Travis E. Dorsch

Kicking to bigger uprights: field goal kicking performance influences perceived size.

Perception relates not only to the optical information from the environment but also to the perceivers performance on a given task. We present evidence that the perceived height and width of an American-football field goal post relates to the perceivers kicking performance. Participants who made more successful kicks perceived the field goal posts to be farther apart and perceived the crossbar to be closer to the ground compared with participants who made fewer kicks. Interestingly, the current results show perceptual effects related to performance only after kicking the football but not before kicking. We also found that the types of performance errors influenced specific aspects of perception. The more kicks that were missed left or right of the target, the narrower the field goal posts looked. The more kicks that were missed short of the target, the taller the field goal crossbar looked. These results demonstrate that performance is a factor in size perception.

The impact of evidence-based parent education in organized youth sport: A pilot study

Although existing literature in organized youth sport illuminates developmentally appropriate parent involvement behaviors, practitioners have yet to effectively disseminate evidence-based tools and strategies to parents. The purpose of the present pilot study was to design, implement, and assess an evidence-based education program for parents in organized youth sport. Thirty-nine fathers and 42 mothers from 7 youth soccer teams were assigned to full, partial, or nonimplementation conditions. Parents and their sport-participating children (41 boys, 40 girls) were administered surveys at pre- and postseason. Data reveal a positive impact of the implementation on aspects of parent involvement, the parent–child relationship, and salient child outcomes.

The design and progress of a multidomain lifestyle intervention to improve brain health in middle-aged persons to reduce later Alzheimer's disease risk: The Gray Matters randomized trial

Most Alzheimers disease (AD) prevention studies focus on older adults or persons with existing cognitive impairment. This study describes the design and progress of a novel pilot intervention, the Gray Matters study.

How do emerging adults respond to exercise advice from parents? A test of advice response theory

Advice response theory (ART) proposes advisor characteristics, advice politeness, and advice content impact recipient perceptions of advice quality, their intention to implement the advice, and their coping. However, ART has primarily been examined in friend-to-friend advising on academic, romantic, or social issues. To test ART in an understudied relational and topical context, emerging adults (N = 196, aged 18–28 years) were surveyed about physical activity or exercise advice they received from a parent. Current findings supported propositions about advisor characteristics and politeness, and parent–child relational elements were particularly salient. Emerging adults satisfied with their parent–child relationship rated all advice features and outcomes more favorably, and participants who reported their parents conveyed that the participant was approved of, competent, and likeable rated all outcomes more favorably. Counter to ART predictions, emerging adults displayed psychological reactance to certain message content features, responding favorably to advice they perceived to propose an efficacious solution but reacting negatively to advice perceived to emphasize their capability of performing the action and the lack of drawbacks in doing so (especially when feelings of obligation were high). ART propositions about advisor characteristics and politeness may hold across advice situations, but the parent–child dynamic during emerging adulthood and inherent face threat for health influence attempts may explain why certain formulations of advice messages elicited responses inconsistent with ART.

Feedback from Middle-Aged Participants in a Multi-Domain Lifestyle Intervention for Alzheimer's Prevention: The Gray Matters Study

Janina Krell-Roesch, Anna Pink, Rosebud O. Roberts, Michelle M. Mielke, Teresa J. Christianson, David S. Knopman, Gorazd B. Stokin, Ronald C. Petersen, Yonas E. Geda, Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, AZ, USA; ICRC St. Anne’s University Hospital Brno, Brno, Czech Republic; Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA; ICRC St. Anne’s University Hospital Brno, Brno, Czech Republic. Contact e-mail: krell-roesch.janina@mayo.edu

Improvements over six months in stress management, diet quality, and moderate physical activity are associated with changes in biomarkers of vascular health and inflammation: The gray matters study

Janina Krell-Roesch, Anna Pink, Rosebud O. Roberts, Michelle M. Mielke, Teresa J. Christianson, David S. Knopman, Gorazd B. Stokin, Ronald C. Petersen, Yonas E. Geda, Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, AZ, USA; ICRC St. Anne’s University Hospital Brno, Brno, Czech Republic; Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA; ICRC St. Anne’s University Hospital Brno, Brno, Czech Republic. Contact e-mail: krell-roesch.janina@mayo.edu

A citation network analysis of research on parent−child interactions in youth sport.

