No abstract

Rural youth are at greater risk than urban youth for obesity and physical inactivity. Active living research incorporates an ecological approach to promoting physical activity (PA) by recognizing that individual behavior, social environments, physical environments, and policies contribute to behavior change. Active living research and interventions have been limited primarily to urban settings. Because rural communities have unique environmental features and sociocultural characteristics, this project combines insights from current active living models with more focused consideration of the physical and social realities of rural areas. In this study, we report on our efforts to develop, test, and refine a conceptual model describing the interaction between the individual and the environment as it enhances or thwarts active living in rural communities. Our findings revealed a host of relevant "predisposing" and "enabling" factors, including sociodemographic, environmental, policy, and programmatic elements, that extend across the four domains of active living--transportation, recreation, occupation, and household. A one-size approach to PA promotion will not fit the needs of rural youth. Given the unique challenges that rural communities face, efforts to combat childhood obesity must consider rural residents a priority population. More research, interventions, and evaluations on ways to promote rural PA are needed.

No abstract

No abstract

PROBLEMUnlike the Rorschach, the Holtzman Inkblot Technique (HIT) is well suited to group administration with colored slides projected on a screen, because the subject gives only one response per inkblot and the inquiry is simplified and standardized. A group method has the adva.ntage of being much more economical than an individual method : the number of subjects tested a t once is limited only by the available space, provided each subject has a good view of the screen where the blots are being projected; and administration of inkblots by a group procedure can be handled adequately by an individual after only a few hours of training with the procedure.Often stated disadvantages of group methods for inkblot testing are as follows: the loss of the more unstructured, personalized relationship between the examiner and the subject; the restriction of presenting the inkblots only in an upright position; and the increased difficulty of scoring certain variables. Where one at least has the opportunity for such things as the recording of verbatim responses and an individualized inquiry to help clear up scoring problems in an individually administered inkblot test, conventional group methods as employed in the past have typically yielded only the most cryptic cues for scoring determinants, content, and other variables which attempt to capture the quality of a particular response.For the use of inkblots in large-scale research projects, however, the advantages of a group method of administration far override whatever disadvantages may be associated with it. This is especially true if it can be shown that a striking degree of similarity exists between a group and an individual version of a test, and if the problems resulting from the loss of the personalized relationship can be overcome. PRELIMINARY FEASIBILITY STUDYDuring the summer of 1957, while several methodological studies were being conducted on Forms A and B of the individual version of the HIT, the 92 inkblots comprising these forms were photographed, reduced, and placed on 35 mm. slides for use in a slide p r~j e c t o r .~ Several quality checks were carried out to make sure the stimulus properties of the slides were comparable to the original inkblots; and special booklets were printed with schematic outlines of each inkblot on the lefthand page and space for the subject to write on the right-hand page.

A 6-year investigation of developmental aspects of perceptual, cognitive, and related personality functions was performed, in which human figure drawings by 416 boys and girls in three age groups (6.7, 9.7, and 12.7 years of age initially) were studied longitudinally; all of the children who participated were able to complete the experiment. Measures employed were the Goodenough-Harris scores, percentage of subjects drawing self-sex figures first, masculinity-femininity ratings of the drawings, and subscales of the Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children. Goodenough-Harris scores were higher on first-drawn figures and revealed consistent sex differences, favoring girls at all ages except 13. Boys drawing a self-sex figure first ranged from 78% to 97% and the percentage increased with chronological age; girls ranged from 52% to 90% and the percentage decreased with chronological age. These scores, their intercorrelations with Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children subtests, and their test-retest reliability over time were compared with previous findings.

As summarized by Holtzman (1968), a number of recent studies have sought to extend the construct vahdity of the standard scores for the Holtzman Inkblot Technique (HIT) (Holtzman, Thorpe, Swartz, & Herron, 1961) These mvestigations have focused on the psychological correlates of HIT scores via use of vanous psychiatnc groups, responses to other measures of personahty, and performance on laboratory type tasks, particularly ones of a perceptual or cogmtive nature In view of the promising results of these studies, additional mvestigations to vahdate further the psychological meaning of scores from the HIT seem mdicatedDespite the wealth of clmical expenence dealmg with mkblot perception, very little systematic information has been obtamed regarding the influence of diflFerent perceptual styles on responses to lnkblots In order to investigate this problem by testing specific hypotheses regarding the relevance of perceptual and cogmtive charactenstics to several HIT scores, subjects were studied who are highly successful m one of three contrastmg modes of visual expenence as defined by their fields of study abstract art, architecture, and engineering drawmg

No abstract