General Mass Communication

THE KNOWLEDGE INDUSTRY 200: 1983 EDITION—AMERICA'S TWO HUNDRED LARGEST MEDIA AND INFORMATION COMPANIES (White Plains, N.Y.: Knowledge Industry Publications, 1983---price not given, paper; with hardback edition available from Gale Research Co., Detroit---$98.00)

MASS COMMUNICATION THEORY: AN INTRODUCTION by Denis McQuail (Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1983---$25.00/$12.50)

CREATING MEDIA CULTURE by Robert P. Snow (Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1983---$25.00/ $12.50)

THE CRITICAL COMMUNICATIONS REVIEW, VOLUME I: LABOR, THE WORKING CLASS, AND THE MEDIA edited by Vincent Mosco and Janet Wasko (Norwood, N.J.: Ablex, 1983---$37.50/$21.95)

MARCONI TO McLUHAN: A SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY OF N.Y. TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE ARTICLES ON COMMUNICATION, 1900-1980 by Gerald V. Flannery (Department of Communication, University of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette, LA 70504---$12.00, paper)

INTRODUCTION TO MASS COMMUNICATION by Jay Black and Frederick C. Whitney (Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown, 1983---price not given, paper)     

Radio and Television History

ROD SERUNG: THE DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES OF LIFE INTHE TWILIGHT ZONE by Joel Engel (Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1990—$18.95, ISBN 0-8092-4538-8,368 pp.)

THE PIED PIPERS OF ROCK 'n ROLL: RADIO DEEJAYS OF THE 50s AND 60s by Wes Smith (Marietta, GA: Longstreet Press, 1989—$16.95, ISBN 0-929264-69-X, 300 pp.)

GUNSMOKE.A COMPLETE HISTORY by SuzAnne Barabas and Gabor Barabas (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 1990—$45.00, ISBN 0-89950-418-3, 832 pp.) is just that—a detailed narrative and then episode guide to both the radio (1952-61)

THE COMPLETE ACTORS TELEVISIONCREDITS, 1948-1988, VOLUME I: ACTORS by James Robert Parish and Vincent Terrace (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1989—$59.50, ISBN 0-8108-2204-0, 560 pp.)

THE CHILDREN'S HOUR: RADIO PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN, 1929-1956 by Marilyn Lawrence Boemer (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1989—$25.00, ISBN 0-8108-2270-9, 230 pp.)

I REMEMBER TELEVISION: A MEMOIR by Ira Skutch (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1989—$29.50, ISBN 0-8108-2271-7, 273 pp.)

LIVE TELEVISION: THE GOLDEN AGEOF1946-1958 IN NEW YORK by Frank Sturcken (McFarland & Co., P.O. Box 611, Jefferson, NC 28640—$29.95, ISBN 0-89950-523-6, 178 pp.)     

Examining the measurement and structural invariance of LibQUAL+® across user groups

The LibQUAL+® instrument measures users' perceptions of library service quality; three factors are evaluated: Affect of Service, Information Control, and Library as Place. Although previous studies have assessed the factorial invariance of LibQUAL+®, factorial invariance by itself is insufficient for score comparability across groups. Stronger levels of measurement invariance need to be established. This study systematically tested the measurement and structural invariance of LibQUAL+® scores in a sample of 1551 undergraduate students, 707 graduate students, and 134 faculty members. Multi-group confirmatory factor analyses showed that full measurement invariance did hold between students and faculty for the complete instrument. Building on the measurement invariance, structural invariance models showed that factor variances were equivalent across user groups, but factor covariances and means differed. Faculty had higher perceptions of Affect of Service and undergraduate students had higher perceptions of Library as Place compared to the other groups.     

The relationships of trait verbal aggressiveness and frequency of viewing and enjoyment of television sitcoms

Verbal aggressiveness is the tendency to attack the self‐concept of another person with the intent to inflict psychological pain (Infante & Wigley, 1986). This study focused on how low and high verbally aggressives differ in the television sitcoms they watch and how enjoyable they find those shows. Participants (N = 555) first completed the Verbal Aggressiveness Scale. Then they were asked how often they watch particular television sitcoms and if they watched a given sitcom, how entertaining they found that show to be. The sitcoms included in this study were those that were televised in April 1996. Of the 33 shows included in the analyses, low verbal aggressives differed from high verbal aggressives on 8 shows for frequency of watching and on 11 shows for entertainment value.     

