I am fast but I do not fit: an autoethnography of a swimmer’s experiences of ‘competitive performance’ stigma in two sporting contexts

Given that research outside of sport and exercise has found that stigma may cause severe consequences (e.g. depression), it is important to explore the concept in regard to its connection to socio-cultural issues in the development and persistence of stigmatisation in sporting contexts. Analytic autoethnography and Goffman’s theory of stigma was used to explore one female swimmer’s experiences of ‘enacted’ and ‘felt’ competitive performance stigma occurring in elite swimming and a masters swimming context. Competitive performance stigma has not been conceptualised or explored as a stigma type in sport research, however through the presentation and analysis of two vignettes and the use of Goffman, this is achieved. The social agents that contributed to both ‘enacted’ and ‘felt’ competitive performance stigma and the consequences/effects (e.g. withdrawal from sport, feelings of shame) for this swimmer are highlighted. Our analysis further highlights the role of particular cultural insiders (e.g. coaches, team managers and other swimmers) in the reproduction of competitive performance stigma through acts of labelling, discrimination and social isolation. These acts positioned the female swimmer as an ‘outsider’ because of her competitive performance which in turn led to her withdrawal from these two sporting contexts highlighting the implications for recipients of stigmatisation.     

Painted Tonsures and Potato-sellers: Priests,Passing and Survival in the Asturian Revolution

The Asturian revolutionary insurrection of 1934 saw the greatest outburst of anticlerical bloodletting in Spain for a century and prefigured the dramatic wave of anticlerical violence during the Spanish Civil War. Scholars have neglected, however, to study the experience of clerical survival. This article analyses how members of the clergy survived the insurrection through the prism of passing, concentrating on cleric's dress, gestures and revolutionary performances. It demonstrates the need to study survival processes, sheds new light on clerical identity, agency and existing cultural gulfs in 1930s' Spain, and underlines the contingency of violence in revolutionary contexts.     

Building civic capacity for a new century: Engaging young people in civic institutions and civil society

In a democratic society, citizens will be confronted with decision-making options that require them to be discerning about the changes that are proposed, to evaluate alternative courses of action, to develop strategies that will advance their cause and to take appropriate action. These processes are the basis for developing civic capacity. This paper explores drivers of civic capacity, including civic virtues and civic values, in order to see how civic capacity can best be developed in the nations of the Asia-Pacific region. Of particular interest is whether ”Asian values” are necessarily at odds with the underlying values of liberal democracy. Civic capacity is needed at a time of great change throughout the region, because change, and possibly even turbulence, will in all likelihood characterize the region in the future. Our future will depend on creating a civic capacity that will enable active and informed citizens to exercise agency over their social, political and economic lives. Editor’s note Address presented at the First International Conference of the Institute for Asian-Pacific Educational Development,Reflections and Explorations for Educational Development in the 21st Century: The Search for Asian Identities and Perspectives,Seoul National University, 9–10 November 2000.     

Being more human: rooting learning analytics through resistance and reconnection with the values of higher education

ABSTRACT

Universities are now compelled to attend to metrics that (re)shape our conceptualisation of the student experience. New technologies such as learning analytics (LA) promise the ability to target personalised support to profiled ‘at risk’ students through mapping large-scale historic student engagement data such as attendance, library use, and virtual learning environment activity as well as demographic information and typical student outcomes. Yet serious ethical and implementation issues remain. Data-driven labelling of students as ‘high risk’, ‘hard to reach’ or ‘vulnerable’ creates conflict between promoting personal growth and human flourishing and treating people merely as data points. This article argues that universities must resist the assumption that numbers and algorithms alone can solve the ‘problem’ of student retention and performance; rather, LA work must be underpinned by a reconnection with the agreed values relating to the purpose of higher education, including democratic engagement, recognition of diverse and individual experience, and processes of becoming. Such a reconnection, this article contends, is possible when LA work is designed and implemented in genuine collaboration and partnership with students.     

