Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Speech Pathology and Audiology, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 28-30).

This dissertation presents three separate studies designed to investigate the relationship between marriage and physical activity behavior. First, a systematic literature review of nineteen articles presents qualitative and quantitative articles from 2000 to 2010 that focus on the relationship between marriage and physical activity and/or exercise. Based on the findings from the review, social support (or lack of support), culturally-determined gender roles, environmental factors such as income level, and intrapersonal factors such as self-efficacy each influenced spousal physical activity. Secondly, a qualitative study based on interviews and photographs from twenty-four married individuals utilized Social Cognitive Theory to explore the mechanisms, determinants, and influences of spousal physical activity. Findings indicate verbal persuasion by husbands encouraged wives, yet verbal persuasion by wives was perceived as nagging by men. While verbal persuasion by husbands increased a small number of wives' sense of self-efficacy, the majority of women felt that persuasion increased motivation, not necessarily confidence. Findings also highlighted the power of modeling to increase husbands' physical activity. Overwhelmingly, men reacted more positively to modeling than verbal persuasion. Lastly, a second qualitative piece employed General Systems Theory to conceive of the marital unit as a type of system working within other broader systems. Findings highlighted the desire for increased quality time as a motivator for physical activity within the marital system. Also, the larger cultural, occupational, and familial systems greatly influenced marital dyads. Cultural expectations to be the primary caregiver negatively impacted wives while occupational pressures negatively influenced both parts of the marital dyad. Regarding the familial system, parents cited the influence of their own parents as well as a desire to "pass on" exemplary physical activity habits to their children. Finally, couples with children highlighted an increase in exercise frequency yet decrease in exercise intensity.

Bakgrund: Kvinnor har högre sjukfrånvaro än män och inom undersköterskeyrket, som är kvinnodominerat, märks detta tydligare. Det finns därmed anledning att uppmärksamma och kartlägga vad som upplevs främja kvinnors arbetsnärvaro och arbetsförmåga i detta yrke. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att utforska äldre kvinnliga undersköterskors upplevelser av betydelse för bibehållen arbetsförmåga inom kommunal äldreomsorg. Metod: Studien genomfördes som en beskrivande kvalitativ intervjustudie med kvalitativ manifest innehålls-analys. Sex friska undersköterskor mellan 55-58 år i kommunal äldreomsorg valdes genom ändamålsenligt urval till semistrukturerade individuella djupintervjuer. Fynd: Under-sköterskorna har förmåga att identifiera och verkställa egna behov. De gör anpassningar, framför allt i privatlivet, och når välbefinnande genom meningsfull tillvaro. Deras beteende kan kopplas till känsla av sammanhang, empowerment och intern känsla av kontroll. Nio kategorier identifierades: Hälsa och fysisk aktivitet, Fysisk arbetsmiljö, Organisation, Samverkan och kommunikation, Medveten anpassning, Arbetstillfredsställelse, Meningsfull tillvaro, Inställning och attityd samt Samhällsnivå. Konklusion: Det är huvudsakligen aspekter av psykosocial karaktär, med inslag av fysisk aktivitet, som upplevs främja arbets-förmåga hos de kvinnliga undersköterskorna. Fynden kan skapa underlag för hälsostödjande arbete där ett beteendemedicinskt synsätt kan vara av värde för förståelsen av hur biopsyko-sociala faktorer samverkar för bibehållen arbetsförmåga. / Background: Women have higher sickness absence rates than men especially within the female dominated profession of assistant nurses. Hence, there is reason to draw attention to and identify what is perceived to promote women’s work attendance and work ability within this profession. Aim: The aim of the study was to explore older female assistant nurses’ experiences of importance for the maintenance of work ability in municipal elderly care. Methods: A descriptive qualitative interview study was conducted and analysed with qualitative manifest content analysis. Six healthy assistant nurses between 55-58 years in municipal elderly care were selected through purposive sampling for semi-structured in-depth interviews. Findings: The assistant nurses are able to identify and implement needs of their own. They adapt, mainly in the private life, and achieve well-being through a meaningful existence. Their behavior can be linked to sence of coherence, empowerment and internal locus of control. Nine categories were identified: Health and physical activity, Physical work environment, Organisation, Collaboration and communication, Intentional adaptions, Work satisfaction, Meaningful existence, Preference and attitude and Societal level. Conclusion: Mainly aspects of psychosocial nature, with elements of physical activity, are perceived to promote work ability by the female assistant nurses. The findings can contribute to form a basis for promotional work where a behavioral medicine approach can be of value in the understanding of how biopsychosocial factors interact for the maintenance of work ability.

Many Americans do not engage in the recommended amount of physical activity, and thus do not receive the potential physical and mental health benefits from physical activity. Stage of change is a model that categorizes individuals into one of five stages based on behavior and intentions for future behavior. This model is useful for promoting physical activity because it allows for tailoring of interventions to individuals with different physical activity levels and readiness for change. The main purpose of this research was to test if more adaptive scores for Essential Self-Regulation Model (ESRM) constructs are found for persons in higher stages of change. Analyses included 96 Western Kentucky University faculty and staff to test the hypothesis that as stage of change increases, the more adaptive the scores will be in regard to the ESRM constructs, including: self-determination (i.e., subtypes of motivation), self-efficacy, attributions, goal setting, strategy use, and self-monitoring. The results supported this hypothesis for intrinsic, integrated, and identified subtypes of motivation, cost, self-efficacy, and goal setting. Constructs that were not significant but had results in the hypothesized direction were introjected and amotivated subtypes of motivation, strategy use, and selfmonitoring. Attribution scores resulted in the opposite of the hypothesized direction. Conclusions, limitations, implications, and suggestions for future research are discussed.

