2011 to 2018, with a median value of AU$150. Nationally, median annual expenditure for children's sport participation was AU$447 (IQR $194.2-936), with 27% reported expenditure supported by a sports voucher. The proportion of financial support from sports vouchers increased considerably with social disadvantage, rising to over 60% of total expenditure in the most disadvantaged populations. CONCLUSIONS: Socio-economic status was associated with sports-related expenditure and sports participation amongst children. Sport vouchers should target children in the most disadvantaged areas to promote participation in organised sport and physical activity.

The Italian preparticipation evaluation programme: diagnostic yield, rate of disqualification and cost analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Italian law mandates that every competitive athlete must undergo annual preparticipation evaluation (PPE) to identify cardiovascular (CV) diseases that pose a risk of sudden death (SD) during sport and other conditions that may threaten the athlete's health. We investigated the diagnostic yield, rate of disqualification and costs of our PPE. METHODS: We included 5910 consecutive apparently healthy athletes (61% males, mean age 15±4 years) who underwent annual PPE performed by a sports medicine specialist. The PPE included history, physical examination, weight, height and blood pressure measurement, test of visual acuity, spirometry, urine chemistry, resting 12-lead ECG and exercise testing with ECG monitoring. In cases of abnormal findings, we carried out second-line investigations. RESULTS: During a 12-month study period, 5.326 (90.2%) athletes were cleared for competition after a normal first-line evaluation and 584 (9.8%) underwent one or more further examinations. Of those, 88 (1.5%) were diagnosed to have a CV disease (including 18 (0.3%) at-risk of SD) and 31 (0.5%) had a non-CV diagnosis. A total of 32 (0.5%) athletes were temporarily (n=15) or permanently (n=17) disqualified from competitive sports. The average cost per athlete was €79, which consisted of €64 (80%) for first-line evaluations and €15 (20%) for additional investigations. CONCLUSION: PPE according to the Italian model identified a range of diseases in 2.0% of apparently healthy athletes at an average cost of €79.

Critical success factors of public health sponsorship in Australia.

Public health sponsorship is a unique phenomenon in Australia. The current research examines the critical success factors of Western Australian Health Promotion Foundation's (Healthway) sponsorship program, Australia's largest public health sponsorship program. Using stakeholder interviews and expert observational studies, two studies present five key success factors: (i) effective segmentation and targeting of health messages; (ii) collaboration between Healthway and partnering organization to leverage sponsored events; (iii) displacement of unhealth sponsorship; (iv) use of leveraging strategies to raise awareness of health messages; and (v) environmental changes that facilitate behavioural change. The current research provides insights into how and why sponsorship is an effective public health promotion tool.

Attitudes of sports organisation members to junk food sponsorship.

OBJECTIVES: To explore sports organisation members' attitudes to sponsorship of sport by energy-dense, nutrient-poor food and drink ('junk food') brands. STUDY DESIGN: The study design is a cross-sectional study. METHODS: An online survey of adult members of three sports organisations that did not accept junk food sponsorship in Victoria, Australia in 2018: one was responsible for an elite team in a national competition (5000-10,000 members); one managed a team sport competition across Victoria (50,000-100,000 registered junior and adult participants, referees and coaches); and one administered a junior team sport competition for boys and girls in a major city (10,000-15,000 participants). RESULTS: Most (71%) of the 2224 respondents reported it was important/very important that their organisation did not accept junk food sponsorship. A higher proportion was concerned/very concerned about junk food companies sponsoring children's sport (60%) compared with such companies sponsoring elite (49%, P < 0.001) or community adult (39%, P < 0.001) sport. A higher proportion of respondents were likely/very likely to support a policy that restricted junk food sponsorship of children's sport (84%), compared with a policy restricting sponsorship of elite (76%, P > 0.001) and adult community (74%, P > 0.001) sport. Two-thirds of respondents supported restricting junk food companies from sponsoring sport, even if fees for children's (66%) and community adult (65%) sport increased, or if membership and attendance costs for elite sport supporters increased (63%). CONCLUSIONS: In the Australian context of this study, junk food sponsorship of sport, particularly children's sport, is a concern to members of sports organisations. Although still high, support for restricting such sponsorship declines if members perceive it will lead to increases in participation costs and decreases in participation opportunities. Initiatives restricting junk food sponsorship of sport are likely to receive strong support from the sports community, particularly when the focus is on children's sport, and participation costs and opportunities are not negatively impacted.

Within- and between-person variation in morning testosterone is associated with economic risk-related decisions in athletic women across the menstrual cycle.

