Stress and risk for depression in competitive athletes suffering from back pain – Do age and gender matter?†

Back pain (BP), a prominent problem for competitive athletes, is a primary reason for limitations in athletic performance and daily life restrictions. As studies on the relationship between psychological variables and BP in athletes are scarce, the aim of this study was to investigate stress and depression in competitive athletes with BP. In a cross-sectional design, data of 154 competitive athletes (51% female; M_age?=?18.81 years, SD_age?=?5.05 years) were collected, assessing Performance stress, Socio-emotional stress, Risk for depression and Psychological well-being and the two BP parameters BP Intensity and Disability. Two multiple linear regressions were conducted to predict (1) BP Intensity and (2) Disability from Performance stress, Socio-emotional stress, Risk for depression and Psychological well-being. Multiple linear regressions demonstrated that Performance stress (β?=?.21, p?=?.01) was the only significant predictor of BP Intensity (F_1,142?=?6.68, p?=?.01, R²?=?.05), whilst Risk for depression (β?=?.24, p?=?.01) was the only significant predictor of Disability (F_1,142?=?8.46, p?=?.01, R²?=?.06). Neither gender nor age explained a significant amount of variance in the models. Study results showed that, as in the general population, the variables stress and depression are related to BP in competitive athletes. In particular, BP intensity was found to be associated with stress and BP-related disability was associated with depression, whereas age and gender showed no association with the BP parameters. A longitudinal investigation is warranted to determine the direction of the observed relationships.     

An analysis of alterity in teachers’ inclusive pedagogical practices

This investigation contributes to understanding how teachers reflect on the other with a disability and on their own practices. Literature suggests that inclusion takes place when barriers are removed, allowing participation. However, scholars agree that teachers still struggle with pedagogical practices in inclusive classrooms. Hansen (Hansen, J. H. 2012. “Limits to Inclusion.” International Journal of Inclusive Education 16 (1): 89–98) contends that teachers establish limits to inclusion in order to manage the level of diversity, arguing that the limits depend on the teacher’s understanding of disability. This article examines German secondary school teachers, who reflect on inclusive pedagogical practices and their relationship to learners with disabilities. The analysis shows that most teachers add levels of complexity when constructing the disability’s identity. Teachers struggled with the notion of limitation associated with disability and with the discovery of the other, with new learning skills and abilities. Interactions with learners with a disability open new venues to practice inclusion and encourage participation, but this requires a change in practices; yet, not all teachers feel prepared to do that. Teachers offered various rationales on why they applied limits to inclusion; those rationales are rooted in how they interpret disability and their own roles as teachers.     

Individual differences in infant-mother attachment at twelve and eighteen months: stability and change in families under stress

100 economically disadvantaged mothers and their infants were observed in the Ainsworth and Wittig "strange situation" at 12 and 18 months. Infants were classified as secure, anxiously attached/avoidant, or anxiously attached/resistant. In addition, mothers reported occurrence of stressful events related to the stability of the caretaking environment during the 12--18 month period by completing a 44-item checklist concerning work, finances, family, neighbors, health, etc. 62 infants were assigned to the same attachment classification at both 12 and 18 months (p less than .01). Despite this stability, significantly more infants changes classification than in a recent study of stable middle-class families. With the present sample, anxious attachment was associated with less stable caretaking environments than secure attachment; change from secure to anxious attachment was associated with higher stressful-event scores than stable secure attachment.     

The effect of co-designing on educational transfer between cultures

This paper describes the process of co-designing used in a project undertaken by the Instituto Tecnologico de Monterrey (ITESM), the agency for development of Mexico (NAFIN), and the consulting authors to jointly produce a business development program for medium and small companies in Mexico. The first element of the program was a total quality training program, and the second was the design and development of facilitators/consultants' training for the instruction and dissemination of the quality program. This paper examines the project from the perspective of the role that values, and more specifically value conflicts, play in transfer effectiveness between nations. It proposes that transfer without significant modification and interpretation to fit local world views and practices is generally dysfunctional, and offers co-designing as a viable strategy to obviate traditional conflicts. The authors gratefully acknowledge the helpful comments made by Robert Baker, University of Southern California, on an earlier draft of this article.     

