Filip Boen

Culture-Level Dimensions of Social Axioms and Their Correlates across 41 Cultures

Leung and colleagues have revealed a five-dimensional structure of social axioms across individuals from five cultural groups. The present research was designed to reveal the culture level factor structure of social axioms and its correlates across 41 nations. An ecological factor analysis on the 60 items of the Social Axioms Survey extracted two factors: Dynamic Externality correlates with value measures tapping collectivism, hierarchy, and conservatism and with national indices indicative of lower social development. Societal Cynicism is less strongly and broadly correlated with previous values measures or other national indices and seems to define a novel cultural syndrome. Its national correlates suggest that it taps the cognitive component of a cultural constellation labeled maleficence, a cultural syndrome associated with a general mistrust of social systems and other people. Discussion focused on the meaning of these national level factors of beliefs and on their relationships with individual level factors of belief derived from the same data set.

When Integration Does Not Necessarily Imply Integration Different Conceptualizations of Acculturation Orientations Lead to Different Classifications

This study compared three conceptualizations of acculturation orientations (i.e., contact, adoption, and identification) in two samples of ethnic minority members (N= 290) in Belgium. In line with the hypotheses, these conceptualizations yielded substantially different distributions of participants across four acculturation orientations (i.e., integration, assimilation, separation, and marginalization): Integration was the most popular orientation according to the contact conceptualization, but separation was the most popular one according to the adoption and identification conceptualization.

Effectiveness of a lifestyle intervention and a structured exercise intervention in older adults

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effects of a lifestyle intervention and a structured exercise intervention on physical activity in older adults. METHOD Participants were randomly assigned to a lifestyle intervention (n=60), including an individualized home-based program supported by phone calls, or to a structured intervention (n=60) consisting of three weekly supervised sessions. Results were compared with a control group (n=66). Physical activity was measured with self-report questionnaires, pedometers, and accelerometers before the start (pretest), at the end (11 months, posttest), and after 23 months (follow-up). The study took place in Belgium from March 2004 until April 2006. RESULTS At posttest, both intervention groups had significantly increased their total physical activity compared with the control group. At follow-up, the lifestyle group showed significantly larger increases in active transportation and total steps than the control and structured group respectively. There were no longer significant differences between the structured intervention and the control group. CONCLUSIONS The structured and lifestyle interventions were equally effective at the end of the intervention. One year after the intervention the lifestyle group maintained a significant increase in physical activity, which highlights the potential of lifestyle programs in the battle against inactivity in older adults.

The role of national identity representation in the relation between in-group identification and out-group derogation: ethnic versus civic representation.

Two studies investigated whether the content of in-group identity affects the relation between in-group identification and ethnic prejudice. The first study among university students, tested whether national identity representations (i.e., ethnic vs. civic) moderate or mediate the relation between Flemish in-group identification and ethnic prejudice. A moderation hypothesis is supported when those higher in identification who subscribe to a more ethnic representation display higher ethnic prejudice levels than those higher in identification who subscribe to a more civic representation. A mediation hypothesis is supported when those higher in identification tend towards one specific representation, which in turn, should predict ethnic prejudice. Results supported a mediation hypothesis and showed that the more respondents identified with the Flemish in-group, the more ethnic their identity representation, and the more they were inclined to display ethnic prejudice. The second study tested this mediation from a longitudinal perspective in a two-wave study among high school students. In-group identification at Time 1 predicted over-time changes in identity representation, which in turn, predicted changes in ethnic prejudice. In addition to this, changes in identity representation were predicted by initial ethnic prejudice levels. The implications of these findings are discussed.

The myth of the team captain as principal leader: extending the athlete leadership classification within sport teams

Abstract Although coaches and players recognise the importance of leaders within the team, research on athlete leadership is sparse. The present study expands knowledge of athlete leadership by extending the current leadership classification and exploring the importance of the team captain as formal leader of the team. An online survey was completed by 4,451 participants (31% females and 69% males) within nine different team sports in Flanders (Belgium). Players (N = 3,193) and coaches (N = 1,258) participated on all different levels in their sports. Results revealed that the proposed additional role of motivational leader was perceived as clearly distinct from the already established roles (task, social and external leader). Furthermore, almost half of the participants (44%) did not perceive their captain as the principal leader on any of the four roles. These findings underline the fact that the leadership qualities attributed to the captain as the team’s formal leader are overrated. It can be concluded that leadership is spread throughout the team; informal leaders rather than the captain take the lead, both on and off the field.

