This study was designed to examine children's attitudes toward the role of sports in determining social status, as well as the activities in which children prefer to participate. A total of 227 boys and 251 girls in Grades 4, 5, and 6 completed a questionnaire to determine which criteria were most important in determining personal, female, and male popularity. Personal popularity was answered by the girls and boys according to "what would make you well liked by your classmates." Female and male popularity was determined by asking both girls and boys to decide "what would make (girls, for female subjects, and boys, for male subjects) well liked by your classmates." A comparison of results from the Buchanan, Blankenbaker, and Cotten (1976) investigation and the present study indicated that, in the last 15 years, appearance has become more important and academic achievement less important in determining personal popularity for girls. For boys, the comparison revealed that sports have become more important and academic achievement less important in determining personal popularity. Boys reported sports to be the most important determinant of personal and male popularity and appearance as the most important determinant of female popularity. Sports and appearance became more important for boys with each higher grade level. Girls reported appearance to be the most important determinant of personal, male, and female popularity. For girls, appearance became more important with each higher grade level. A comparison of results from the Buchanan et al. (1976) and the present study indicated that the activities in which girls and boys preferred to participate have changed.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

This study examined the perceptions of competence of 43 children with visual impairments who were attending a summer sports camp. It found there were meaningful differences in the perceived competence of the girls, but not the boys, after they attended the camp, and no differences in the perceptions of competence with age.

The physical characteristics and performances of female collegiate rowers were examined from two perspectives: level (novice, varsity) and years of participation (0, 1, 2, 3) in collegiate rowing. The participants were 90 female collegiate rowers from three US Division I university teams, of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Height, body mass, sitting height, arm span, skinfolds, limb circumferences, and skeletal breadths were measured. Leg length was estimated and Heath-Carter anthropometric somatotypes were calculated. Performance measures included lower-back flexibility, vertical jump, and 2-km time on a rowing ergometer. Descriptive statistics were calculated for the total sample and by level and years of experience. Multivariate analysis of variance and a Bonferroni-adjusted alpha level (P < 0.05) were used to test differences. Varsity rowers had significantly more rowing experience ( approximately 0.5 years) before college, higher vertical jumps ( approximately 3 cm), faster 2-km times ( approximately 25 s), and lower endomorphic characteristics than novice rowers. Anthropometric and performance differences among rowers by years of experience were negligible with the exception of slower 2-km times ( approximately 32 s) in rowers with no collegiate experience than rowers with collegiate experience. In conclusion, collegiate rowers differ to some extent in physical and performance characteristics by level and experience.

Children age 4 to 6 years from special education (n = 26), Head Start (n = 35), and typical preschool classes (n = 11) were assigned to a physical activity intervention or a language-enriched physical activity intervention. Language and motor skill performances were measured before, immediately following, and 3 months following the 24-session, 8-week intervention. Results illustrated that language instruction can be added to physical education lessons without requiring additional instructional time and, more importantly, without compromising improvement in motor skill performance. Further, preschool children exposed to language-enriched physical education improved their language skills regardless of whether their educational progress was characterized by a cognitive and/or language delay. Thus, physical activity appears to be an effective environment in which to enhance the cognitive development of preschool children of all abilities.

In brief: To study the use of weight-modification techniques by young swimmers, data were collected from 487 girls and 468 boys, aged 9 to 18, at a competitive swimming camp. The survey revealed that (1) many young swimmers had misperceptions about their body weights, with girls particularly likely to misperceive themselves as overweight; (2) swimmers' decisions to lose or gain weight were based on their perceptions more than on their actual weights; (3) opinions of others strongly influenced swimmers' opinions of their own weights; and (4) 15.4% of the girls (24.8% of postmenarcheal girls) and 3.6% of the boys used pathogenic weight-loss techniques. The swimmers' concerns about weight seemed to be more related to societal influences than to the demands of their sport.

The Test of Gross Motor Development (TGMD) was used to assess the fundamental motor skills of 91 girls and 110 boys aged 4 to 18 years who attended two schools for students who are deaf. Average hearing loss, determined by better ear average, was 96.94 dB (SD = 14.40 dB). Modifications to the procedures for administering the TGMD included visual demonstrations and the use of signing to communicate instructions. The raw score means of subjects aged 4–10 years who were deaf were lower than those of the TGMD standardization sample of same-aged children who could hear at six of seven age levels on both the object-control and locomotor subscales. However, there were relatively small differences in the mean scores of the two groups. Subjects with mature movement patterns for the throw, kick, jump, and run performed better on quantitative tests for those skills than subjects with immature patterns. Typical age and gender patterns of skill acquisition were revealed for both the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the fundamental motor skills examined.

Results of a survey administered to 85 Native American girls and women, aged 12–55, revealed that 74% were trying to lose weight and that 75% of those who were dieting to lose weight were employing potentially hazardous techniques. The results also showed that 24% of the dieters used one or more purging behaviors. The mean age of those using pathogenic weight‐control methods was 28.8 years. Subjects with higher body mass indexes were more likely to use dangerous weightcontrol methods. These findings suggest that Native American women should be included among the groups at risk for eating disorders and that older and heavier women in this population also should receive attention.

Research has consistently demonstrated that parents' values toward physical activity and fitness have strongly influenced the physical activity habits of hearing children (Welk, G. J., Wood, K., & Morss, G. [2003]. Parental influences on physical activity in children: An exploration of potential mechanisms. Pediatric Exercise Science, 15, 19-33). The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether similar findings are obtained for deaf (1) children. The influence of parents' hearing status and parents' involvement in Deaf sport (2) was assessed in addition to their values toward sports participation and physical fitness for their deaf children. Deaf children's physical activity habits were determined by the number of activities participated per week, and fitness levels by the number of scores within the Healthy Fitness Zone from the Fitnessgram test. Parents demonstrated positive values toward physical fitness regardless of hearing status; this finding was strongest among deaf parents of deaf children. Significant positive relationships were found among parents' values toward physical fitness and sport participation and children's physical activity and fitness levels, as well as between Deaf sport involvement by deaf parents and children's physical activity levels.