This study investigated the influence of fitness on academy graduation, and any between-sex differences, in law enforcement recruits. Data collected at the start of four training academies were retrospectively analyzed, including: age, height, and body mass; waist circumference; waist-to-hip ratio; grip strength; vertical jump (VJ); 75-yard pursuit run; 2-kg medicine ball throw (MBT); push-ups, sit-ups, and arm ergometer revolutions in 60 s; and 20-m multistage fitness test (20MSFT) shuttles. Recruits were categorized into graduated (GRAD=269) and separated (did not graduate; SEP=42) groups. SEP recruits were not split according to separation reasons, just whether they did or not. This categorization also occurred for males (GRAD=228, SEP=32) and females (GRAD=41, SEP=10). Independent samples t-tests calculated between-group differences for all recruits combined, males, and females.Correlations and stepwise linear regression calculated relationships between the data and graduation. The t-test (p≤0.016) and correlation (r=±0.137-0.296, p<0.05) data indicated SEP recruits (both sexes combined) were older, and performed poorer in every fitness test except grip strength and VJ. SEP males were older and performed poorer in all tests except grip strength (p≤0.009). SEP females scored lower in the arm ergometer (p=0.008). The regression equation for all recruits found that age, 20MSFT (aerobic fitness), MBT (upper-body power), and arm ergometer (upper-body endurance) were academy graduation predictors (r 2 =0.169, p<0.001). For the male recruits, the predictors were age, MBT, and 20MSFT (r 2 =0.182, p≤0.001); for female recruits, arm ergometer and 20MSFT (r 2 =0.213, p≤0.003). Recruits should improve multiple fitness aspects, including muscular endurance, power, and aerobic fitness, to enhance graduation potential.

Entertainment education and the promotora model are 2 evidence-based health communication strategies. This study examined their combined effect on promoting healthy eating among mothers in a family-based intervention. Participants were 361 Mexican-origin families living in Imperial County, California, who were randomly assigned to an intervention or delayed treatment condition. The intervention involved promotoras (community health workers) who delivered 11 home visits and 4 telephone calls. Home visits included a 12-minute episode of a 9-part situation comedy depicting a family struggling with making healthy eating choices; an accompanying family workbook was reviewed to build skills and left with the family. Baseline and immediate postintervention data were collected from the mothers, including the primary outcome of daily servings of fruits and vegetables. Other dietary and psychosocial factors related to healthy eating were examined. At postintervention, mothers in the intervention reported increases in daily vegetable servings (p ≤ .05); however, no changes were observed in fruit consumption. Improvements were observed in behavioral strategies to increase fiber (p ≤ .001) and to decrease fat intake (p ≤ .001), unhealthy eating behaviors (p ≤ .001), and individual (p ≤ .05) and family-related (p ≤ .01) perceived barriers to healthy eating. Entertainment education and promotoras engaged families and improved mothers' diets. Further research should examine the dose needed for greater changes.

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Research demonstrates that parents’ emotion-related discourse during reminiscing shapes children’s psychosocial outcomes, yet little is known about how different forms of parental emotion-related discourse work in combination. The present study takes a person-centered approach to better understand the relation of multiple forms of parental emotion discourse during reminiscing with problem behaviors in early childhood, as well as child influences on parents’ emotion discourse during reminiscing. Specifically, we simultaneously examine three forms of parents’ emotion-related discourse (emotion coaching and dismissing, emotion explanations, and elaboration) using cluster analysis to determine parents’ patterns of these three discourse forms during discussion about past events. Parents and their preschool-aged children (n = 154) completed a parent–child reminiscing task. Transcripts were coded for emotion coaching and dismissing, emotion explanations, and elaboration. Parents reported on children’s internalizing and externalizing behaviors, temperament, and gender, and children completed a language assessment. Cluster analyses revealed three parental discourse patterns: elaboration/negative emotion emphasis, positive and negative emotion emphasis, and low emotion discourse. Children’s receptive language was associated with parents’ membership in the low emotion discourse cluster. Children’s temperament and gender were unrelated to parental emotion-related discourse patterns. Parents in the positive and negative emotion emphasis cluster had children with fewer internalizing behaviors compared to both other clusters, and parents in the elaboration/negative emotion emphasis cluster had children with more internalizing behaviors compared to both other clusters. Findings support the utility of a person-centered approach in providing a holistic view of parents’ use of multiple emotion socialization strategies during reminiscing.

The college transition involves social challenges for students, including concerns about distance from family and hometown friends, and pressure to build a new social network on campus. Students who are successfully navigating these social challenges should be better adjusted on campus and feel more satisfied with the direction of their lives. We measured two expressions of relatedness in incoming, central US students’ ( N = 244; M age = 18.1 years; 78.6% women) autobiographical recollections of the college transition: (a) dispositional relatedness (DR) and tendencies to emphasize motivations for connecting with others; and (b) situational relatedness (SR) and reflections on successes and challenges within specific relationship domains. We hypothesized that both expressions of relatedness would be positively and distinctly associated with longitudinal reports of college adjustment (i.e., belonging) and subjective well-being (i.e., life satisfaction). We also hypothesized that changes in college adjustment would mediate associations between expressions of relatedness and well-being. Findings broadly supported expectations. Each expression of relatedness robustly predicted better student outcomes longitudinally. Further, improvements in college belonging and decreases in homesickness mediated the ties between situational relatedness and subjective well-being. We discuss the implications of these findings for the college transition and student support services.