To adolescents, online game provides a rich playground for developing competence in leadership, coordination, teamwork, and cooperation. Adopting the perspective of positive psychology and social cognitive theory, this research investigates how factors such as personal and social factors may impact adolescents' learning outcomes and subjective will-being. The results show that game efficacy, adolescents' game attitudes, and social influences are important factors that influence adolescents' online game behavior. Moreover, playing online games may improve adolescents' psychological affects and learning, which in turn enhance players' subjective well-being. These results provide a new perspective to game researchers, teachers and parents and can help game manufactures and government in designing games and making policies.

The aim of the current study is to investigate the role of social-cognitive (locus of control, rumination and socially-prescribed perfectionism), emotional (shame and guilt), and behavioral (conciliatory behaviors) reactions toward oneself in predicting self-forgiveness based on Hall and Fincham&rsquo / s (2005) theoretical model. The sample of this study was composed of 815 (445 female, 370 male) university students attending five different faculty programs at Middle East Technical University (METU). Heartland Forgiveness Scale, Trait Shame and Guilt Scale, Socially-Prescribed Perfectionism Scale, Ruminative Response Scale, The Internal-External Locus of Control Scale and Demographic Information Form were used in data collection. In the current study, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used primarily to test the hypothesized model, integrating the effects of the social-cognitive (locus of control, rumination and socially-prescribed perfectionism), emotional (shame and guilt), and behavioral (conciliatory behaviors) variables as determinants of self-forgiveness. The SEM results indicated that this model provided a good fit to the data in spite of three non-significant paths, including the direct paths from (a) socially-prescribed perfectionism to shame and guilt and (b) locus of control to self-forgiveness. Since some paths appeared to be non-significant, the hypothesized model was trimmed. The result of the trimmed model was surpassed many of the criteria for good fit. Overall, the total variance explained by the finalized model in self-forgiveness was .32.

The aim of the current study is to investigate the some potential factors that contribute to career indecision of university students. In accordance with that, a mediational causal model based on Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) was proposed to test / a) the direct and indirect relationships of locus of control, perceived parental attitudes, career decision-making self-efficacy, and career outcome expectations with career indecision and b) to what extend the combination of these variables explain career indecision. The sample of the study was composed of 723 (338 female, 383 male, 2 unspecified) university students. Demographic Information Form, Career Decision Scale, Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale Short-Form, Career Outcome Expectations Scale, Parental Attitudes Scale, and Rotter

The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the relations between support, academic self-efficacy, and stress during the transition into middle school. Research suggests that early adolescents experience an increase in stress across the middle school transition (e.g., Chung, et al., 1998), due to a mismatch between the individuals' developmental needs and the environment (Eccles et al., 1993). Stress has been found to be a risk factor for mental health disorders among adolescents (Grant et al., 2003). The current study examined if teacher and classmate support and academic self-efficacy served as external and internal resources for buffering stress by analyzing data from 142 young adolescents from an economically and racially diverse longitudinal sample. The current study examined: (a) the relations between support from teachers and classmates, academic self-efficacy, and stress; (b) patterns of change across the middle school transition; (c) the extent to which support from teachers and classmates is associated with stress in fifth and sixth grades; (d) the extent to which academic self-efficacy moderated the relation between support and stress, and (e) whether there were group differences (i.e., gender, race, and/or gender x race). Teacher support was negatively associated with perceived stress during sixth grade, while classmate support was a not significant correlate. There was not significant change over time in any of the key variables (i.e., teacher and classmate support, academic self-efficacy, and perceived stress). Regression results indicated that teacher and classmate support served different roles as academic self-efficacy moderated the relations between classroom support and perceived stress among fifth grade students. Teacher support was negatively related to perceived stress among sixth grade students. The only group difference found was that female sixth grade students reported higher levels of teacher support than male students did. Implications for school psychologists and future directions for research are also addressed.

No description available.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine social cognitive constructs as predictors of preoperative exercise (PE) in a sample of individuals waiting for total joint replacement (TJR) surgery using the framework of Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory (SCT). Methods: Participants (N = 78) were individuals waiting for TJR at the two major urban centres on Vancouver Island, Canada who completed measures of the SCT (barrier self-efficacy, outcome expectancy, self regulation, task efficacy & sociocultural factors of pain, physical function and neighbourhood walking environment) framed for (PE). Results: Independent t-tests suggested no differences between type of surgery (hip versus knee), gender or age for PE (p<.05). Over half of the sample was considered inactive (55%) using a definition of physical activity as accumulating at least 30 minutes of exercise at a moderate or vigorous intensity at least 3 days per week in bouts of 10 minutes or more. Bivariate correlations relating to PE were significant (p<.05) between self regulation (SR) (.25), task efficacy for exercise (TEE) (.27) and pain (-.28). Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that SR (β=.17) and TEE (β=.20) explained 10% of the variance in PE behaviour, but were not significant predictors of PE independently. The addition of pain to the regression analysis added 4% of the explained variance, and remained the only significant predictor (p<.05) of Pe behaviour. Conclusions: SCT showed modest capability in predicting PE in this sample, suggesting further testing of theoretical models is warranted in this area. These findings highlight the influence of pain on exercise before TJR surgery, and support the importance of considering individual factors such as pain when designing targeted interventions to increase activity in this population.