The purpose of this study was to examine how sport type and interdependence were associated with the growth experiences of select level male basketball players (n = 150) and distance runners (n = 98), aged 14 to 17 years. This study also examined how growth experiences were related to the outcomes of enjoyment and burnout. Athletes completed the Youth Experiences Survey 2.0 (Hansen & Larson, 2005), Athlete Burnout Questionnaire (Raedeke & Smith, 2001), Sources of Enjoyment in Youth Sport Questionnaire (Wiersma, 2001), and a newly developed scale assessing interdependence. Hierarchical multiple regression procedures determined sport type was an independent predictor of teamwork and social skills experiences, and adult networks and social capital experiences. Basketball players reported higher rates of growth experiences promoting adult networks and social capital, and teamwork and social skills, and negative experiences. In terms of interdependence levels, athletes from both sports did not differ. Hierarchical multiple regression determined interdependence was an independent predictor of growth experiences promoting identity exploration, initiative, positive relationships, adult networks and social capital, and teamwork and social skills. Hierarchical multiple regression also determined negative experiences significantly predicted burnout. Although different sports may provide different learning environments for youth, interdependence levels in a sport setting were also related to the learning environment, independent of sport type. From this study, it can be surmised that the learning environments of youth sports may be more strongly influenced by how the people involved interact than by the type of sport. / Thesis (Master, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2007-12-03 10:38:29.411

Structured sports are the most common activity in which youth participate. Research links sport participation to positive and negatives outcomes; however few studies have investigated the processes that affect positive and negative experiences. Considering that enjoyment, motivational climate, and coach behaviors are factors that are known to affect participation, it is of interest to determine if these factors can contribute to increased positive experiences for youth sport participants. Study 1 investigated the psychometric properties of the Youth Experience Survey 2.0 with a group of athletes. This instrument was originally designed to investigate experiences across a range of structured activities; however its psychometric properties had yet to be reported. Results of confirmatory factor analyses did not show strong psychometric support for the instrument. Follow-up exploratory analyses resulted in the instrument being modified and renamed the Youth Experience Survey for Sport. The revised scaled showed improved psychometric properties compared to the original instrument which makes it a preferred tool for investigation of personal development of youth sport participants. Study 2 explored the role of enjoyment and motivational climate on the personal development of team sport athletes. Stepwise multiple regression analyses were used to examine the relationships. Results demonstrated that positive experiences in sport were most strongly predicted by affiliation with peers, self-referenced competency, effort expenditure, and a task climate. Negative experiences were most strongly predicted by an ego climate and other-referenced competency. Study 3 examined differences on personal development and motivational climate for athletes in programs where coaches received positive youth development training and athletes in programs that did not provide training to coaches. Results showed that personal and social skills were higher for athletes of trained coaches. Cognitive skills and task climate did not reach significance but can be considered as marginal effects. Results from these studies provide researchers with an instrument to measure positive youth development in sport. In addition, results demonstrate that enjoyment, motivational climate, and coach training are important factors in promoting personal development. Youth sport program administrators that wish to incorporate positive development in their programs should consider these findings. / Thesis (Ph.D, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2010-01-29 13:19:00.872

Crohn’s disease and Colitis, the two most common Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD), are on the rise among young people. IBD symptoms include severe abdominal pain and frequent bowel movements, which can result in major dietary restrictions and delays in growth. IBD can also limit people’s physical activity, eating habits, and activities that are distant from a bathroom. Having IBD can be both limiting and embarrassing but little research has investigated the social and emotional implications of these diseases from a qualitative approach. Existing research fails to identify how stigma and dominant IBD discourses affect the lived experiences of people with IBD, young people in particular. IBD can create additional challenges for adolescents because it is perceived to threaten their normal development into healthy adults. The purpose of this project is to investigate how being young complicates the already difficult experience of being ill. I conducted interviews with three young people and a discursive analysis of official IBD resources for adolescents and found almost no descriptions of the actual experience of illness. Participants who engaged in photo-elicited interviews minimized the physical and emotional repercussions of having IBD. Informational resources designed for youth failed to address the severe physical and emotional pain of Crohn’s and Colitis. Instead, the available resources provided saccharine and arguably unrealistic depictions of IBD that deny young people a forum to express their own struggles. I compare my analysis of the interviews and IBD resources with my own experience and experiences presented in a zine. Analysis of both the interviews and the IBD resources reveals that young people with IBD can experience an embodied disappearance. Their bodies are smaller and weak, they retreat from social situations to avoid embarrassment, and their emotions are denied because they have no forums to be expressive. Finally, young people can experience a compounded disappearance because they are treated not for who they are but for what they should become. I argue that enabling young people the opportunity to speak candidly about the social conditions that contribute to their struggles could help them better understand, negotiate, and express their illness experiences / Thesis (Master, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2011-08-09 10:39:24.603