Literature suggests that women experience ovulatory shifts in risk-taking behaviours across different domains, which might be partly attributed to changes in testosterone (T). Thus, we investigated associations between menstrual variability in T concentrations and economic risk-related decisions among athletic women. Thirty-five women were monitored across three consecutive menstrual cycles. Testing occurred on day seven (D7), 14 (D14) and 21 (D21) following the onset of menses. The morning (7 to 8 am) assessment of salivary T (sal-T) and cortisol (sal-C) was followed by the economic Hawk-Dove game (11 am to 12 pm) played in pairs, where hawk decisions were used to index risk. Morning sal-T concentration increased from D7 to D14, before decreasing on D21 (p < 0.001), representing moderate effect size (ES) changes of 0.6 to 0.8. Morning sal-C did not vary over time. Hawk choices paralleled the sal-T results, being elevated on D14 (p < 0.001) with large ES changes of 1.8. Regression analyses revealed that morning sal-T concentration was positively related (p ≤ 0.01) to the number of hawks chosen between- (beta = 0.47) and within-participants (beta = 0.10) when controlling for training hours and menstrual day. In summary, the risk-related choices of athletic women during a dyadic contest covaried with morning sal-T concentrations across the menstrual cycle. Both outcomes were positively correlated on a within- and between-person level. Confirming the major sources of T variation across the menstrual cycle, whilst discerning its relationship with other risk-related behaviours, would be worthwhile avenues for research.

Social Support for Physical Activity for High Schoolers in Rural Southern Appalachia.

OBJECTIVE: Social support for physical activity (PA) has been shown to enhance PA levels in adolescents. Although social support has been examined extensively in the literature, less is known about the role of social support for PA for high school adolescents in rural southern Appalachia. PA is important because adolescent obesity is greater in Appalachia than in the rest of the United States. METHODS: This was a qualitative secondary analysis of focus groups conducted in 2013-2014 among parents, teachers, and high school students (N = 77) in 6 counties across rural southern Appalachia. Beets' typology of social support was used to categorize themes. RESULTS: Participants discussed instrumental supports, including providing transportation and paying fees, enrolling child in recreation/sports, and providing PA equipment at home. Performing PA with adolescents and modeling, watching/supervising, and prioritizing PA were identified as conditional supports. Several motivational supports were identified: encouragement, force, and the admiration of people who are active. Participants also identified key informational supports, including discussing the importance/health benefits of PA, how to be physically active, and general advice/information. Barriers to PA engagement (eg, body image issues, bullying, competitive nature of PA opportunities) and the role of referent groups (eg, family, peers, teachers) emerged as important concepts in the discussion. CONCLUSION: This study identifies opportunities and practical ways for families and schools to provide, build, and strengthen supports for PA among adolescents in rural Appalachia.

Barriers to rejecting junk food sponsorship in sport-a formative evaluation using concept mapping.

OBJECTIVES: Energy-dense, nutrient-poor food and drink ('junk food') brands sponsoring sport is a growing public health concern. This study explored sports administrators' perceptions of the barriers to rejecting junk food sponsorship. STUDY DESIGN: This study used concept mapping. METHODS: The Concept Systems Global MAX™ web platform was used to collect and analyse data from 29 sports administrators across all levels of sport in Victoria, Australia. RESULTS: Brainstorming generated 33 barriers to rejecting junk food sponsorship. After the barriers were synthesised and edited, participants sorted and rated 32 barriers. Multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis identified a four-cluster solution: community attitudes and values (seven barriers); junk food is the easy sell (retail; five barriers); financial viability (16 barriers); and organisational capability (policy and governance; four barriers). The financial viability barriers were rated the most important (mean = 3.65 of 5) and the hardest to overcome (1.42). The organisational capability (policy and governance) barriers were rated the least important (2.14) and the easiest to overcome (3.20). CONCLUSIONS: Sports administrators clearly perceive that rejecting junk food sponsorship could place significant financial strain on their organisations. There appears to be considerable scope to build the capacity of sporting organisations to rejecting junk food sponsorship. Despite the literature indicating that most parents think junk food companies are not suitable sponsors, sports administrators perceive that there is a broad public acceptance of junk food sponsorship in sport. The fact that sports administrators perceive a link between junk food sponsorship and the lack of healthy options at club canteens and venue food outlets adds an additional, not previously identified, level of complexity to the junk food sponsorship in sport debate.

Pay to Play? State Laws Related to High School Sports Participation Fees.