Citation network analysis is a systematic technique that affords the synthesis of scholarship in a well-defined content area. In an effort to highlight the citation structure of research on parent–child interactions in youth sport, multiple databases were searched using all 12 combinations of the following keywords: (Level 1) “families,” “parents,” “fathers,” and “mothers”; (Level 2) “children,” “adolescents,” and “athletes”; and (Level 3) “sport.” A 3-step filtering approach (Jones, 2004; Meade & Richardson, 1997) driven by prespecified inclusion and exclusion criteria was used across 4 separate searches to consolidate the article population. This process yielded a final article population of 199 peer-reviewed publications across 77 peer-reviewed outlets since 1968. Descriptive analyses of the participants and publications highlighted a steady increase in publication frequency over the past 5 decades, with the vast majority of research having been conducted in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. Athletes participating across 37 unique sports were represented across the articles, with most sampling athletes aged 11 to 15 and/or their parents. Nearly 60% of articles used quantitative methodologies, with an increase in qualitative work occurring over the past decade. UCINET software was used to identify the most prominent (i.e., widely cited) articles, as well as cohesive subgroups of closely linked articles in the literature. The use of citation network analysis in the present study proved useful in identifying knowledge gaps in the research on parent–child interactions in youth sport, thus highlighting potentially fruitful paths for future empirical efforts.

Parent education in youth sport: A community case study of parents, coaches, and administrators

The present community case study was designed to highlight parent, coach, and administrator perceptions of community-based parent education in a youth sport community in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States. Interviews with parents (n = 12), coaches (n = 13), and administrators (n = 11) were interpreted inductively using constructivist thematic analysis. Nine emergent categories are highlighted, including parents’ sport goals for their children, parents’ involvement in youth sport including impacts of involvement on children, and barriers to implementing parent education, as well as potential content for parent education. A proposed sequential framework informing community-based parent education, as well as suggestions for further action, and study limitations are included.

Coach, parent, and administrator perspectives on required coaching education in organized youth sport

Previous studies have primarily relied on coaches’ perspectives about whether and how to provide formal coaching education in youth sport. This study was designed to highlight multiple perspectives from key stakeholders (i.e., coaches, parents, and administrators) about the need for required formal coaching education programs in a youth sport community. We applied Bronfenbrenner’s process-person-context-time framework to understand views on required coaching education and children’s development through sport from an ecological vantage. The sample included 202 coaches, 309 parents, and 38 administrators who were involved in youth sport. In an online survey, participants were asked whether they agreed or disagreed that coaching education should be required, followed by an open-ended question asking them to elaborate on their answer. Quantitatively, the majority of participants agreed or strongly agreed that coaching education should be required. Inductive–deductive qualitative analyses resulted in 49 lower order themes representing 11 higher order themes that spanned the four categories of the process-person-context-time framework. Themes highlighted both convergence and divergence among the perspectives of coaches, parents, and administrators about why coaching education should or should not be required.

Renegotiating Identity: A Phenomenological Investigation of the College Transition for Former High School Athletes No Longer Engaged in Varsity Competition

ABSTRACT A breadth of research has examined the influence of athletic identity on college student-athlete experiences (e.g., Harrison et al., 2011; Lally & Kerr, 2005). In addition, scholars have investigated role transition among college student-athletes at the end of their eligibility (e.g., Taylor & Ogilvie, 2001; Wylleman & Lavallee, 2004). However, despite that 97% of high school athletes will not participate collegiately (National Collegiate Athletic Association, 2016), little attention has been paid to identity renegotiation among college students who discontinued sport participation after high school. The present study was designed to fill this gap by addressing the impact of sport disengagement on former high school athletes no longer engaged in varsity competition during the first year of college. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 university freshmen at three time points: the end of the first month, the end of the first semester, and the end of the first year. Commonalities among participants’ transition experiences were identified. Findings yielded three major themes, role transition, identity renegotiation, and reflection and projection, each being facilitated by the building of camaraderie. Findings deepen current understanding of role transition and identity renegotiation and offer directions for future research related to sense of self during the college transition.