Background: Large components for athletes are nutrition, training and recovery. These components are subjects all by them selves in all kind of media. That woke my interest to find out more about the connections between nutrition, training and recovery and how much knowledge athletes have of them together. Objectives: The purpose of this study is to investigate how athletes feelings and experience of nutrition, training and recovery. Method: A qualitative approach was used to investigate athletes eye on nutrition, training and recovery. Ten interviews were done face to face and notes was taken since no recording were done. Results: The results of the study shows that athletes don’t have experience of nutrition, training and recovery together. Athletes have knowledge of nutrition, training and recovery one by one. The study showed the athletes the dependency of nutrition, training and recovery together. The athletes did all the components by themselves but had not the knowledge of how big the dependencies was between the components. The athletes wanted to learn more about the dependencies to take advantage of the components in their own training.

Continually improving population health in the context of increased life expectancy challenges the assumption that aging invariably leads to significant physical decline. Currently, there is a perception that physical function and hence, independence, can be maintained well into later life (Ory, Hoffman, Hawkins, Sanner & Mockenhaupt, 2003). Given the growing proportion of older adults in many industrialized nations, it is imperative to consider possible factors that influence behaviour, which may in turn contribute to functional losses that have hitherto been attributed to aging. For example, pervasive ageist stereotypes may play a role in reducing older adults’ opportunities to independently perform physical tasks (i.e. removal of difficult or challenging physical tasks from older adult residences; younger individuals insisting on physical help that is unneeded) so that ability is gradually compromised by disuse. This study explores the potential for such reduced opportunity among community-dwelling older adults using a questionnaire-based methodology and hypothetical stimulus scenarios. In the scenarios, participants’ mature children offer the older adults unsolicited help with two functional tasks: rising from a sofa and grocery shopping. The 52 study participants (mean age = 78.4 ± 6.0 years) were each asked to report their independence preference, anticipated affective responses, behavioural intentions, self-efficacy for relevant physical skills, relation-inferred self-efficacy (RISE), attribution for why the help was offered, and perceived benefits of accepting and declining the help. Using a Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) framework, individuals with higher self-efficacy, stronger preference for independence, or more perceived benefits of declining relative to those of accepting help were expected to be more likely to intend to decline assistance. In addition to being related to intentions, these factors, along with lower RISE beliefs, were expected to be associated with greater negative affect. Finally, RISE was anticipated to be directly proportional to self-efficacy and thus, attribution of the offered help to physical (versus social) reasons was hypothesized to relate to lower self-efficacy and RISE. Primary study hypotheses were generally not supported, with a few exceptions. First, as hypothesized, those who perceived more benefits associated with declining help were more likely to decline and less likely to accept the offered help (p ≤ 0.005). Second, the more perceived benefits associated with declining help (relative to those associated with accepting help), the less total positive affect older adults reported (r ≤ -0.31, p ≤ 0.02). Third, individuals who had higher self-efficacy also reported higher RISE (r ≥ 0.34, p ≤ 0.01). Finally, those who made physical attributions for the offer of help reported lower RISE (p ≤ 0.009), and lower shopping self-efficacy (p = 0.004). Secondary analyses provided some insight into the lack of support for study hypotheses regarding the receipt of unsolicited assistance. For example, both high self-efficacy beliefs (mean = 85.1 ± 15.8% for rising and 91.5 ± 11.2% for shopping) and low TUG times (mean = 12.2 ± 4.7s) suggested that the sample was particularly high-functioning. This would help to explain why self-efficacy was not found to be significantly related to participant intentions to accept help. Another explanation for this finding is the influence of social factors considered by older adults in these helping situations. Participant intentions could have been based on anticipated social rather than physical benefits. This rationale was supported by high rates of selection for socially-relevant perceived benefits of receiving help. Further examination also confirmed that participants generally reported very low levels of total negative affect. This would partially account for the absence of a relationship between perceived benefits and negative affect, even though the former was shown to be correlated with total positive affect. Despite raising as many questions as it answers, the present study succeeds in illustrating the perceptions of higher functioning older adults in situations where physical help is offered to them. Although these participants would not require any help with the physical tasks presented, on average, older adults indicated that they would likely accept the offered assistance approximately half of the time. When the findings of the two sets of analyses are considered, they suggest that much research is needed to understand the perspective of older adults in helping situations. Assumptions about older adults’ reactions to receiving assistance with physical tasks may not be straightforward. Having the ability to function independently may not necessarily mean that older adults refuse assistance. Like younger adults, they may interpret the social situation in terms of a variety of outcomes. Indeed, if researchers do not consider complex interpretations for how older adults function in regard to physical independence, they may be letting personal ageism shape their research. Consequently, there is cause to pursue further research in this underserved area of investigation into the perceptions and actions of older adults. Future studies in this vein may make use of the lessons learned from this exploratory investigation.