CONTEXT: Participation in high school sports can impact the physical and mental health of students and influence other positive social and economic outcomes. To maintain sports programs amidst school budget deficits, many districts are implementing sports participation fee policies. Although locally implemented, these district policies can be guided by state law. OBJECTIVE: The main objective of this study was to assess state laws and regulations related to high school sports participation fees. DESIGN: Codified statutes and administrative regulations were compiled for all 50 states and the District of Columbia using subscription-based services from LexisNexis and WestlawNext. A content assessment tool was developed to identify key components of school sports participation fee laws and used for summarization. Key components identified included legislation summarization, years in effect, whether it allows fees, whether there is any fee waiver, qualifications needed for fee waiver, whether there is a tax credit, and whether there is disclosure of implementation. State information was aggregated and doubled-coded to ensure reliability. RESULTS: As of December 31, 2016, 18 states had laws governing sports participation fees; 17 of these states' laws allowed for such fees, whereas 1 state prohibited them. Most laws give authority to local school boards to set and collect fees. The laws in 9 states have provisions for a waiver program for students who cannot pay the fees, although they do not all mandate the existence of these waivers. Other content within laws included tax credits and disclosure. CONCLUSION: This analysis shows that states with laws related to school sports participation fees varied in scope and content. Little is known about the implementation or impact of these laws at the local level and the effect of fees on different student population groups. This warrants future investigation.

The impact of individual and environmental interventions on income inequalities in sports participation: explorations with an agent-based model.

BACKGROUND: Income inequalities in sports participation are shaped by a system in which individuals and the environment interact. We developed an agent-based model (ABM) that could represent this system and used it to provide a proof-of-concept of its potential to explore the impact of individual and environmental interventions on reducing inequalities in sports participation. METHODS: Our ABM simulates sports participation of individuals in the Dutch city of Eindhoven. In the model, sports participation is determined by an individual's tendency to start sports (at a fitness center, sports club or self-organized), which is influenced by attributes of individuals (i.e. age, sex, income), sports facilities (i.e. price, accessibility) and the social environment (i.e. social cohesion, social influence). Sports facilities can adapt to changes in the demand by closures or startups, which in turn influence the tendency of individuals to participate in sport. We explored the impact of five interventions scenarios. RESULTS: Explorative results show that providing health education, increasing the availability of sports facilities, lowering prices of facilities and improving safety levels can increase sports participation and modestly reduce absolute income inequalities in sports participation. The largest gain can be attained through health education, if the effect and reach is sufficiently large. Environmental interventions alone have a modest impact. Marked effects are only achieved after five to 10 years. CONCLUSIONS: ABMs have much potential to test the population-level effects of various interventions in the context of a system. Our study highlights the challenges of ABM development and reveals gaps in empirical data. With further refinements, our model could aid in understanding and finding optimal pathways to reduce income inequalities in sports participation.

Barriers to voluntary participation in sport for children: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Numerous studies have detailed the physical health benefits of children's participation in sport and a growing body of research also highlights the benefits for mental health. Children who participate in sport have also been shown to be advantaged academically. However, despite the benefits there is evidence that children are leading increasingly sedentary lifestyles and are at greater risk of chronic disease than those with active lifestyles. Sport provides an important means for children to achieve their recommended amount of daily physical activity. This systematic review asks 'what are those barriers to children's participation in sport?' METHODS: Literature searches were carried out in June 2015 using; EMBASE, Medline, CINAHL and SportDiscus using the search terms barrier*, stop*, prevent*, participat*, taking part, Sports/, sport*, "physical education", PE, child*, young person*, adolescen*. These were supplemented with hand searches. A total of 3434 records were identified of which 22 were suitable for inclusion in the review, two additional studies were identified from Google Scholar in November 2016. Both qualitative and quantitative studies were included. Study's included in the review assessed children up to 18 years of age. Study quality was assessed using Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) tools. RESULTS: Studies took place in the school environment (n = 14), sports club (n = 1), community setting (n = 8) and adolescent care setting (n = 1). Frequently reported barriers across quantitative studies were 'time' (n = 4), 'cost' (n = 3), 'opportunity/accessibility' (n = 3) and 'friends' (n = 2). Frequently reported barriers across qualitative studies were 'time' (n = 6), 'cost' (n = 5), 'not being good at sport' (n = 6) and 'fear of being judged/embarrassed' (n = 6). CONCLUSION: Policy makers, parents and teachers should all be aware that 'cost' and 'time' are key barriers to participation in sport. More local sports opportunities are needed where costs are reduced. Schools and local clubs could better work together to provide more affordable local opportunities to increase children's participation in sport.

