Body images of 4-8-year-old girls at the outset of their first artistic gymnastics class

OBJECTIVE

The primary objective of this investigation was to compare body images of 54 girls (4-8 years old) who were beginning their first gymnastics class to 54 age-matched (+/-1 year) and % body fat-matched (+/-3%) girls not participating in gymnastics.

METHOD

Ratings of actual and ideal body size and a computed measure of body dissatisfaction (actual minus ideal) were obtained. Body composition was measured with dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry.

RESULTS

Girls beginning gymnastics did not differ significantly from controls on (mean +/- SD) actual (2.2 +/- 1.4 vs. 2.1 +/- 1.4), ideal (1.8 +/- 1.3 vs. 1.8 +/- 1.5), or body dissatisfaction (0.39 +/- 1.8 vs. 0.26 +/- 1.4) scores.

DISCUSSION

Body images of 4-8-year-old girls beginning their first artistic gymnastics class do not differ from non-gymnast controls matched on age and % body fat. This observation casts doubt on the idea that young girls who are dissatisfied with their body and want to be smaller are more likely to enroll in gymnastics classes than girls without this type of body dissatisfaction.

Visual search strategies in experienced and inexperienced gymnastic coaches

The visual search strategies employed by gymnastic coaches with different levels of expertise were investigated. Expert (n=3) and novice coaches (n=3) watched 9 video sequences of 3 gymnastic techniques and were required to highlight errors in performance. Visual search patterns were monitored by an ASL-5000SE eye-tracking system during observation. Expert participants showed longer and fewer visual fixations than the novice group.

Equine-facilitated group psychotherapy: applications for therapeutic vaulting

In this day of high-tech, managed-care service delivery with an emphasis on medication and brief treatment, it is important for nurses to be aware of nontraditional treatment options that may be uniquely beneficial for some clients. Although it may still be considered a novelty, including animals in the healing milieu is not a new idea. Florence Nightingale herself suggested that "a small pet animal is often an excellent companion for the sick, for long chronic cases especially" (Nightingale, 1969, p. 102). Healing, according to one recent nursing article, can be seen as "a gradual awakening to a deeper sense of the self (and of the self in relation to others) in a way that effects profound change" (Dorsey & Dorsey, 1998, p. 36). Equine-facilitated psychotherapy, while not a new idea, is a little-known experiential intervention that offers the opportunity to achieve this type of awakening. In this article, the reader is introduced to equine-facilitated psychotherapy's theoretical underpinnings, techniques, and outcomes as illustrated by actual clinical vignettes and research findings.

Opioid receptor blockade eliminates mood effects of aerobic gymnastics

The contribution of opioid receptors to the mood effects of aerobic gymnastics was tested by oral administration of naltrexone (25 or 50 mg) in 12 healthy women (aged 22 - 30 years). The opioid receptor blockade eliminated decreased anxiety, negative affect level and depressiveness as well as increased positive affect level, as found in a placebo trial after a 50 min session of aerobic gymnastics. 50 mg of naltrexone was more effective than 25 mg. Administration of 50 mg of naltrexone without exercise did not cause any significant changes in anxiety, positive and negative affect levels or depressiveness.

Peripheral vision and back tuck somersaults

Although vision appears to enhance performance of somersaulting skills, few studies have investigated the source (foveal or ambient) of useful visual cues that can potentially be used by gymnasts during a somersault. Therefore, the primary objectives were to investigate the possible role of peripheral vision in the control of orientation and landing balance in a back tuck somersault. 10 female gymnasts (age = 11.6 +/- 2.7 yr., competitive level = 8 +/- 1.2, training time in gymnastics = 5.9 +/- 1.6 yr.) performed back tuck somersaults under four visual conditions (full visual field, horizontal peripheral vision limited to 100 degrees, horizonal peripheral vision limited to 60 degrees, and no vision) while wearing electromagnetic sensors that allowed automatic digitizing. Analysis yielded no statistically significant difference on any of the kinematic variables among vision conditions. Despite limiting the gymnasts' available horizontal peripheral vision, joint angles, angular velocities, and timing remained very similar. There were no statistically significant differences in landing balance between the conditions of full vision, 100 degrees peripheral vision, and 60 peripheral vision. However, gymnasts were less stable at landing when vision was absent as compared to the three other vision conditions.

