Andrew S. Walters

Storytelling for Empowerment for Latino Teens: Increasing HIV Prevention Knowledge and Attitudes

Latino adolescents are disproportionately impacted by HIV, but researchers have documented few programs to prevent and reduce HIV risk. The Storytelling for Empowerment (SFE) HIV StoryBook was designed with an innovative ecodevelopment approach combining empowerment, family communication, and positive cultural identity. A mixed method design used both a randomized control group design, as well as grounded theory coding of semi-structured focus group interviews. For the quantitative method, a total of 96 adolescents (85% Latino, M age = 12.2) were randomized to either the SFE HIV StoryBook condition or a control condition and then tested at baseline and at 4 months post-baseline. Study findings indicated that teens who participated in the HIV StoryBook condition maintained sexual abstinence, increased their ability to communicate about sex, increased their intention to stop sexual advances, and increased their HIV prevention knowledge. For the qualitative method, seven focus groups of 38 participants, including staff, madres, teen participants, and graduates created rich description. Axial coding produced emergent themes, including an appreciation for the culturally affirming curriculum, increased family communication, and the embodiment by teens resulting in restraint and integrity. Results indicate that SFE has promise to stem HIV infections.

Avenue T: using film as entrée in teaching about transgender

Educators from a variety of disciplines include the concept of transgender and multiple gender identities in course curricula. The ‘T’ (denoting the specific inclusion of transgender) in the popular acronym LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) often is given less pedagogical attention than is sexual orientation, and the transgender concept often is taught in the context of sexual orientation. An experimental study was conducted to determine if a brief film intervention would yield differences in knowledge of the transgender concept. Individuals were randomly assigned to one of three conditions. Conditions varied to include no exposure to the concept of being transgender, a 14-minute news documentary about the transgender concept, or a 28-minute news documentary about the transgender concept. Results supported hypotheses that a brief film intervention would produce higher accuracy of transgender knowledge. In addition, and supporting the contact hypothesis, participants with a transgender friend reported less transphobia and more empathy for transgender individuals.

Gender in Motion: Developmental Changes in Students’ Conceptualizations of Gender Through Participation in a First-Year Seminar Course

Students enrolled in a first-year seminar course focused on gender provided attitudinal and experiential responses at two points during the course: during the first week of class and during the last week of class. A qualitative-quantitative method using concurrent triangulation was used to investigate pre- and post-test responses to core concepts of a gender class and to potential changes in students’ perceptions of gender, masculinity, femininity, and corporate media on enacted gender. Qualitative analyses suggested that course curricula moved students to conceptualize dimensions of gender in new and more intellectually complex ways. Two dominant themes—the power of social-structural forces to channel gender appropriateness and personal transformations of embodying an authentic gender—emerged from narrative analyses. Narratives also elucidated the importance of pedagogical tenor in creating a class environment where students felt safe to challenge currently-held intellectual and interpersonal conceptualizations of gender.

Goal orientation and well-being in college athletes: The importance of athletic social connectedness

ABSTRACT The present study examined the ability of an interpersonal construct called athletic connectedness to mediate the relationship between task and ego goal orientations and well-being. We operationalised athletic social connectedness as a sense of social belonging and sense of connection with teammates. We hypothesised that athletic social connectedness would be positively associated with task goals, negatively associated with ego goals, and would at least partially mediate the relationship between achievement goals and well-being. We administered questionnaires to female (N = 106; mean age = 20.47, SD = 1.12) and male (N = 100; mean age = 20.95, SD = 1.21) NCAA Division III college athletes. We tested our hypothesised model using structural equation modelling, which included testing a measurement model that specified four latent variables and then comparing the estimates generated by our hypothesised model with our data. We also tested three alternative models and found our hypothesised model to fit best. As predicted, there were significant indirect effects of task and ego motivation on well-being through athletic connectedness, demonstrating formal evidence of mediation. The r2 coefficient indicated that the model explained 30% of the variance in well-being, a moderate effect size (Cohen, 1988). Discussion focuses on the importance of considering interpersonal constructs as a way to improve our understanding of relationship between task and ego goal orientations to well-being in athletes.