Actively disadvantaged : a foucauldian perspective of rural adolescent girls' participation in sport and physical activity

The illustriousness of sport to Australian culture has often been discussed and in rural communities it could be argued that community sporting clubs are integral, and often unparalleled, in the development of collective community identities and individual subjectivities (Tonts, 2005). Sport is considered a way of life for many rural Australians, yet social, climatic and economic factors have resulted in vast changes to the sporting landscape in rural communities, particularly for adolescent females. With the amalgamation of many community sporting clubs due to declining populations and the rationalisation of Government funding, fewer opportunities for participation in organised physical activity now exist for rural adolescent girls (Tonts & Atherley, 2005). Compounding this lack of opportunity, are questions around the types of physical activity experiences available to rural adolescent females and the impact this has on the way that rural adolescent females construct ideas around being physically active. This paper is concerned with the ways in which prevalent cultural and institutional discourses mediated through community sport and school-based physical activity impact the construction of female physically active subjectivities in rural communities.

The relationship between attachment style, anxiety sensitivity and interpretive bias among adolescent nonclinical panickers

Elevated anxiety sensitivity and the tendency to catastrophically misinterpret ambiguous bodily sensations has been demonstrated in people who experience nonclinical levels of panic (Richards, Austin, & Alvarenga, 2001), and anxiety sensitivity has been shown to be associated with insecure attachment in adolescents and young adults (Weems, Berman, Silverman, and Saavedra, 2001). This study investigated the relationship between attachment style, anxiety sensitivity and catastrophic misinterpretation among 11 nonclinical panickers and 58 nonanxious controls aged 18 to 19 years. Participants completed the Brief Bodily Sensations Interpretation Questionnaire (BBSIQ), Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI) and an attachment questionnaire. The hypothesis that insecurely attached individuals would demonstrate greater catastrophic misinterpretation and higher anxiety sensitivity than securely attached individuals was not supported; however, nonclinical panickers gave more anxiety-related interpretations of ambiguous internal stimuli than nonanxious controls. Results do not support the notion that attachment style is related to anxiety sensitivity or catastrophic misinterpretation (regardless of panic experience). Results do, however, support the notion that anxiety-related misinterpretation of ambiguous somatic sensations precedes the onset of panic disorder.

Community variation in adolescent alcohol use in Australia and the Netherlands

To investigate the cross-national relevance of community health promotion, this paper compared community variation in alcohol use and risk and protective factors for adolescents in Australia (State of Victoria, 2009) and the Netherlands (2007/2008). Multi-level analyses examined community variation in heavy episodic (binge) alcohol use [≥5 drinks in a session ≥once in the prior fortnight (>63 ml of ethanol)] and associations with predictors. Representative community samples of adolescents (12–17 years) were recruited. The participants were 7812 students from 36 Australian communities and 15 082 adolescents from 124 Dutch communities. Predictors included adolescent reports of family, school, peer and neighbourhood environments and community predictors (rural, disadvantage). The overall prevalence of alcohol use prevalence was similar in both nations. Australia had higher use at younger ages and no difference between genders. In the Netherlands older adolescents and males used alcohol at significantly higher rates. Although individual predictors were mostly similar, binge drinking was more strongly associated with poor family management, friends' use of drugs and community disorganization in Australia. Significant community variation in adolescent heavy alcohol use was observed in both countries, but was higher in the Netherlands [inter class correlation 6.1%, (95% CI: 4.5–8.3%)] than Australia (ICC 2.4%, 1.3–4.5%). Youth from rural areas drank at a higher level, especially in the Netherlands. Targeting community level adolescent alcohol use appears feasible in both countries. Although behavioural patterns and risk and protective influences are similar in the Netherlands and Australia, important differences should be taken into account in tailoring community interventions.

Doing without school! Spaces becomes places? Adolescent identity and engagement

This thesis highlights the failure of mainstream education to meet the diverse needs of some adolescent students. The interwoveness of identity, engagement and learning are significant, as it discusses the underlying assumptions that operate in many educational institutions, and that serve only a portion of adolescent populations.

Understanding the contexts of adolescent female participation in sport and physical activity

Purpose: Participation in physical activity (PA) is reported to decline in adolescence, particularly for girls. However, we do not know if this decline in PA is consistent across modes and settings or whether there are transfers of participation between modes and settings. Nor do we understand the changes in specific types of PA or the interaction between types of participation and different modes/settings. This study investigated contexts of PA participation for female adolescents at two life transition points.

