A Critical Look at Ourselves: Do Male and Female Professors Respond the Same to Environment Characteristics?

We examined the relationship between gender and both job satisfaction and research productivity using data from 1,135 psychology faculty working in 229 academic departments. We found that gender differences in job satisfaction and research productivity were related to elements of the department (i.e., teaching orientation and structure). Overall, women reported lower levels of productivity than their male counterparts. Women also reported higher levels of job satisfaction in more teaching-oriented departments whereas men reported higher levels job satisfaction in more research-oriented departments. We suggest that these findings might be the result of gender differences in preferences with women preferring more socially-oriented positions and men prefer more “things/data”-oriented positions.     

Vertical jumping and leg power normative data for English school children aged 10–15 years

Abstract

Although vertical jumping is often incorporated into physical activity tests for both adults and children, normative data for children and adolescents are lacking in the literature. The objectives of this study were to provide normative data of jump height and predicted peak leg power for males and females aged 10.0–15.9 years. Altogether, 1845 children from 12 state primary and secondary schools in the East of England participated in the study. Each child performed two countermovement jumps, and jump height was calculated using a NewTest jump mat. The highest jump was used for analysis and in the calculation of predicted peak power. Jump height and predicted peak leg power were significantly higher for males than females from the age of 11 years. Jump height and peak power increased significantly year on year for males. For females, jump height and predicted peak leg power reached a plateau after age 12 and 13 years respectively. This study provides normative data that can be used as a tool to classify jumping performance in children aged 10–15 years.     

Benefits of achieving vigorous as well as moderate physical activity recommendations: Evidence from heart rate complexity and cardiac vagal modulation

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine differences in traditional heart rate variability measurements and heart rate complexity (sample entropy) in young adults grouped by objectively measured achievement of either moderate or both moderate and vigorous physical activity recommendations. Of 168 young adults tested (86 females, 82 males; age 20.5 ± 1.2 years), 119 achieved only recommendations for moderate physical activity (moderate group) and 49 achieved recommendations for both moderate and vigorous physical activity (vigorous group). Analysis of covariance controlling for sex, weekly minutes of moderate physical activity, and percentage of body fat was used to assess between-group differences in heart rate variability and heart rate complexity. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the group characteristics that best predicted high heart rate complexity and vagal indices of heart rate variability. The majority of the autonomic measures were higher (P < 0.05) in the vigorous group, and regression analysis showed that vigorous physical activity was the only multivariate predictor of higher heart rate complexity and higher heart rate variability. Young adults engaged in regular vigorous physical activity were more than twice as likely to have high heart rate complexity than those involved in predominantly moderate exercise. These findings suggest that vigorous physical activity is more closely associated with high heart rate complexity than moderate physical activity in young adults.     

Muscular development motives for exercise participation: The missing variable in current questionnaire analysis?

Motivation questionnaires that are currently validated do not account for muscular development motives in exercise populations, and have rarely been used to examine resistance training populations. Resistance training is a popular and widely available exercise, so the lack of such motivational information is a cause for concern. The aim of this study was to assess the need for considering motives for muscular development. This was achieved by the development of a simple scale that matched the format and style of the Exercise Motivations Inventory. The muscular development scale was combined with the ‘weight management’ and ‘appearance’ items of the Exercise Motivations Inventory to form a 13-item test questionnaire. This was administered to four groups of experienced exercisers: resistance training males (n = 40), resistance training females (n = 36), males training in a variety of sports (n = 27) and aerobic training females (n = 40). Factor analysis with varimax rotation revealed a relatively distinct muscular development factor, but with cross-loading on weight management. Muscular development was shown to be the most effective discriminator for the four groups. A multivariate analysis of variance and additional discriminant analysis revealed a series of significant differences between groups, which suggests that motive-based differences are more powerful than sex factors in determining choice of exercise modality. Although the interrelated nature of muscular development and weight management needs to be recognized and accounted for, there is a clear need for considering muscular development motives in future investigations, especially those that intend to examine motives for ‘ideal’ physical appearance.     

Climate change, flooding and the media in Britain

The weather is a preoccupation of the British public, and flooding has become a salient feature of their experience. Climate science also has important things to say about the prevalence, distribution and dangers of rainfall and flooding, and what we should expect from global warming. This paper looks at British press coverage of flooding, and at the connections made between this theme and climate change. It aims to expose longitudinal patterning, and assess how common the connection is. From here the analysis moves to specific cases of high profile flooding events for a detailed exploration of the tone and tenor, and discursive contours of reports. The results suggest the media's contribution to genuine debate is mixed, that the connection between common forms of reportage and our scientific understanding of the phenomena is often tenuous. The paper explores the implications for the way the politics of climate change plays out.