Stressors, coping, and coping effectiveness: gender, type of sport, and skill differences

The aim of this study was to examine stressors, coping, and coping effectiveness as a function of gender, type of sport, and skill. The sample consisted of 749 undergraduate athletes (455 males, 294 females) aged 18-38 years (mean= 19.8 years). Skill was classified as international/national, county, university, and club standard. Participants completed a stressor and coping concept map (Novak & Gowin, 1984). The results revealed gender, type of sport, and skill differences in relation to stressor frequencies, coping strategy deployment, and coping effectiveness. In contrast to previous research, females used a variety of problem-focused (e.g. planning, communication, technique-orientated coping) strategies more frequently than males. Team sport athletes reported a variety of sport-specific stressors relating to the demands of playing in a team environment. The group of national/international athletes reported using more planning, blocking, and visualization, and also reported that their coping was more effective than that of less-skilled athletes.     

Using Learning Reconsidered to reinvent disability education

The two widely acclaimed Learning Reconsidered reports are helping to reshape the college student experience. Karen Myers applies their principles to the learning of students with disabilities and to students learning about disabilities.     

Travel Cost Analysis of a Cultural Heritage Site: The Case of Historic St. Mary's City of Maryland

Historic St. Mary's City located in rural southern Maryland, marks the 17th century British Colonial capital of the State of Maryland. As with most cultural heritage sites, Historic St. Mary's City can be classified as possessing public goods-type characteristics, and as such, welfare benefit estimates must utilize non-market valuation techniques. To date, the primary valuation methodology used for cultural heritage sites research involves stated preference methods. This study is one of the first to employ a revealed preference methodology, the zonal travel cost model, to estimate the consumer surplus welfare measures of a cultural heritage site. We analyze three years of visitor sample data to compare three functional forms of visitor demand. The average of the annual individual consumer surplus measures ranged from approximately $8.00 to $19.26, depending on the functional forms used. When aggregated to the total number of individual paid visitors, the average annual benefit estimates range from approximately $75,492 to $176,550.     

‘Black and whiters’: the relative powerlessness of ‘active’ supporter organization mobility at English Premier League football clubs

This article examines the reaction by Newcastle United supporters to the resignation of Kevin Keegan as Newcastle United manager in September 2008. Unhappy at the ownership and management structure of the club following Keegan’s departure, a series of supporter-led meetings took place that led to the creation of Newcastle United Supporters’ Club and Newcastle United Supporters’ Trust. This article draws on a non-participant observation of these meetings and argues that although there are an increasing number of ‘active’ supporters throughout English football, ultimately it is the significant number of ‘passive’ supporters who hamper the inclusion of supporters’ organizations at higher level clubs. The article concludes by suggesting that clubs, irrespective of wealth and success, need to recognize the long-term value of supporters. Failure to do so can result in fan alienation and ultimately decline (as seen with the recent cases of Coventry City and Portsmouth).     

Social Media as Primary Source

This article explores and critiques the use of social media as a primary source in the writing of twenty-first-century history. Since the introduction of so-called social media in the early 2000s, social scientists, journalists, and users have hailed this media form as a revolutionary departure from the ‘old media’ that dominated the twentieth century. Part of the narrative of ‘new media’ is it provides greater amounts of user agency, removes structural impediments for social dialog, and promotes an egalitarian exchange within the global sphere. This article suggests that this account is a product of the narrative structure of classical liberalism, through which social media as an object of knowledge and effectivity is produced. It concludes that the use of social media as a primary source for social histories of popular protest will require substantive theoretical scrutiny by scholars writing about these processes of the twenty-first century.