Method: A survey of 489 Year 7 and 243 Year 11 adolescent girls was conducted, incorporating a measure of overall PA level and participation rates in seven modes/settings and in specific types of sport and PA.

Results: Less than half of the respondents met or exceeded the recommended level of moderate or vigorous PA—60 min or more—on the previous day, and there was no statistically significant difference in the proportions in Years 7 and 11 (39.5% vs. 45.9%; p>.05). However, older adolescents shifted their participation away from organized, competitive modes and settings toward nonorganized and noncompetitive modes and settings and individual types of PA.

Conclusions: An understanding of the changes in PA modes and settings identified here can inform the planning of policies and implementation of programs for the promotion of PA by adolescent girls.

Family support and ease of access link socio-economic status and sports club membership in adolescent girls : a mediation study

Background Much research has been conducted into the determinants of physical activity (PA) participation among adolescent girls. However, the more specific question of what are the determinants of particular forms of PA participation, such as the link between participation through a sports club, has not been investigated. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between participation in a sports club and socio-economic status (SES), access to facilities, and family and peer support, for female adolescents.

Methods A survey of 732 female adolescent school students (521 metropolitan, 211 non-metropolitan; 489 Year 7, 243 Year 11) was conducted. The survey included demographic information (living arrangements, ethnicity indicators, and indicators of SES such as parental education and employment status and locality); access to facilities; and family and peer support (travel, encouragement, watching, praise, joint participation). For each characteristic, sports club participants and non-participants were compared using chi-square tests. Multiple mediation analyses were used to investigate the role of access, family and peer support in the link between SES and sport participation.

Results There were significant associations (p<0.05) between sports club participation and: all demographic characteristics; all measures of family and peer support; and access to sport-related facilities. Highest levels of participation were associated with monolingual Australian-born families, with two parents, at least one of whom was well-educated, with both parents employed, and high levels of parental assistance, engagement and support. Participation in club sport among both younger and older adolescent girls was significantly positively associated with the SES of both their neighbourhoods and their households, particularly in metropolitan areas. These associations were most strongly mediated by family support and by access to facilities.

Conclusions To facilitate and promote greater participation in club sport among adolescent girls from low SES neighbourhoods and households, strategies should target modifiable determinants such as facility access and parental support. This will involve improving access to sports facilities and promoting, encouraging and assisting parents to provide support for their daughters’ participation in sport clubs.

Explaining the effects of a 1-year intervention promoting a low fat diet in adolescent girls : a mediation analysis

Background : Although it is important to investigate how interventions work, no formal mediation analyses have been conducted to explain behavioral outcomes in school-based fat intake interventions in adolescents. The aim of the present study was to examine mediation effects of changes in psychosocial determinants of dietary fat intake (attitude, social support, self-efficacy, perceived benefits and barriers) on changes in fat intake in adolescent girls.

Methods : Data from a 1-year prospective intervention study were used. A random sample of 804 adolescent girls was included in the study. Girls in the intervention group (n = 415) were exposed to a multi-component school-based intervention program, combining environmental changes with a computer tailored fat intake intervention and parental support. Fat intake and psychosocial determinants of fat intake were measured with validated self-administered questionnaires. To assess mediating effects, a product-of-coefficient test, appropriate for cluster randomized controlled trials, was used.

Results : None of the examined psychosocial factors showed a reliable mediating effect on changes in fat intake. The single-mediator model revealed a statistically significant suppression effect of perceived barriers on changes in fat intake (p = 0.011). In the multiple-mediator model, this effect was no longer significant, which was most likely due to changes in perceived barriers being moderately related to changes in self-efficacy (-0.30) and attitude (-0.25). The overall mediated-suppressed effect of the examined psychosocial factors was virtually zero (total mediated effect = 0.001; SE = 7.22; p = 0.992).

Conclusion : Given the lack of intervention effects on attitudes, social support, self-efficacy and perceived benefits and barriers, it is suggested that future interventions should focus on the identification of effective strategies for changing these theoretical mediators in the desired direction. Alternatively, it could be argued that these constructs need not be targeted in interventions aimed at adolescents, as they may not be responsible for the intervention effects on fat intake. To draw any conclusions regarding mediators of fat-intake change in adolescent' girls and regarding optimal future intervention strategies, more systematic research on the mediating properties of psychosocial variables is needed.