Skydiving as emotion regulation: the rise and fall of anxiety is moderated by alexithymia

We investigated alexithymia and the fluctuation of anxiety in skydiving women. Alexithymia significantly moderated the pre- to postjump fluctuation of state anxiety such that only alexithymic skydivers' anxiety diminished as a consequence of performing a skydive. This suggests that skydiving is an effective means of emotion regulation for alexithymic women. However, the significant rise in anxiety shortly after landing suggests that any emotional benefits are short-lived. No anxiety fluctuations emerged for nonalexithymic skydivers. The Alexithymia x Time interaction remained significant when controlling for age, experience, and trait anxiety. Results are discussed in terms of the potential dependence on risk-taking activities for alexithymic women.     

Teacher ratings of Hispanic,black, and Anglo students' classroom behavior

Teachers rated the behavior of Hispanic (N = 56), black (N = 56), and Anglo (N = 56) elementary students with the Teacher Checklist of School Behavior. The behavior of Hispanic students was rated less favorably than that of either of the other two groups. The Hispanic students were perceived to avoid peer and teacher interaction to a greater extent than Anglo and black students and to exhibit more physical reaction (absenteeism, physical complaints, clinic requests, etc.)     

Are sports club members big spenders?: Findings from sport specific analyses in Germany

This paper analyses the sport expenditures of people who are members of non-profit sports clubs (N = 10,013) in Germany. Adult members, active in 21 sports, were asked about their sport expenditure relating to several defined categories. The results show that members spend an average of €1610 per year on their chosen sport. Sport specific analyses reveal big differences in expenditure between sports, ranging from badminton (€338) to equestrian (€7902). According to sport-specific regression analyses, personal income, level of performance, and weekly time of participation are the main predictors of sport-specific expenditures. Compared to other studies, these results show that the financial status of members of non-profit sports clubs is very strong.     

What it means to be studying against the grain of neoliberalism in a community-based university programme in a ‘disadvantaged area’

Australia is indicative of a country that is deeply confused and conflicted around a policy discourse of inclusion that is sutured within an existential context heavily committed to the tenets of neoliberalism. Nowhere is this more evident than in the case of higher education, in which the proportion of young people from backgrounds of ‘disadvantage’ has remained implacably stuck at around 15% for several decades. The research from which this paper comes is an innovative community-based university-provided programme for young people for whom university education was never a realistic possibility – because of family histories, interruption to their lives, of having undertaken forms of secondary education that prevented them from gaining university entrance qualification, or who had terminated their education before completing the secondary years of schooling. This paper explores the story of one young person in his first year in a university programme, as he struggled with obstacles and impediments of a higher education system and set of neoliberal policy discourses that remain deeply sceptical and antagonistic to his trajectory.     

Where the Performance Issues Are and Are Not: A Meta‐Analytic Examination

The purpose of this study was to examine the often touted but rarely quantified claims of where performance problems actually occur in organizations. Starting in the mid–20th century, organizational development and performance consultants have followed the belief that the vast majority of organizational problems (85%) are tied to variables controlled by the organization and only a small percentage (15%) of performance problems are attributed to the worker. This study is a meta‐analysis that examined 327 performance technology (PT) analysis projects and coded the recommendations according to PT models to quantify the ratio between organizational and individual performance recommendations and corresponding problems. We find broad support for the conventional wisdom regarding the ratio of organizational issues to individual workers.