Using quarterly earnings to assess racing performance in 66 thoroughbreds after transendoscopic laser surgery for treatment of epiglottic entrapment.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the outcome of transendoscopic laser surgery for the treatment of epiglottic entrapment (EE) and determine the influence of preoperative morphological characteristics on outcomes. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. ANIMALS: Thoroughbred racehorses treated with transendoscopic laser surgery (n = 66) and untreated cohorts (n = 132). METHODS: Medical, surgical, and race records of 66 horses treated with transendoscopic laser surgery were compared with untreated cohorts randomly selected from their last race presurgery. Postsurgery data were collated as number of starts and race winnings for each quarter after the date of surgery. RESULTS: Treated horses performed worse (P = .002) than their untreated cohorts in their last race presurgery. Although treated horses raced fewer times (P < .001) and earned less money (P < .001) in the first quarter after surgery compared with untreated horses, quarterly earnings or starts did not differ between groups after the first quarter. Among variables tested, subepiglottic membrane resection was the only prognostic factor; horses requiring this resection raced fewer times (P = .001) but without a significant difference in earnings. CONCLUSION: Horses treated for EE via transendoscopic laser surgery returned to a performance standard comparable to their untreated cohorts by the second quarter postsurgery. Horses with entrapments requiring resection raced fewer times postoperatively than the untreated cohorts. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Treated horses can be expected to perform equivocally to that of untreated cohorts in all but the first quarter following surgery except in those cases where resection of the entrapping membranes is required.

Association Between Alcohol Sports Sponsorship and Consumption: A Systematic Review.

AIM: Concerns have been raised about the impact of alcohol sports sponsorship on harmful consumption, with some countries banning this practice or considering a ban. We review evidence on the relationship between exposure to alcohol sports sponsorship and alcohol consumption. METHODS: Search of electronic databases (PubMed, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar and International Alcohol Information Database) supplemented by hand searches of references and conference proceedings to locate studies providing data on the impact of exposure to alcohol sports sponsorship and outcomes relating to alcohol consumption. RESULTS: Seven studies met inclusion criteria, presenting data on 12,760 participants from Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Poland. All studies report positive associations between exposure to alcohol sports sponsorship and self-reported alcohol consumption, but the statistical significance of results varies. Two studies found indirect exposure to alcohol sports sponsorship was associated with increased levels of drinking amongst schoolchildren, and five studies found a positive association between direct alcohol sports sponsorship and hazardous drinking amongst adult sportspeople. CONCLUSION: These findings corroborate the results of previous systematic reviews that reported a positive association between exposure to alcohol marketing and alcohol consumption. The relationship between alcohol sports sponsorship and increased drinking amongst schoolchildren will concern policymakers. Further research into the effectiveness of restrictions on alcohol sports sponsorship in reducing harmful drinking is required.

Does government spending help to promote healthy behavior in the population? Evidence from 27 European countries.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to examine if government spending is associated with an individual's decision to participate in physical activity and sport which is regarded as healthy behavior given the positive health effects documented in previous research. METHODS: Individual-level data (n = 25 243) containing socio-demographic information are combined with national-level data on government spending (5-year average) in 27 European countries. Given the hierarchical data structure, i.e. individuals are nested within countries; multi-level analyses are applied. RESULTS: The multi-level models show that it is mainly education spending that has a significant positive association with participation in sport of various regularities. Health spending has some association with participation in other physical activity and sport of a lower regularity. CONCLUSIONS: While health spending can be considered a relevant policy tool for increasing sport participation rates, education spending is required more since the effects are larger and it affects both physical activity and sport. This suggests that health spending will have most effect combined with earlier influences from education spending.

How psychological framing affects economic market prices in the lab and field.

A fundamental debate in social sciences concerns how individual judgments and choices, resulting from psychological mechanisms, are manifested in collective economic behavior. Economists emphasize the capacity of markets to aggregate information distributed among traders into rational equilibrium prices. However, psychologists have identified pervasive and systematic biases in individual judgment that they generally assume will affect collective behavior. In particular, recent studies have found that judged likelihoods of possible events vary systematically with the way the entire event space is partitioned, with probabilities of each of N partitioned events biased toward 1/N. Thus, combining events into a common partition lowers perceived probability, and unpacking events into separate partitions increases their perceived probability. We look for evidence of such bias in various prediction markets, in which prices can be interpreted as probabilities of upcoming events. In two highly controlled experimental studies, we find clear evidence of partition dependence in a 2-h laboratory experiment and a field experiment on National Basketball Association (NBA) and Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA World Cup) sports events spanning several weeks. We also find evidence consistent with partition dependence in nonexperimental field data from prediction markets for economic derivatives (guessing the values of important macroeconomic statistics) and horse races. Results in any one of the studies might be explained by a specialized alternative theory, but no alternative theories can explain the results of all four studies. We conclude that psychological biases in individual judgment can affect market prices, and understanding those effects requires combining a variety of methods from psychology and economics.