Suchergebnisse

Purpose. Examine and compare constraints to physical activity (PA) among Latinos based on age, gender, income, and self-reported leisure time PA (LTPA). Design. Cross-sectional survey. Partnered with a North Carolina nonprofit advocacy organization who recruited community leaders (promotores) to administer the survey to Latino constituents. Setting. Latino communities in Wake County, North Carolina. Subjects. Respondents (N = 457) were mostly women (58%), with a mean age of 34 years (SD = 11), low income (70% < $39K/year); 78% were born outside the United States, with a majority from Mexico (52%). Measures. Sociodemographics; Stanford Brief PA Survey; constraints on PA were measured with 20 items assessing seven constructs (accessibility, facilities, knowledge, partners, psychologic, safety, and time). Analysis. Descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, t-tests, and analysis of variance. Results. Half of the sample was inactive. Eighty-one percent indicated that they would like to be more active and perceived lack of accessibility, partners, and knowledge of PA resources as the most constraining factors. Respondents in low-income categories cited significantly higher psychological and accessibility constraints. Inactive LTPA respondents perceived significantly higher constraints overall, with knowledge and accessibility having the largest effect sizes. No differences were found based on age and gender. Conclusions. This study highlighted that among Latinos, there may be an opportunity to increase activity levels by targeting knowledge about PA resources, increasing access to opportunities for PA, and enhancing the social environment for PA. Such efforts that target these constraints to increase PA may ultimately improve health.

Political ideology is one of the most powerful predictors of perceptions about environmental sustainability and related behaviors. The purpose of this study was to investigate how sport fans' sustainability-specific values, perceptions, and norms related to awareness, engagement, and influence of USA collegiate sport sustainability efforts based on political affiliation, accounting for age and gender. Data were collected using an online survey distributed to season ticket holders after the 2019 college football season that featured three sponsored sustainability initiatives at each home game. Multivariate analysis of variance and chi-square difference tests found that self-identified Democrats reported significantly higher pro-environmental values and norms, but sustainability program engagement, sponsored initiatives awareness, and influence of initiatives on behavior were politically neutral. Path analysis found that ascription of responsibility was a significant predictor of sustainability-related engagement and behaviors for both Independents and Republicans. The results and discussion sections highlight how academics and practitioners can account for political affiliation when creating campaign messaging for environmental initiatives.

Purpose
Athletic departments play an important role in sustainability-based collaborative processes due to their boundary spanning connections with both internal and external university stakeholders. As a result, athletic department representatives have become prominent members of university participant-governed network structures. The purpose of this study is to examine the role of dedicated "athletics green teams" as a unique form of control and coordination by considering how green team interactions support and augment the collaborative network of actors who are responsible for executing athletics sustainability practices on university campuses.


Design/methodology/approach
A sociocentric analysis is used to explore the network of a green team at a large American university. The analysis focuses on examining the size, composition and structure of relations involving green team members that facilitated various forms of information transmission and strategic action(s).


Findings
The results highlight how the presence of the athletic department in the green team provides heterophilous and multiplex relations across the collaborative network and how the green team itself provides a unique forum for planning and coordination, which is critical for providing more sophisticated, advanced structures for sustainability.


Practical implications
The findings of this study should reassure practitioners involved in convening green teams that such shared governance structures add value to athletics sustainability collaborative processes. In addition, subtle changes to the network governance structures has the potential to streamline the contribution of athletic departments to university sustainability initiatives and help project a more cohesive "Athletics" sustainability message that transmits across the collaborative network.


Originality/value
The outcomes of dedicated athletics green teams have been explored from a largely qualitative perspective. However, this study applies a novel relational approach to understand the shared governance value-added within a largely intra-organizational collaborative network.

Purpose. To examine which school sports engage children in more physical activity. Design. Observational, cross-sectional study examining differences between intramural (IM) and interscholastic (IS) sports. Setting. Athletic facilities at two schools with IM sports and two schools with IS sports in Wake County, North Carolina. Subjects. Middle-school children (N = 6735) Measures. Percentage of children observed in sedentary, moderate, and vigorous activity assessed by the System for Observation Play and Leisure Among Youth (SOPLAY). Energy expenditure and physical activity intensity were also estimated by using MET values. Analysis. T-tests; generalized linear model using cumulative logit link function. Results. IM sports had higher MET values than IS sports (t = −3.69, p < .001), and IM sports ranked in four of the top five sports in terms of average MET values. Regression models found a significant interaction between school sport delivery model and gender, with boys significantly less physically active in IS programs than boys in IM programs (B = –.447, p < .001) but more physically active (B = .359, p < .001) than girls in IM sports. Conclusion. Regardless of sport type, IM sports generated more physical activity than IS sports among boys but not girls. Soccer, basketball, and track, regardless of school delivery approach, provide the highest physical activity levels. Results suggest that school administrators consider reassessing their programs to more efficiently use diminishing resources to increase students' physical activity levels.