Continually improving population health in the context of increased life expectancy challenges the assumption that aging invariably leads to significant physical decline. Currently, there is a perception that physical function and hence, independence, can be maintained well into later life (Ory, Hoffman, Hawkins, Sanner & Mockenhaupt, 2003). Given the growing proportion of older adults in many industrialized nations, it is imperative to consider possible factors that influence behaviour, which may in turn contribute to functional losses that have hitherto been attributed to aging. For example, pervasive ageist stereotypes may play a role in reducing older adults’ opportunities to independently perform physical tasks (i.e. removal of difficult or challenging physical tasks from older adult residences; younger individuals insisting on physical help that is unneeded) so that ability is gradually compromised by disuse. This study explores the potential for such reduced opportunity among community-dwelling older adults using a questionnaire-based methodology and hypothetical stimulus scenarios. In the scenarios, participants’ mature children offer the older adults unsolicited help with two functional tasks: rising from a sofa and grocery shopping. The 52 study participants (mean age = 78.4 ± 6.0 years) were each asked to report their independence preference, anticipated affective responses, behavioural intentions, self-efficacy for relevant physical skills, relation-inferred self-efficacy (RISE), attribution for why the help was offered, and perceived benefits of accepting and declining the help. Using a Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) framework, individuals with higher self-efficacy, stronger preference for independence, or more perceived benefits of declining relative to those of accepting help were expected to be more likely to intend to decline assistance. In addition to being related to intentions, these factors, along with lower RISE beliefs, were expected to be associated with greater negative affect. Finally, RISE was anticipated to be directly proportional to self-efficacy and thus, attribution of the offered help to physical (versus social) reasons was hypothesized to relate to lower self-efficacy and RISE. Primary study hypotheses were generally not supported, with a few exceptions. First, as hypothesized, those who perceived more benefits associated with declining help were more likely to decline and less likely to accept the offered help (p ≤ 0.005). Second, the more perceived benefits associated with declining help (relative to those associated with accepting help), the less total positive affect older adults reported (r ≤ -0.31, p ≤ 0.02). Third, individuals who had higher self-efficacy also reported higher RISE (r ≥ 0.34, p ≤ 0.01). Finally, those who made physical attributions for the offer of help reported lower RISE (p ≤ 0.009), and lower shopping self-efficacy (p = 0.004). Secondary analyses provided some insight into the lack of support for study hypotheses regarding the receipt of unsolicited assistance. For example, both high self-efficacy beliefs (mean = 85.1 ± 15.8% for rising and 91.5 ± 11.2% for shopping) and low TUG times (mean = 12.2 ± 4.7s) suggested that the sample was particularly high-functioning. This would help to explain why self-efficacy was not found to be significantly related to participant intentions to accept help. Another explanation for this finding is the influence of social factors considered by older adults in these helping situations. Participant intentions could have been based on anticipated social rather than physical benefits. This rationale was supported by high rates of selection for socially-relevant perceived benefits of receiving help. Further examination also confirmed that participants generally reported very low levels of total negative affect. This would partially account for the absence of a relationship between perceived benefits and negative affect, even though the former was shown to be correlated with total positive affect. Despite raising as many questions as it answers, the present study succeeds in illustrating the perceptions of higher functioning older adults in situations where physical help is offered to them. Although these participants would not require any help with the physical tasks presented, on average, older adults indicated that they would likely accept the offered assistance approximately half of the time. When the findings of the two sets of analyses are considered, they suggest that much research is needed to understand the perspective of older adults in helping situations. Assumptions about older adults’ reactions to receiving assistance with physical tasks may not be straightforward. Having the ability to function independently may not necessarily mean that older adults refuse assistance. Like younger adults, they may interpret the social situation in terms of a variety of outcomes. Indeed, if researchers do not consider complex interpretations for how older adults function in regard to physical independence, they may be letting personal ageism shape their research. Consequently, there is cause to pursue further research in this underserved area of investigation into the perceptions and actions of older adults. Future studies in this vein may make use of the lessons learned from this exploratory investigation.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2008. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 231-243).

Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio State University, 2009. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 50-53).

The depiction of gender in advertising is a topic of continuous discussion and research. The present study adds to past findings with an updated look at how men are represented in U.S. advertising media and the real effects these portrayals have on the male population under the theoretical framework of hegemony and social cognitive theory. This research is triangulated with a textual analysis of the ads found in the March 2013 editions of four popular print publications and three focus group sessions separated by sex (two all-male, one all-female), each of which is composed of a racially diverse group of undergraduate journalism and communications students from a large Southwestern university. The results of the textual analysis reveal little ethnic or physical diversity among male figures in advertising and distinguish six main profiles of masculinity, the most frequent of which is described as the "sophisticated man." The focus groups identify depictions of extreme muscularity and stereotypical male incompetence as the most negative representations, while humorous and hyperbolic portrayals of sexual prowess and hyper-masculinity are viewed positively as effective means of marketing to men.

College students drink at high rates. More than 80% of college students drink alcohol and about 40% engage in occasions of heavy drinking. Heavy episodic drinking among college students is associated with multiple negative consequences, such as verbal confrontations, physical fights, unprotected sex, vandalism, and driving while under the influence. Goals constitute a broad cognitive context in which behaviors occur. As an established technology for studying goal constructs, personal projects (Little, 1983; 1989; 1998) assess both long-term and short-term goals, as well perceptions about the goals assessed. Aided by the assessment of personal projects, the present study examined the ability of goal constructs to explain variability in drinking among college students within an integrated social cognitive theory model. In prospective analyses, results indicated that alcohol self-efficacy, negative outcome expectancies, and drinking self-regulation strategies were shown to be significant predictors of drinking. In addition, the goal attribute variables of Involvement and Efficacy, incongruence, and avoidance accounted for unique variance in drinking after controlling for gender, self-efficacy, outcome expectancies and drinking self-regulation. Results add to the understanding of motivational forces potentially important to drinking decisions, highlighting the contributions of goal variables. / Ph. D.

Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is essential to the smooth functioning of organizations. A vast amount of research examining OCB has established the benefits of such behavior to businesses. In addition, individual- and organizational-level antecedents of citizenship behavior have been widely studied and well established. However, a sound assessment of OCB, which acknowledges the true social cognitive nature of the phenomenon, is yet to be developed. The purpose of this study is two-fold: First, this study seeks to develop a reliable, accurate measure of OCB. Second, this study utilizes the newly developed measure to determine how personal characteristics and situational influences interact to produce helping behavior. More specifically, this study explores how equity sensitivity, locus of control, self-esteem, and affectivity determine whether an employee engages in helping behavior. Further, the current study examines whether situation cue strength moderates the relationship between the aforementioned personality characteristics and an employee's decision to engage in helping behavior. / Master of Science

This thesis examines the state of media literacy in the middle school curriculum of Virginia's public schools. Through in-depth interviews with state certified teachers of English and Language Arts, the goal was to uncover student, teacher, resource, family, classroom, school, and other structural variables that influence media literacy among students at the middle school level, while also uncovering teachers' perception of the Standards of Learning (SOLs) and the benchmarks for media literacy that are contained within those state directives. An additional purpose of this thesis is to contribute to theory building efforts so that media literacy education is better understood in academic literature, in higher education, and in K-12 curriculum. / Master of Arts

Notwithstanding progress made in description, prediction, and manipulation of self-forgiveness, the extant literature continues to be wrought with theoretical and empirical quandaries. In the current dissertation, I conceptualize self-forgiveness within the framework of Social Cognitive Theory and develop a two-factor scale to assess distinct decisional and emotional aspects of self-forgiveness among perpetrators of interpersonal transgressions. In Study One, I test the hypothesized two-factor structure in a new measure of state self-forgiveness and provide preliminary evidence supporting construct validity via associations of that measure with perceived responsibility, guilt, and shame. In Study Two, I replicate the factor structure and provide preliminary evidence of criterion-related validity by distinguishing self-forgiveness from self-punishment and self-exoneration using the two-factor structure. In Study Three, I explore profiles of association between the hypothesized decisional and emotional factors of self-forgiveness and pro-social as well as health-related correlates. In sum, findings generally supported the proposed two-factor structure of self-forgiveness, which provides a foundation for future investigations and applications of self-forgiveness.