“Why Can't We Just Have Sex?”: An Analysis of Anonymous Questions About Sex Asked by Ninth Graders

During the high school years, most young people in the United States receive school-based sexuality education, but there is little research on what they want to know about sex and sexuality but may be afraid to ask. This study is a content analysis of anonymous questions about sex (N = 645) asked by ninth-grade students from the greater Los Angeles area. A sample of predominantly lower-income and Latino/a students submitted anonymous questions before participating in sexuality education. Results show that young people are eager to understand how to use birth control and prevent pregnancy, have misinformation about sex and sexuality, and are misinformed on many topics. Results are discussed in light of what educators and others can do to help young people develop a safe, healthy sex life.     

Improving Museum Docents' Communication Skills

This article presents the results of a study evaluating a program to help museum docents improve accessibility for visitors with communication challenges (such as hearing, language and/or speech disorders). This was done by adapting docent presentations. The docents' speech patterns were evaluated before and after a training program, and showed significant improvements in the rate, duration, and use of pauses in their speech. There also was significant improvement in ensuring that view of their faces remained unobstructed—important for people with communication disorders—in order to facilitate the consistent visibility of their facial expressions and visual cues. The training was found to be effective in adjusting the docents' presentations so that the museum experience would be improved for visitors with communication challenges.     

A Study of Online Discourse at The Chronicle of Higher Education

Given the explosive growth of online communications, new forms of discourse are an intriguing topic of study. This research focused on ten online discussions hosted by The Chronicle of Higher Education, using content and discourse analysis of the postings to answer several questions. What is the “conversational scaffolding” used by posters in higher education-related online discussions? Are academic online discussions more like speech or writing? Additional questions dealt with how posters identify themselves, who their audience is, what motivates them, how accurate and political they are, and what the experience of reading these online discussions is like. Based on the analyses, these posters were more likely to write correctly although with diary-like personal insights. Through the analysis I also identified both positive and negative aspects of the online discussion experience.     

High-intensity interval and moderate-intensity continuous training elicit similar enjoyment and adherence levels in overweight and obese adults

Background: High-intensity interval training (HIIT) has been shown to improve cardiometabolic health during supervised lab-based studies but adherence, enjoyment, and health benefits of HIIT performed independently are yet to be understood. We compared adherence, enjoyment, and cardiometabolic outcomes after 8 weeks of HIIT or moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT), matched for energy expenditure, in overweight and obese young adults. Methods: 17 adults were randomized to HIIT or MICT. After completing 12 sessions of supervised training over 3 weeks, participants were asked to independently perform HIIT or MICT for 30 min, 4 times/week for 5 weeks. Cardiometabolic outcomes included cardiorespiratory fitness (VO₂ peak), lipids, and inflammatory markers. Exercise enjoyment was measured by the validated Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale. Results: Exercise adherence (93.4?±?3.1% vs. 93.1?±?3.7%, respectively) and mean enjoyment across the intervention (100.1?±?4.3 vs. 100.3?±?4.4, respectively) were high, with no differences between HIIT and MICT (p?>?.05). Similarly, enjoyment levels did not change over time in either group (p?>?.05). After training, HIIT exhibited a greater decrease in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol than MICT (?0.66?mmol?L^?1 vs. ?0.03?mmol?L^?1, respectively) and a greater increase in VO₂ peak than MICT (p?<?.05, +2.6?mL?kg?min^?1 vs. +0.4?mL?kg?min^?1, respectively). Interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein increased in HIIT (+0.5?pg?mL^?1 and +?31.4?nmol?L^?1, respectively) and decreased in MICT (?0.6?pg?mL^?1 and ?6.7?nmol?L^?1, respectively, p?<?.05). Conclusions: Our novel findings suggest that HIIT is enjoyable and has high unsupervised adherence rates in overweight and obese adults. However, HIIT may be associated with an increase in inflammation with short-term exercise in this population.     

Where Theories of Mind Meet Magic: The Development of Children's Beliefs about Wishing

In two studies, we probed children's beliefs about wishing. In Study 1, we gathered initial data on 50 3- to 6-year-old children's concepts of wishing and beliefs about its efficacy, with both a semistructured interview and a variety of tasks. Results revealed considerable knowledge about wishing in young children, along with an age-related decrease in beliefs about its efficacy. Parents were not found to encourage differently the beliefs of children at different ages, nor were they found to begin actively discouraging such beliefs at any particular age. A moderate relation was found between environmental supports for wishing and children's beliefs in its efficacy. In Study 2, we continued to probe these issues and also address the nature of the broader conceptual context in which children situate their beliefs about wishing. Participants were 92 3- to 6-year-old children. Results of this study suggest that children may reconcile beliefs in the efficacy of wishing with knowledge about everyday mental-physical relations by situating these beliefs more within their emerging beliefs about magic than within their theories of mind.