Secrecy Surrounding the Physical Abuse of Child Athletes in Australia

Over the past two decades there has been a growing awareness that sport may not be a positive experience for all children. For example, we know that some children experience sexual abuse in the context of organised sport, and that these offences are often committed by trusted adults, including coaches and club officials. However, less attention has been given to the physical abuse of child athletes. This paper presents a study that explored children's experiences of organised sport, as recounted by young people between the ages of 18 and 25 years in Australia. The study explored the experience of child physical abuse in organised sport including violence, overtraining, and training while injured. A mixed methods research design produced 107 survey responses and 10 in-depth interviews with young adults. Most respondents reported the positive impact that participating in sport had had on their development, but more than a third of the respondents also described experiences of overtraining, being forced to train when injured or of direct physical violence. Drawing upon a thematic analysis of the qualitative data, a conceptual model has been developed and is presented to assist in the understanding of the dynamic of secrecy, which may facilitate ongoing physical harm to children in this context.     

Marital Quality,Socioeconomic Status,and Physical Health

Recent efforts to promote marriage among the socioeconomically disadvantaged are based on the assumption that marriage is equally beneficial for persons with varying levels of socioeconomic status. Using 3 waves of data from a sample of married adults (the National Survey of Families and Households; N = 1,849), the authors evaluated whether the health benefits of marital happiness and the health costs of marital conflict might vary by education and income levels. They found that increases in marital happiness were associated with increases in self‐rated health for individuals with more education. In addition, increases in marital conflict were linked to greater increases in functional impairment for persons with lower income. Although the results were not consistent and effect sizes were modest, the evidence nonetheless tentatively suggests that higher levels of marital happiness may be less beneficial for health and that higher levels of marital conflict may be more detrimental to health among persons with lower socioeconomic status.     

Antibiotics

Abstract

This study of a college population showed that group A streptococcal pharyngitis accounted for 0.6%–2.5% of total visits to the student health service for the academic years 1977–78, 1978–79, and 1979–80. Streptococcal pharyngitis accounted for 4.0%–13.6% of all throat cultures performed. The prevalence of reported acute rheumatic fever (ARF) in this population was virtually nonexistent.

Review of medical records for 346 cases of streptococcal pharyngitis for academic year 1979–80 revealed that 253 (73%) were treated with oral penicillin V potassium. Nine (4.8%) repeat positive cultures occurred in 188 persons presenting for reculture after completing their course of therapy. All of the repeat positive cases had been treated with oral antibiotics, and almost all responded to a second course of oral treatment. It appeared that oral penicillin was adequate as primary prevention of ARF in this population.

Despite pitfalls of the bacitracin disc method, results of negative cultures prevented unnecessary antibiotic treatment in a population at low risk for ARF. The incidence of penicillin allergy approached 1%, supporting other studies that the risk of penicillin allergy is greater than the risk of ARF.     

Women’s microfinance participation and HIV literacy in Bangladesh: results from a nationally representative study

ABSTRACT

This study evaluated the association between microfinance participation and HIV literacy within a nationally representative sample of 3,614 married women aged 15–49 years from the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey, 2011. Using logistic regression, we assessed the relationship between microfinance participation and HIV literacy. Controlling for demographic factors such as wealth, age, and education, we found that microfinance participants were 30% more likely to be HIV literate, in comparison with women who did not participate in microfinance. These results suggest that microfinance is a cost-effective way to enhance HIV literacy for poor, less educated women in rural areas of Bangladesh.     

Assessing the “Good Life” in a Military Context: How Does Life and Work-Satisfaction Relate to Orientations to Happiness and Career-Success Among Swiss Professional Officers?

The study examines work- and life satisfaction along with orientation to happiness, and their relation to subjective but also objective career success, among Swiss military professional officers. They frequently report worsening of their working conditions due to two reforms that have recently been conducted. A total of N = 221 Swiss career officers (mainly Land Forces; from Colonel to First Lieutenant) completed several questionnaires in an online survey. As expected, pleasure, engagement and meaning were positively related to satisfaction with life and the meaningful life also correlated with the (overall) work satisfaction. Higher subjective career success was related to higher satisfaction with life, content-related aspects of work satisfaction, and higher endorsements to the engaged and the meaningful life. Belonging to the general staff was considered as an objective criterion of career success and those who were in the general staff, were higher in their overall work satisfaction, content-related aspects of their work and, again, higher inclination to the life of engagement and the life of meaning. The study suggests that variables of positive psychological functioning are useful additions in the field of military psychology and that they might hold a key for the development of strategies for improving both, work- and life satisfaction among military personnel.     

Young adult's immediate reaction to a personal alcohol overdose

Following an emergency medical transport for alcohol overdose, first-year college students were asked to complete a survey assessing their reactions to the transport experience, their assessment of why they required this emergency response, and plans for future personal alcohol consumption. Transported students who responded to a baseline survey of all first-year students regarding expectations about alcohol are compared to first-year students overall. The 50 first-year transported students did not perceive themselves at risk for alcohol overdose prior to the event and were typically not heavy consumers of alcohol. The majority attributed the overdose event to bad decision making. Most students planned to alter the amount and the pace of their future alcohol consumption. Additional education on the circumstances of alcohol overdose may help young adults learn their own limits for safe consumption.     

Impact of marital and psychological distress on therapeutic alliance in couples undergoing couple therapy

In this study, we describe the psychometric properties of the Couple Therapy Alliance Scale--revised (CTAS-r) and investigates the impact of marital and psychiatric distress on alliance. Seventy-nine couples in therapy completed a French version of the Dyadic Adjustment Scale and of the Psychiatric Symptoms Index at session one, and a French version of the CTAS-r at session three. Results indicate that the French version of the CTAS-r has adequate psychometric properties, although the subscales of the instrument are highly intercorrelated. Furthermore, marital adjustment predicts alliance scores, whereas psychiatric symptoms do not. Finally, male marital adjustment and female psychiatric symptoms are lower in couples where spouses have divergent perceptions of the alliance. Future research directions are discussed.     

Bad luck or bad decisions: college students' perceptions of the reasons for and consequences of their alcohol overdose

Reasons for and immediate consequences of an alcohol overdose were explored for 217 undergraduate students requiring a medical emergency transport because of excessive alcohol consumption. The sample was categorized into 26 students attributing their overdose solely to bad luck and 191 students citing bad decision making as an explanation. A discriminant analysis portrayed the bad luck students as more likely to change the type of alcohol consumed, worrying more about problems with friends, less likely to change how much they drink and less likely to feel that they learned something about themselves. Friends were not named as being involved, but lapses in knowing how to pace consumption were frequently cited. Design of preventive educational programs for underage drinkers with the aim of avoiding an overdose is discussed.     

Association between sex,race/ethnicity,season, day of week,and alcohol use and related risks in college student athletes and nonathletes

Objective: To examine personal and social constructs (eg, sex, race) and external influences (ie, competition schedules) that are associated with the pattern and amount of alcohol consumption by student athletes compared to nonathletes. Participants: Students (n?=?2,984; 57% female, 61% white, 16% athlete) on a single campus were surveyed in Fall 2011 and Spring 2012. Methods: Anonymous surveys included demographics, alcohol use, and related problems. Results: Student athletes consumed more alcohol than nonathletes, with male and white athletes posing the highest levels of risk for heavy consumption. Expanded examination of in- and out-of-season athletes found out-of-season athletes drink more frequently and more per occasion than their in-season peers. Athletes were more likely than nonathletes to drink on specific days of the week and daily patterns differed between in- and out-of-season athletes. Conclusions: The risk of athlete status is moderated by sex, race, season, and day of the week.