Childhood and youth obesity is a global public health issue. International studies can provide research findings and training opportunities to expand knowledge and initiate action on this issue. This manuscript-based thesis is composed of three studies that aim to better address cross-national differences in the determinants of childhood and youth obesity and the effectiveness of an obesity research capacity building initiative. The first manuscript examined cross-national differences in the chain food retail environment surrounding schools, student lunchtime eating behaviours, and the relations between these variables in 13-15 year old youth from Canada, Scotland, and the US. More chain food retailers were located within 1 km from schools in the US than in the other countries, yet fewer American students ate their lunch at a food retailer. An increase in the number of food retailers located close to schools was related to eating behaviours in Canadian students only. The second manuscript examined differences in the relationship between physical fitness and obesity measures within 10-13 year old children from three countries that sit at the early (Kenya), mid (Mexico), and end (Canada) stages of the nutrition and physical activity transitions. Negative relationships between aerobic fitness and obesity were observed in children from all three countries. Mexican children with low aerobic fitness levels had higher obesity values than did Canadian and Kenyan children. The third manuscript evaluated an obesity research capacity building initiative. This initiative consisted of a short course on obesity research developed by Canadians for early career researchers from Mexico. Student attendance and feedback demonstrated excellent reach. Dose delivered was high with all 21 course sections taught as planned. In the year following the course, students used a diversity of skills learned in the course suggesting that dose received was good. Barriers to research identified by participants included a lack of devoted research time and money to conduct research. The findings from this thesis contribute to an improved understanding of the determinants of obesity in children and how these determinants vary across countries. These findings also provide evidence that researchers from developed countries can help develop obesity research capacity in developing countries. / Thesis (Ph.D, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2012-04-17 16:13:28.129

The overall objectives of this thesis were to (1) describe the sedentary behaviour levels of young people; (2) examine the impact of sedentary behaviour on obesity and other physical health outcomes among young people; and (3) examine the influence that individual, social, and environmental factors have on the sedentary behaviour of young people. Six manuscripts addressed these objectives. Manuscript one assessed the proportion of 0- to 4-year-olds meeting the new Canadian Sedentary Behaviour Guidelines for the Early Years in a sample of pre-school children. More than half of the children exceeded the guidelines and the majority of their parents believed that their child did not engage in excessive screen time. Manuscript two examined the association between types, overall volume, and patterns of sedentary behaviour with cardio-metabolic risk factors in a sample of children and adolescents. Television viewing predicted cardio-metabolic risk factors independent of moderate-to vigorous-intensity physical activity. No associations were observed for the other sedentary behaviour components. Manuscript three examined whether the relationship between television viewing and obesity in a sample of youth was mediated by dietary habits. While a positive association was observed between television viewing and body mass index, it was not explained by dietary habits. Manuscript four examined urban-rural differences in screen time in two samples of youth. Rural American youth were the most likely to be excessive television users and the least likely to be excessive computer users. Conversely, urban Canadian youth were the least likely to be excessive television users and the most likely to be excessive computer users. Manuscript five examined the association between neighbourhood disorder and screen time in a sample of youth. Participants in neighbourhoods with high social and high physical disorder were the most likely to engage in excessive screen time. Manuscript six examined associations between factors within the home setting and screen time among a sample of pre-school children. Several factors collectively explained 64.1% of the variance in television viewing including parental cognitive factors, which explained 41.0%. The findings of this thesis have important implications for future public health interventions and initiatives as well as future research in this area. / Thesis (Ph.D, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2012-06-12 08:52:19.91

<p>This study focused on the field of youth ministry as a sub-discipline of practical Theology. The main aim of this thesis is to describe and assess the current state of the debate in this regard and to classify the different ways of integrating family life in youth misnistry.</p>

This research explores the experiences and needs of five young people with FASD in care. Data was gathered through personal interviews with youth in care, guided by an anti-oppressive research philosophy. The findings suggest that youth in care with FASD experience a myriad of challenges throughout their journeys in care with regard to placements, caregivers, and the transition to adulthood for which the impact for young people was difficult to understand. The high degree of secondary disabilities of FASD was found to be alarming in this group of young people. The study also found that those with more of an awareness of their disability had the capacity to speak to some of their support needs. All of the youth revealed strengths within themselves and reported having goals and dreams for their futures. A number of recommendations, which include input from participants, are highlighted, with the intention of providing some suggestions for best practice with our young people with FASD in care and policy changes within the systems working with this population.

This thesis explores the ways in which the ‘at-risk’ designation of marginalized and disadvantaged youth within youth-serving agencies contributes to a program of governance within a neoliberalized welfare state. I argue that while there is considerable resistance to the risk designation within youth-serving agencies, officially accepting funding for programming designed to target at-risk youth continues to individualize the troubles youth face and responsibilizes youth to become their own risk managers. Through these structural funding constraints, youth-serving agency staff inadvertently disseminates expert knowledges that validate the notion of ‘at-risk’ youth as a growing problem while legitimating the perspective that social problems can and should be addressed through individual treatment rather than social policy. This both disciplines youth to become better liberal subjects while leaving structural constraints unaddressed. I conclude with some examples of resistance that show promise of working outside of these technologies of governance.

For immigrant and refugee youth, the experience of migration presents significant life changes in their environments, communities, and interpersonal affiliations (Kilbride, Anisef, Baichman-Anisef & Khattar, 2001). Before immigrating to Canada, some refugee youth experienced horrific events that can be traumatic to the fragile identities and sense of belonging of developing children and adolescents. Once in Canada, loneliness, isolation, language deficits, different cultural practices, and in some cases different skin colors may isolate refugee youth and thus jeopardise their sense of belonging in their new country. This study investigated a sense of belonging of war affected refugee youth during their pre-migration and post-migration periods, as well as the factors that may enhance or hinder their sense of belonging. Fifteen participants were interviewed and their responses clearly indicated their desire and need to belong in their new country, to be liked, loved, respected, included, and be part of their new society. Recommendations on how educators can support their quest for belonging and inclusion are discussed.

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