An examination of situational interest and its sources

BACKGROUND

Situational interest is articulated theoretically as a construct associated with five dimensional sources: novelty, challenge, attention demand, exploration intention, and instant enjoyment.

AIMS

This study aimed to examine the influence of the dimensional sources on situational interest. It was hypothesised that the dimensional sources function differently to contribute to situational interest and that the influence of a source might be mediated by others.

SAMPLE

Two samples of 7th, 8th, and 9th grade students were used in the study. There were 281 students (57% male, 43% female) in the first sample and 191 (47% male, 53% female) in the second.

METHOD

Students in Sample A evaluated situational interest and the dimensional sources in tasks of analysing jogging and gymnastic stunts on video. Those in Sample B evaluated them in tasks of learning basketball. Correlation and regression analyses and path analyses were used to test the theoretical model.

RESULTS

Instant Enjoyment determined situational interest. Exploration and Novelty had positive influences on situational interest via enhancing Instant Enjoyment. Challenge showed little influence. The path analyses for both samples confirmed the inter-dimensional mediation effects of the sources.

CONCLUSION

The analysed data support the hypotheses. The dimensional sources had unequal influences on situational interest and the mediation effects among themselves at times strengthened or weakened each other's influences. The findings suggest that to increase situational interest, educators should offer students ample exploratory opportunities during student-task interaction that can lead to instant enjoyment for learning.

Effects of gymnastics expertise on the perception of body orientation in the pitch dimension

The purpose of this study was to investigate how experts in motor skills requiring a fine postural control perceive their body orientation with few gravity based sensory cues. In Experiment 1, expert gymnasts and controls had to detect their body tilt when pitching at a velocity of 0.05 deg.s(-1), in two conditions of body restriction (strapped and body cast altering the somatosensory cues). Contrary to the experts, the controls exhibited a larger body tilt when totally restrained in the body cast. In Experiment 2, subjects had to estimate their Subjective Postural Vertical (SPV) starting from different angles of pitch tilt. The controls exhibited significant errors of SPV judgement whereas the experts were very precise. These results suggest that 1) somatosensory cues are more informative than otolithic cues for the perception of body orientation, and 2) the efficiency of otolithic and/or interoceptive inputs can be improved through a specific training to compensate for the lack of somatosensory cues.

Popular gymnastics and the military spirit in Germany, 1848-1871

Over the course of the nineteenth century, a popular nationalist movement developed in the German states that had gained considerable strength by 1871, the year of unification. The German gymnastics association movement was one of the main forms in which popular nationalism was organized. It was started by Friedrich Ludwig Jahn early in the nineteenth century as a means to train young Germans to fight the French occupation. Gradually, it developed into a movement that sought to unify Germany, a project that was not, at first, supported by the German states. The movement was also guided by liberal and, especially before the revolution of 1848, democratic principles, and in this sense, too, was at odds with the reigning political system in Central Europe.

Self-perception in elite collegiate female gymnasts, cross-country runners, and track-and-field athletes

OBJECTIVE

To compare self-perception between a group of competitive, elite female collegiate athletes (participating in gymnastics, cross country, and track and field) and a group of female political science students (nonathletic control subjects). We hypothesized that the athletic group would rate athletics as more important than would the nonathletic group, that the perception of athletic competence would correlate positively with self-worth for athletes only, and that the perception of athletic competence would have a stronger influence on self-worth in the athletic group.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

The Self-perception Profile for College Students was completed by 32 athletes and 13 nonathletes. This profile measures 12 subscales plus Global Self-worth independently and generates scores that reflect the subject's perceived importance of and competence in each of the subscale areas.

