Andrew C. Pickett

Physical Activity for Every Body: A Model for Managing Weight Stigma and Creating Body-Inclusive Spaces

ABSTRACT Modern cultural idealizations of thin bodies have created a climate in which fat individuals are stigmatized in physical activity spaces. Given the unwelcoming climate of these spaces, many individuals are unlikely to engage in and benefit from regular physical activity. As such, a new model for physical activity spaces is needed to engage and retain a largely marginalized population. In the current article, the authors give a brief review of the complex relationships among body weight, stigma, health, and physical activity, arguing that the current model underserves larger individuals. Using a Health at Every Size paradigm, the authors then argue for the creation of body-inclusive spaces as a means of encouraging greater participation and outline a model that encourages greater access to the benefits of physical activity to all bodies. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Exploring the motivations and outcomes of long-term international sport-for-development volunteering for American Millennials

Volunteer tourism is the fastest growing segment of the alternative tourism market and often a key feature of sport-for-development organizational models. The growing commercialization of this alternative tourism threatens efforts to build a sustainable model of long-term positive outcomes for both the host community and guest volunteers. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the motivations and impacts that a long-term international experience with a sport-for-development initiative had on volunteers from the United States. The authors spent five weeks in Granada and conducted semi-structured interviews with key personnel including out-going yearlong volunteer interns, incoming yearlong volunteer interns, and local Nicaraguan full-time staff. Guided by the volunteer motivational literature, data analysis illustrated three key findings. The most prominent theme involved the motivation of going abroad to gain a cultural experience, in particular to increase global understanding and provide social gains. In addition, our results illustrate the motivations of ones career and professional goals, and the ability to give back to a foreign culture through the use of sport. This demonstrates the potential for sport-for-development organizations to successfully incorporate volunteer tourism into a sustainable model based on specific volunteer recruitment and structure of their experiences.

The Influence of Sense of Community on the Perceived Value of Physical Activity: A Cross-Context Analysis

ABSTRACT As the physical activity marketplace becomes increasingly diversified, strategies for recruiting and maintaining participants have become especially salient. Accordingly, the current study examined the use of a commonly reported outcome of fitness participation, sense of community (SOC), as an antecedent in generating both value and the perception of progress for participants. Three fitness contexts, CrossFit, traditional group fitness activities, and individual gym goers, were chosen based on varying levels of explicit commitment to community building. SOC was first measured in three contexts to explore differences among settings. After establishing differences between groups, multiple regression analysis was employed to understand the ways in which SOC affected dimensions of value. Results indicated that an explicit commitment to community building was positively associated with higher value of the fitness product and perceptions of individual progress. Strategy and benefits for encouraging the development of SOC in a fitness context are discussed.

The Fat Leading the Thin: Relative Body Size, Physical Activity Identification, and Behavioral Problems

Though sport and physical activity participation are key elements of a healthy lifestyle, anti-fat biases serve as barriers to active living, leaving a large population segment underserved. This stigma also creates thin body standards for people working in sport and physical activity, including instructors. In this study, the authors conducted an experiment to explore how instructor and participant body size interact to influence activity identification and subsequent intentions to be physically active. Results indicate that larger-bodied participants were more identified when working with a larger instructor. For thinner participants, there were no significant differences in identification related to instructor body size. Identification was positively related to future intentions in the activity. Implications for practice are discussed. Subscribe to JASM

Creating Inclusive Physical Activity Spaces: The Case of Body-Positive Yoga

ABSTRACT Purpose: Within the modern cultural climate, those in larger bodies face high levels of weight stigma, particularly in sport and physical activity spaces, which serves as a strong barrier to their participation. However, given the strong link between physical activity and general health and well-being for participants, it is important to explore strategies that encourage participation of these individuals. Thus, the current research examined strategies that physical activity instructors use to develop inclusive exercise spaces for all body sizes. Method: This study employed a series of semistructured qualitative interviews (n = 9) with instructors of body-inclusive yoga classes to explore the ways in which they encourage participation for those in larger bodies. Results: Emergent themes from the current study suggested support for 6 factors for creating body-inclusive physical activity spaces: authentic leadership, a culture of inclusion, a focus on health, inclusive language, leader social activism, and a sense of community. Conclusion: This study revealed that leaders must intentionally cultivate inclusion in their spaces to encourage those in nonconforming bodies to participate. These findings have important health and management implications for the sport and physical activity context and provide a basic outline of practical strategies that practitioners can use to foster inclusion in their spaces.

Psychometrics Matter in Health Behavior: A Long-term Reliability Generalization Study

OBJECTIVES Despite numerous calls for increased understanding and reporting of reliability estimates, social science research, including the field of health behavior, has been slow to respond and adopt such practices. Therefore, we offer a brief overview of reliability and common reporting errors; we then perform analyses to examine and demonstrate the variability of reliability estimates by sample and over time. METHODS Using meta-analytic reliability generalization, we examined the variability of coefficient alpha scores for a well-designed, consistent, nationwide health study, covering a span of nearly 40 years. RESULTS For each year and sample, reliability varied. Furthermore, reliability was predicted by a sample characteristic that differed among age groups within each administration. CONCLUSIONS We demonstrated that reliability is influenced by the methods and individuals from which a given sample is drawn. Our work echoes previous calls that psychometric properties, particularly reliability of scores, are important and must be considered and reported before drawing statistical conclusions.