7 resultados para logical and timed behaviours
em QSpace: Queen's University - Canada
Resumo:
Purpose: Across Canada, undergraduate university students are one of the highest alcohol-consuming populations. Many students engage in hazardous drinking and are at risk for negative health and social consequences. Social Norms Theory suggests that students’ overestimation of drinking norms can result in an increase in their drinking behaviour. As of yet, none of the literature addresses the possible link between drinking norm (mis)perception and hazardous drinking in a Canadian undergraduate context. This is the first Canadian study to examine this potential association in first-year undergraduate students across multiple universities using gender as an effect modifier. Methods: Using data collected by the Caring Campus Project, for 2347 first-year students from three Canadian universities, I evaluated the prevalence of drinking norm misperceptions by site and gender. Using multiple-logistic regression models, I analyzed the relationship between misperceived drinking norms and hazardous drinking behaviours (assessed via AUDIT-C). Results: The proportion of students who overestimated drinking and binge drinking frequency norms varied by site and gender. There was a positive relationship between overestimated drinking/ binge drinking frequency norms and hazardous drinking, modified by gender. Controlling for living arrangement and site, the odds of female students being hazardous drinkers increased by a factor of 2.27 (CI: 1.73-2.99) when the drinking frequency norm was overestimated. A non-significant association was found for male students. Among female students, when living arrangement and site were controlled, the odds of being a hazardous drinker were 1.83 (0.84-3.95) and 2.69 (1.24-5.83) times greater when the drinking frequency norm was perceived at “2-4 times per month” and “2 or more times per week”, respectively. Among male students, when living arrangement, previous residence and site were controlled, the odds of being a hazardous drinker were 4.03 (2.62-6.19) and 8.54 (5.41-13.49) times greater when the binge drinking frequency norm was perceived at “2-4 times per month” and “2 or more times per week”, respectively. Conclusion: This novel study enhances the understanding of the association between (mis)perceived drinking norms and drinking behaviours in Canadian undergraduate students. The demonstrated importance of gender and site provides a strong impetus for Canadian universities to develop targeted alcohol reduction interventions.
Resumo:
Background: Depression is the largest contributing factor to years lost to disability, and symptom remission does not always result in functional improvement. Comprehensive analysis of functioning requires investigation both of the competence to perform behaviours, as well as actual performance in the real world. Further, two independent domains of functioning have been proposed: adaptive (behaviours conducive to daily living skills and independent functioning) and interpersonal (behaviours conducive to the successful initiation and maintenance of social relationships). To date, very little is known about the relationship between these constructs in depression, and the factors that may play a key role in the disparity between competence and real-world performance in adaptive and interpersonal functioning. Purpose: This study used a multidimensional (adaptive and interpersonal functioning), multi-level (competence and performance) approach to explore the potential discrepancy between competence and real-world performance in depression, specifically investigating whether self-efficacy (one’s beliefs of their capability to perform particular actions) predicts depressed individuals’ underperformance in the real world relative to their ability. A comparison sample of healthy participants was included to investigate the level of depressed individuals’ impairment, across variables, relative to healthy individuals. Method: Forty-two participants with depression and twenty healthy participants without history of, or current, psychiatric illness were recruited in the Kingston, Ontario community. Competence, self-efficacy, and real-world functioning all in both adaptive and interpersonal domains, and symptoms were assessed during a single-visit assessment. Results: Relative to healthy individuals, depressed individuals showed significantly poorer adaptive and interpersonal competence, adaptive and interpersonal functioning, and significantly lower self-efficacy for adaptive and interpersonal behaviours. Self-efficacy significantly predicted functional disability both in the domain of adaptive and interpersonal functioning. Interpersonal self-efficacy accounted for significant variance in the discrepancy between interpersonal competence and functioning. Conclusions: The current study provides the first data regarding relationships among competence, functioning, and self-efficacy in depression. Self-efficacy may play an important role in the deployment of functional skills in everyday life. This has implications for therapeutic interventions aimed at enhancing depressed individuals’ engagement in functional activities. There may be additional intrinsic or extrinsic factors that influence the relationships among competence and functioning in depression.
Resumo:
A new glass-forming organic semiconductor material was synthesized using a known electron transport material, perylene diimide, and attaching it to a molecular glass in order to allow the material to be solution processed. Devices were made using a simple metal-semiconductor-metal structure and electrodes were selected to produce Schottky diodes. Experiments were carried out to characterize this new molecular glass perylene diimide. The new material shows evidence of traps, hysteresis, and other behaviours that are explored in this thesis. The material shows some potential as an electron transport layer with possibilities of memory storage behaviour.