Relations of Emotional Competence and Effortful Control to Child Disruptive Behavior Problems

Research in child development suggests that emotional competence and effortful control are important for the prevention of conduct disorder, although studies regarding their effects in relation to each other are limited. This investigation examined the additive contribution of specific components of emotional competence and effortful control to child disruptive behaviors, after controlling for IQ and symptoms of inattention/hyperactivity. The sample consisted of 357 Australian five- to nine-year-old children who were identified through a school-wide screening procedure as at risk for developing conduct disorder. Five independent variables were evaluated including emotion identification, emotion understanding, emotion regulation, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility. Outcome variables measured child disruptive behavior problems and were based on parent and teacher assessment. Results indicated that deficits in emotion regulation and cognitive flexibility are significantly related to risk for disruptive behavior problems, according to parent but not teacher report. These deficits outweighed inhibitory control, emotion identification, and emotion understanding in their association with problem behavior. Findings may enhance the content and delivery of preventative programs.     

Critical power is not attained at the end of an isokinetic 90-second all-out test in children

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to establish whether critical power, as traditionally determined from the performance of three constant-load tests to exhaustion, is attained at the end of a 90-s all-out test in children. Sixteen healthy children (eight males and eight females; mean age 12.3 years, s_x  = 0.1; body mass 39.6 kg, s_x  = 1.8; peak [Vdot]O₂ 2.0 litres · min^?1, s_x  = 0.1) completed an incremental test to exhaustion to determine peak oxygen uptake (peak [Vdot]O₂), three separate constant-load tests to exhaustion to calculate critical power, and an isokinetic 90-s all-out test. The end power of the 90-s test averaged over the last 10 s (140 W, s_x  = 8) was significantly higher than critical power (105 W, s_x  = 6; t = 6.8; P < 0.01), yet the two parameters were strongly correlated (r = 0.74; P < 0.01). After 60 s, there were no further reductions in power output during the 90-s test (P < 0.0001). In conclusion, at the end of a 90-s all-out test, children are able to produce power outputs well above critical power. This suggests that 90 s is not long enough to completely exhaust the anaerobic work capacity in children.     

Effects of Different Combinations of Intensity Categories on Self-Reported Exercise

Abstract

Self-reports of exercise are used extensively in behavioral, social psychological, and epidemiological research (Ainsworth, Montoye, & Leon, 1994; Caspersen, 1997). Schwarz (1999) noted that many characteristics strongly influence self-reports of behavior, including question wording, format, and context. Of particular interest in the present study is the possible effect of providing different combinations of intensity categories (i.e., light/mild, moderate, and vigorous/strenuous) on self-reported exercise. A review of the exercise measurement literature indicates that researcher-developed and published questionnaires have varied in the number of exercise intensity categories they present to respondents. For example, researcher-developed questionnaires have often used only one category of exercise intensity, such as moderate (e.g., Miller, Trost, & Brown, 2002; Wallace, Buckworth, Kirby, & Sherman, 2000) or vigorous (e.g., Owen, Sedgwick, & Davies, 1988; Washburn, Goldfield, Smith, & McKinlay, 1990). Conversely, published questionnaires have typically used multiple intensity categories, such as moderate and vigorous/strenuous (e.g., Blair et al., 1985; Heath, Pate, & Pratt, 1993) or light/mild, moderate, and vigorous/strenuous (e.g., Baecke, Burema, & Frijters 1982; Godin & Shephard, 1985; Myers, Bader, Madhavan, & Froelicher, 2001). It is unknown, however, if providing different combinations of exercise intensity categories has any effect on the amount of exercise reported in a given intensity category or in total.     

Determinants of Cardiorespiratory Endurance in College Women

Abstract

The relationship between cardiorespiratory (CR) endurance performance and various physiological and anthropometric measures was determined in 33 college women. Bivariate and multiple regression analysis was used to determine the extent to which the independent variables, individually and collectively, accounted for the variance in the 2-km run. Independent variables included maximal [Vdot]O₂, [Vdot]_E, R, and HR; submaximal HR; response to a standard workload of steps during a l-min steptest; percent body fat predicted from skinfolds; body circumferences; height; and weight. [Vdot]O₂ max in ml/kg of body weight accounted for the greatest amount of variance in run time (39%). The steptest added 5.9%, the other physiological measures collectively added 9.7%, while the anthropometric measures collectively added only 2.1% to the explained variance for a total of 56.7%. Although anthropometric factors play a role in CR endurance performance, their influence is small in this population when physiological factors are accounted for.