Adolescent elite Kenyan runners are at risk for energy deficiency,menstrual dysfunction and disordered eating

Limited data are available on the female athlete triad (Triad) in athletes from minority groups. We explored subclinical and clinical Triad components amongst adolescent elite Kenyan athletes (n = 61) and non-athletes (n = 49). Participants completed demographic, health, sport and menstrual history questionnaires as well as a 5-day weighed dietary record and exercise log to calculate energy availability (EA). Ultrasound assessed calcaneus bone mineral density (BMD). Eating Disorder Inventory subscales and the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire’s cognitive dietary restraint subscale measured disordered eating (DE). EA was lower in athletes than non-athletes (36.5 ± 4.5 vs. 39.5 ± 5.7 kcal ? kg FFM^?1 ? d^?1, P = 0.003). More athletes were identified with clinical low EA (17.9% vs. 2.2%, OR = 9.5, 95% CI 1.17–77, P = 0.021) and clinical menstrual dysfunction (32.7% vs. 18.3%, χ² = 7.1, P = 0.02). Subclinical (75.4% vs. 71.4%) and clinical DE (4.9% vs. 10.2%, P = 0.56) as well as BMD were similar between athletes and non-athletes. More athletes had two Triad components than non-athletes (8.9% vs. 0%, OR = 0.6, 95% CI 0.5–6.9, P = 0.05). Kenyan adolescent participants presented with one or more subclinical and/or clinical Triad component. It is essential that athletes and their entourage be educated on their energy needs including health and performance consequences of an energy deficiency.     

Aligning the talent pathway: exploring the role and mechanisms of coherence in development

Although our understanding of psychological and social factors in talent development continues to expand, knowledge of the broader system that underpins the entire talent pathways is relatively limited. Indeed, little work has moved beyond the recognition that coherence in this system is important to consider how this may be achieved; particularly in relation to coherent coaching. As such, the aim of this article was to address gaps in talent development and coaching literature and explore principles and potential mechanisms of coherent coaching in sport organisations’ talent pathways. After defining and contextualising coherence in whole talent pathways, including barriers to attainment, we discuss how an understanding of coach epistemology can provide a basis for integrating personal and collective coach coherence and therefore a coherent performer experience. With epistemology as our focal point, we then consider how coherent coaching may be supported through the strategic recruitment and placement of coaches, complimentary coach education and development and the use of change agents who can set and shape the coaching milieu, facilitate cross-level communication and enable epistemology-focused reflection and evaluation. Finally, we conclude with some brief recommendations for advancing practically-meaningful knowledge in this important area.     

Prevalence and determinants of symptoms of common mental disorders in retired professional Rugby Union players

The primary aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of symptoms of common mental disorders (CMD) (distress, anxiety/depression, sleeping disturbance, adverse nutrition behaviour, adverse alcohol behaviour and smoking) among retired professional Rugby Union players. The secondary aim was to explore the associations between stressors (life events, Rugby Union career dissatisfaction) and the health conditions under study. Therefore, cross-sectional analyses were conducted on baseline questionnaires from an ongoing prospective cohort study of retired professional Rugby Union players. An electronic questionnaire was established using validated questionnaires to assess symptoms of CMD and stressors. The electronic questionnaire was subsequently distributed to retired players by the national Rugby Union players’ associations in France, Ireland and South Africa. Among 295 retired professional Rugby Union players (mean age of 38 years), prevalence rates were 25% for distress, 28% for anxiety/depression, 29% for sleeping disturbance, 62% for adverse nutrition behaviour, 15% for smoking and 24% for adverse alcohol behaviour. A higher number of life events were associated with distress (OR?=?1.2; 95% CI 1.1–1.4), anxiety/depression (OR?=?1.6; 95% CI 1.2–2.1), sleeping disturbance (OR?=?1.6; 95% CI 1.2–2.1) and adverse nutrition behaviour (OR?=?1.8; 95% CI 1.3–2.5). A higher level of dissatisfaction of the player's Rugby Union career was associated with distress (OR?=?0.9; 95% CI 0.8–1.0), sleeping disturbance (OR?=?0.9; 95% CI 0.9–1.0), smoking (OR?=?0.9; 95% CI 0.9–1.0) and adverse nutrition behaviour (OR?=?0.9; 95% CI 0.8–0.9). In conclusion, our study suggests that prevalence of symptoms of CMD is high among retired professional Rugby Union players, being associated with both a higher number of life events and a higher level of Rugby Union career dissatisfaction.     

The effect of phonics instruction on the reading comprehension of beginning readers

This study investigated whether two groups of6-year-old beginning readers taught to read by aphonics and by a ``book experience' non-phonicsapproach would differ in reading comprehension as wellas the processes of word recognition. The two groupswere matched for word recognition but despite this, thephonics taught children had higher readingcomprehension. Phonics taught children produced morecontextually appropriate errors, and in both singleword and text reading made more spoken attempts atreading unknown words. The non-phonics taught childrenhad much faster reading reaction times to familiarwords but they scored less in phoneme segmentation andnonword reading tasks. Compared with the nonphonicsgroup, the phonics group spent more time in attemptsat identifying unknown words and this included usingcontextual information, which apparently resulted inmore rehearsal of the meaning of the story text andhence better reading comprehension performance.