Resumo:
Previous research has identified the relationship between athlete sport anxiety and various sport outcomes (e.g., performance and dropout). For the majority of athletes involved in sport, the coach is an influential element of the competitive experience. Two hundred and twenty-eight athletes from 15 sports, completed the Sport Anxiety Scale (SAS) and the Coaching Behavior Scale for Sport (CBS-S). The predictive ability of athletes' perceived frequency of seven coaching behaviours (physical training, mental preparation, goal setting, technical skills, competition strategies, personal rapport and negative personal rapport) on four forms of sport anxiety (total anxiety, somatic anxiety, concentration disruption and worry) was examined. Results indicate that negative personal rapport was a significant predictor of all measured forms of sport anxiety while competition strategies was a significant predictor for total anxiety, concentration disruption, and worry. Other behaviours were not significant. The findings suggest that negative rapport between coach and athlete is an important contributor to athlete anxiety. In addition, behaviours that the coach demonstrates relative to competition can be influential in reducing athlete anxiety.
Resumo:
Various sources have sought to consider the educational interventions that foster changes in perception of and attitudes toward nature, with the ultimate intent of understanding how education can be used to encourage environmentally responsible behaviours. With these in mind, the current study identified an outdoor environmental education program incorporating these empirically supported interventions, and assessed its ability to influence environmental knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours. Specifically, this study considered the following research questions: 1) To what degree can participation in this outdoor education program foster environmental knowledge and encourage pro-environmental attitudes and self-reported pro-environmental behaviours? 2) How is this effect different among students of different genders, and those who have different prior experiences in nature? Two motivational frameworks guided inquiry in the current study: the Value-Belief-Norm Model of Environmentalism (VBN) and the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). The study employed a quantitative survey methodology, combining contemporary data measuring knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours with archived data collected by program staff, reflecting frequency of environmentally responsible behaviour. Further, a single qualitative item was included for which students provided “the first three words that [came] to mind when [they] think of the word nature.” Terms provided before and after the program were compared for differences in theme to detect subtle or underlying changes. Quantitative results indicated no significant change in student knowledge or attitudes through the outdoor environmental education program. However, a significant change in self-reported behaviour was identified from both the contemporary and archived data. This agreement in positive findings across the two data sets, collected using different measures and different participants, lends evidence of the program’s ability to encourage self-reported pro-environmental behaviour. Further, qualitative results showed some change in students’ perceptions of nature through the program, providing direction for future research. These findings suggest that this particular outdoor education program was successful in encouraging students’ self-reported environmentally responsible behaviour. This change was achieved without significant change in knowledge or environmental attitudes, suggesting that external factors not measured in this study might have played a role in affecting behaviour.
Resumo:
Youth sport coaches shape the developmental sporting experience for their athletes (Camiré, Trudel, & Forneris, 2014). Specifically, coaches who form individualized, supportive relationships with their athletes can increase the development of personal and social skills (Fraser-Thomas, Côté, & Deakin, 2005). In light of the value of these relationships, increasing evidence is prompting the application of leadership theories, such as Transformational Leadership (TFL), in youth sport (Vella et al., 2013). The aim of this study was to explore coach perceptions of how and why leadership behaviours are applied in the youth sport context. Eleven coaches (Mage= 42.3, SD= 15.2) were recruited from competitive youth soccer and volleyball clubs (athletes’ Mage= 15.8, SD= 1.9) in Eastern Ontario and participated in a stimulated recall interview. During the interviews, coaches reflected upon their own coaching behaviours and provided insight into the application of leadership behaviours in youth sport. Responses were prompted by relevant video sequences from recorded practice and game sessions. A thematic content analysis revealed that; i) coaches use a variety of leadership behaviours in youth sport, ii) the use of leadership behaviours vary across sport contexts or settings, and iii) contrasting leadership styles (e.g., transactional vs. transformational) are associated with distinctive coach objectives (e.g., promoting confidence vs. establishing respect). These findings have helped identify gaps within coach education, and provide theoretical insight for applying leadership theories, and more specifically TFL, to help improve the sport experiences of young athletes.
Resumo:
Stress during early development produces lasting effects on psychopathological outcomes. The impact of prior intermittent, physical stress (IPS) during early-adolescence (PD 22-33) on anxiety-related behaviour of female rats was analyzed in adulthood. After behavioural testing, serotonergic innervation was evaluated using immunohistochemistry for the serotonin transporter (SERT) in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and ventral hippocampus. Administration of IPS (i.e., water immersion, elevated platform, foot shock) in early adolescence increased rats’ anxiety-like behaviour in the elevated plus-maze but had no effects in the shock-probe burying test. In the social interaction test, IPS decreased social interaction, and this effect was driven by selective decreases in the duration of playfighting with no evident changes in contact or investigative behaviour. Selective stress-induced increases in SERT-immunoreactive axon density were found in the infralimbic (IL) subregion of the mPFC, but not in the cingulate or prelimbic (PL) subregions. IPS in early adolescence did not affect serotonergic innervation profiles in any sub-fields of the ventral hippocampus. The findings confirm and extend on earlier evidence that stress during early adolescence promotes the emergence of an anxious phenotype, and provide novel evidence that these effects may be mediated, at least in part, by increased serotonergic innervation of the IL mPFC.