Barbara Gench

Effects of an integrated physical education/music program in changing early childhood perceptual-motor performance.

Two approaches to facilitating perceptual-motor development in children, ages 4 to 6 yr., were investigated. The experimental group (n = 15) received 24 sessions of integrated physical education/music instruction based upon concepts of Kodaly and Dalcroze. The control group (n = 15) received 24 sessions of movement exploration and self-testing instruction. Analysis of covariance indicated that significant improvement occurred only in the experimental group, with changes in the motor, auditory, and language aspects of perceptual-motor performance as well as total score.

Bone density patterns in women with anorexia nervosa.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to compare various measures of bone mineral density (BMD) in adult anorectics with those of age and gender-matched controls. METHOD Twenty Caucasian females with a history of anorexia nervosa and 20 controls were evaluated by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry for lumbar and total body BMD. Regional densities were derived from total body scans. RESULTS Anorectics exhibited lower lumbar (p < .001) and total body (p < .001) densities when compared to controls. Correlation analysis revealed significant relationships between total body density and both body mass index (r = .512) and lean body weight (r = .444). Lumbar density correlated poorly with the same two variables. Correlations between illness-related variables and both lumbar and total body BMD failed to reach significance yet lumbar correlations were consistently stronger for age of onset, duration of amenorrhea, and duration of illness. Anorectic regional densities were lower at every site. DISCUSSION Substandard density may persist in trabecular regions despite nutritional repletion.

Self-actualisation of elite wheelchair athletes

The purpose of this study was to examine the self-actualisation of male and female elite wheelchair athletes in comparison to the general population and to able-bodied athletes. All subjects completed the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI), and statistically significant differences were identified. In general, wheelchair athletes were similar to the general population. Male wheelchair athletes were significantly more self-actualised than able-bodied athletes, but female wheelchair athletes were self-actualised to the same extent as able-bodied athletes.

Use of the Personal Orientation Inventory with Disabled Athletes

Athletes who are blind or have impairments in hand-eye coordination that prevent writing are unable to complete psychological inventories in the standardized manner, i.e., read silently and answered independently and anonymously. Two studies were conducted on the oral administration of the Personal Orientation Inventory as a measure of self-actualization of disabled athletes. Reliabilities were examined across modalities (oral vs written) by administering the inventory both ways to 25 high school and college athletes, M age = 21.6 yr. Test-retest reliability for oral administration was affirmed in a study of 15 blind elite male athletes and 15 cerebral palsied elite male and female athletes. It was concluded that the inventory, administered orally, may be appropriately used with disabled athletes.

DEVELOPMENT OF A SPANISH VERSION OF A SPORT SOCIALIZATION INVENTORY

The Sport Socialization Inventory of Greendorfer and Lewko was translated into Spanish and administered to two samples of Costa Rican children, ages 9 to 12 yr. Concurrent and construct validities were examined. The correlation of Active Sport Involvement score with demographic data on number of sports participated in yielded an r of .51 for concurrent validity. Principal components factor analysis, using loadings of .40 and higher, verified that the structure of the Spanish version was similar to that of the English version. Both test-retest stability over 8 days and internal consistency reliability were .95 for the total inventory.