Avoid,Control, Succumb,or Balance: Engineering Students’ Approaches to a Wicked Sustainability Problem

Wicked sustainability problems (WSPs) are an important and particularly challenging type of problem. Science and engineering education can play an important role in preparing students to deal with such problems, but current educational practice may not adequately prepare students to do so. We address this gap by providing insights related to students’ abilities to address WSPs. Specifically, we aim to (I) describe key constituents of engineering students’ approaches to a WSP, (II) evaluate these approaches in relation to the normative context of education for sustainable development (ESD), and (III) identify relevant aspects of learning related to WSPs. Aim I is addressed through a phenomenographic study, while aims II and III are addressed by relating the results to research literature about human problem solving, sustainable development, and ESD. We describe four qualitatively different ways of approaching a specific WSP, as the outcome of the phenomenographic study: A. Simplify and avoid, B. Divide and control, C. Isolate and succumb, and D. Integrate and balance. We identify approach D as the most appropriate approach in the context of ESD, while A and C are not. On this basis, we identify three learning objectives related to students’ abilities to address WSPs: learn to use a fully integrative approach, distinguish WSPs from tame and well-structured problems, and understand and consider the normative context of SD. Finally, we provide recommendations for how these learning objectives can be used to guide the design of science and engineering educational activities.     

What Schools Need to Know About Fostering School Belonging: a Meta-analysis

Belonging is an essential aspect of psychological functioning. Schools offer unique opportunities to improve belonging for school-aged children. Research on school belonging, however, has been fragmented and diluted by inconsistency in the use of terminology. To resolve some of these inconsistencies, the current study uses meta-analysis of individual and social level factors that influence school belonging. These findings aim to provide guidance on the factors schools should emphasise to best support students. First, a systematic review identified 10 themes that influence school belonging at the student level during adolescence in educational settings (academic motivation, emotional stability, personal characteristics, parent support, peer support, teacher support, gender, race and ethnicity, extracurricular activities and environmental/school safety). Second, the average association between each of these themes and school belonging was meta-analytically examined across 51 studies (N?=?67,378). Teacher support and positive personal characteristics were the strongest predictors of school belonging. Results varied by geographic location, with effects generally stronger in rural than in urban locations. The findings may be useful in improving perceptions of school belonging for secondary students through the design of policy, pedagogy and teacher training, by encouraging school leaders and educators to build qualities within the students and change school systems and processes.     

Effects of text-belief consistency and reading task on the strategic validation of multiple texts

In the comprehension of multiple controversial scientific texts, readers with strong prior beliefs tend to construct a one-sided mental representation that is biased towards belief-consistent information. In the present study, we examined whether an argument in contrast to a summary task instruction can increase the resource allocation to and strategic validation of belief-inconsistent information which should be positively related to comprehension. Undergraduate students read one belief-consistent and one belief-inconsistent text about a controversial scientific issue either with an argument or a summary task instruction. The use of strategic validation and memorization strategies was assessed with think-aloud protocols, and a verification task was used to investigate comprehension outcomes. As predicted, readers following a summary task read belief-consistent information longer and used more memorization strategies for such information. Readers following an argument task spent similar time reading both text types and used more validation strategies when reading the belief-inconsistent text. In addition, the use of strategic validation during reading the belief-inconsistent text improved comprehension for this text type but hindered the comprehension of the belief-consistent text.     

Livelihood and Social Division

The struggle for livelihood has always been of central concern to working class people. In Australia today the concentration of unemployment raises issues which must be seen as part of an historical process, involving the reconstruction of social division and the struggle for the right to subsistence. These issues are examined in this article, with particular attention to the social and economic changes which have produced this threat to livelihood. Our research has shown that the responses of working class young people to this situation bring into sharp relief the complex social processes through which social division is produced. The evidence suggests that the cultural perspectives of working class males and females in Australia still have a force and significance which represent a potential challenge to the present pattern of restructuring of the economy which has resulted in such widespread unemployment. This raises particular questions about the growth in local employment initiatives in Australia (as in Europe) and its implications for curriculum development in schools in working class neighbourhoods.