Psychological Development and Females' Sport Participation: An Interactional Perspective

Dorothy Hams's writings have consistently reflected a philosophy that emphasizes the importance of an integrated sport science perspective for understanding females' participation and performance in the physical domain. Her advocacy for a 7ldquo;somatopsychic” approach included a consideration of the sociological, psychological, biological, and physical factors that interact to influence patterns of involvement and performance potential. Although a complete integration of subdisciplines within the sport sciences would be a formidable task, the purpose of this article is to first review selected research findings pertaining to females' sport socialization, psychological development, and biological and cognitive maturation. Then, a heuristic model is proposed as an initial attempt to represent an interactional approach to understanding females' sport participation and as a framework for future research.     

Evaluation of third age learning in Hong Kong: Why and how?

ABSTRACT

Facing the challenges of a fast-growing ageing population – amidst the worldwide trends of declining birth rates and longer lifespans – the Hong Kong government has since two decades ago developed and implemented policies and plans for senior adults in Hong Kong to engage in third age learning, both formally and informally. This paper first argues for a critical need to evaluate the efficacy, adequacy and value of the policy and provision of third age learning in Hong Kong. It then discusses the choice between the functionalist approach and the critical educational gerontology (CEG) approach for a critical evaluation of the content and purpose of education for older adults. In this paper, CEG is conceived to be more comprehensive and robust than the functionalist approach that focuses primarily on learning for self-fulfillment and adjustment to older age. More broadly though, CEG views third age learning from a sociopolitical perspective and takes into account the empowering and liberating nature of learning for and by senior adults.     

Book Review

This essay considers how teaching and learning may have functioned in late antique Roman classrooms by examining two texts: one is from the teacher’s perspective, the other – which, until recently, was unedited – provides some access to the student’s perspective. Despite much recent scholarly work on education in antiquity, there has been no attempt to bring teachers’ and students’ perspectives together through two contemporary sources from the Latin-speaking West. The first text is by Servius, a late antique teacher, whose Commentary provides detailed analysis of Virgil. The other comprises the Colloquia, containing ‘real life’ dialogues in Latin and Greek set in a school context. Through this comparison, the author aims to shed some light on what may have happened in a Latin-speaking classroom in late antiquity.     

Systematic risk‐taking

This article describes systematic risk‐taking, a strategy designed to develop skills and increase self‐esteem, confidence and courage in gifted youth. The six steps of systematic risk‐taking include understanding the benefits; initial self‐assessment of risk‐taking categories; identifying personal needs; determining a risk to take; taking the risk; and processing the experience. Examples are included to illustrate the benefits.     

Counseling in Nigeria and the United States of America: Contrasts and Similarities

This paper compares the profession of counseling in Nigeria and the United States of America (USA). Many differences exist in the practice of counseling in these two countries, including a greater emphasis on specialization, credentialing and licensing in the USA. Issues such as lack of insurance coverage and general economic disadvantage affect the utilization of counseling services in Nigeria. Although both countries are dealing with similar societal concerns, training standards remain localized. The authors recommend that given the global nature of counseling's reach and potential impact across the world, efforts should be made to implement international credentialing standards.     

Cross-Validation of a Model of Intrinsic Motivation With Students Enrolled in High School Elective Courses

The purpose of this study was to cross-validate a model of relationships among social-contextual factors, individual differences, and intrinsic motivation in adolescent students enrolled in required courses (E. Ferrer-Caja & M. R. Weiss, 2000) with an independent sample of students taking elective courses. Female and male high school students (N = 219) completed measures of motivational climate, teaching style, perceived competence, self-determination, goal orientation, and intrinsic motivation. Motivated behavior was assessed by teachers who rated the students on effort and persistence in class activities. First, the authors used structural equation modeling to examine model invariance between the original and the new samples, which yielded a lack of equivalence. Next, the authors examined several alternative theory-based models using the elective sample. The results indicated that the data were best represented by a model that separated social-contextual factors, individual factors, intrinsic motivation, and motivated behaviors. The strongest predictors of intrinsic motivation were task-goal orientation and perceived competence. These results are discussed from both theoretical and methodological perspectives.