RESULTS

The athletes rated athletics as more important than did nonathletes, although this trend was nonsignificant when adjusted for age. As age increased, the importance of athletics decreased for both groups. There was a direct relationship between perceived athletic competence and self-worth for the athletes but not for the nonathletes. Variables that accounted for the Global Self-worth score in athletes were perceptions of Competence subscales for Appearance, Social Acceptance, Friendship, and Job. Variables that accounted for the Global Self-worth scores in the nonathletes were perceptions of Competence subscales for Romance, Morality, Humor, and Appearance. The athletic group had significantly lower Global Self-worth scores than the nonathletic group.

CONCLUSIONS

The female athletes in this study derived a large component of their self-worth from their perceived athletic competence. Clinicians should bear in mind the relative importance of athletics to young female athletes and the relationship of perceived athletic ability to self-worth when treating these individuals.

Participation motives of young Australian and Chinese gymnasts

Reasons for participating in gymnastics were investigated with 280 Australian and 103 Chinese youth. The participants, aged 8 to 15 years, completed modified versions of the Participation Motivation Questionnaire. Treatment of the scores by principal components analysis yielded seven factors. Further analyses showed that the samples differed significantly on six of these factors. Comparisons of individual items indicated that the Australian gymnasts rated having fun and liking the rewards as more important than did the Chinese respondents. Chinese athletes allocated higher ratings to being part of a club, having a good body, liking to win, and wanting to be popular. Both groups assigned high values to reasons associated with improving skills, being fit, and getting exercise. It was suggested that the findings reflected cultural differences between Australian and Chinese societies as well as particular characteristics of the Chinese sample.

The achievement by proxy spectrum in youth sports. Historical perspective and clinical approach to pressured and high-achieving children and adolescents

This article, with examples of the descriptively defined three stages of achievement by proxy distorted (ABPD) behavior, should increase awareness of this field by facilitating communication, enabling child psychiatrists and other professionals to identify the "red flags" that can lead to abuse and exploitation of children and adolescents, and further contributing toward psychoeducation of self-help skills in parents and other adults with the goal of understanding motivations for ABPD behaviors and risky rationalizations, in addition to creating prevention strategies.

Morning versus afternoon gymnastic time and diurnal and seasonal changes in psychophysiological variables of school children

The aims of this study were to document time-related (morning versus afternoon) effects of physical activities (gymnastics) on a set of physiological and psychological variables in school children, including diurnal changes. For the study, 61 boys and 69 girls, 6 to 11 years of age, volunteered. They were considered healthy according to routine clinical criteria. They were synchronized with diurnal activity from around 07:00 to 21:00 and nocturnal rest, time of year being taken into account. Tests were performed at school during 4 weeks of 4.5 days of school at fixed clock hours: 09:00, 11:00, 14:00, and 16:00. Gym time was randomized with regard to week order and season. Four different classes (39 boys and 38 girls) were involved in psychophysiological tests, and two different classes (22 boys and 31 girls) collected saliva samples for morning free cortisol determination. Both t-test and three-factor analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used for statistical analyses. Better performances were obtained in June than in mid-winter with reference to letter cancellation and random number addition tests. As a group phenomenon, morning (09:00 to 10:00) versus afternoon (14:00 to 15:00) gym was not an influential condition with regard to sleep duration, oral temperature, self-rated fatigue and drowsiness, letter cancellation, addition tests, or salivary cortisol. However, gym-time-related differences were observed in classes of younger subjects (e.g., 6-7 years) with regard to self-rated fatigue and the letter cancellation test. Such variability among subgroups suggests that interindividual differences are likely to exist in younger children with regard to manipulation of environmental factors. In addition, gym itself (without gym time consideration) may be an influential factor with regard to diurnal patterns of some variables (e.g., the letter cancellation test).