Behavioral consequences of fluctuating group success: An Internet study of soccer-team fans.

Abstract The authors tested the hypothesis that fans of a sports team avoid private contact with their team when it is unsuccessful (cutting off reflected failure, or CORF), whereas fans actively seek private contact with their team when it is successful (basking in reflected glory, or BIRG). During the 2nd half of the 1999–2000 soccer season, the authors registered the number of visitors who had surfed the Web sites of 16 Belgian and 18 Dutch 1st-division teams on the 1st working day following a championship game. The authors obtained 586 valid measurements, which were transformed into z scores for each team separately. In line with the hypothesis, there were significantly more visitors after the teams won (BIRG) than after they lost (CORF). The effects of game outcome were not mediated by pregame expectations or by the size of the wins or losses.

A 2-Year Follow-Up of a Lifestyle Physical Activity Versus a Structured Exercise Intervention in Older Adults

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the long‐term effects of a lifestyle intervention and a structured exercise intervention on physical fitness and cardiovascular risk factors in older adults.

Group Status as a Determinant of Organizational Identification After a Takeover: A Social Identity Perspective

This study investigates the relation between the perceived status of an organization after a takeover (i.e. post-merger status) on employees’ identification with this new organization (i.e. their post-merger identification). Respondents were 234 employees of a corrugated board producing company, which had taken over a smaller company eight months before. As hypothesized, post-merger status was positively related to organizational identification among employees of the lower-status pre-merger company, but they were not related among employees of the higher-status company. Also in line with the expectations, post-merger status was positively related to organizational identification among employees who had identified weakly with their pre-merger group, but not among employees who had identified strongly with their pre-merger group.

Unwanted sexual experiences in sport: Perceptions and reported prevalence among Flemish female student-athletes

Abstract The major aims of this study were to quantify the reported prevalence of unwanted sexual experiences involving male coaches among a sample of Flemish female student‐athletes and to investigate the latters perceptions of the acceptability of related coaching behaviors. A questionnaire based on the research of Volkwein, Schnell, Sherwood, and Livezy (1997), Brackenridge (1997), Toftegaard‐Nielsen (2001), and Fejgen and Hanegby (2001), probing the reported prevalence and perceptions of unacceptable, sexual coach behaviors, was completed by 435 student‐athletes at a Catholic university (N = 291) and at a liberal, non‐religiously affiliated university (N = 144). Despite significant differences in perceptions between the students at the two universities, no differences were found between the reported prevalence of unacceptable and serious sexual coach behaviors. The reported prevalence was comparable to prevalence data reported in the USA, the UK, Australia, and the Scandinavian countries

“Yes, we can!”: Perceptions of collective efficacy sources in volleyball

Abstract Collective efficacy can be defined as a groups shared confidence that they will successfully achieve their goal. We examined which behaviours and events are perceived as sources of collective efficacy beliefs in a volleyball context. In Study 1, volleyball coaches from the highest volleyball leagues (n = 33) in Belgium indicated the most important sources of collective efficacy. This list was then adapted based on the literature and on feedback given by an expert focus group, resulting in a 40-item questionnaire. In Study 2, coaches and players from all levels of volleyball in Belgium (n = 2365) rated each of these sources on their predictive value for collective efficacy. A principal component analysis revealed that the 40 sources could be divided into eight internally consistent factors. Positive supportive communication (e.g. enthusiasm after making a point) was identified as the factor most predictive for positive collective efficacy beliefs. The factor referring to the negative emotional reactions of players (e.g. discouraging body language) was the most predictive for negative collective efficacy beliefs. These findings offer a starting point for the design of continuous measurements of collective efficacy through observation.