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This study draws on data gathered in the 2019 Monitoring the Future study of 12th grade students in the United States (N = 1,435; 711 males, 724 females) to examine associations between sports and exercise participation, use of narcotic pain relievers, and concussion frequency. Multinomial logistic regression analyses showed concussion frequency increased with increased frequency of exercise and sports participation. In sport- specific analyses involving males, basketball and football participants were more likely to have sustained one concussion, while baseball, basketball, football, and wrestling competitors showed higher odds of sustaining more than one. Among females, basketball and track participants were more likely to have sustained one concussion, with basketball and soccer participants showing higher odds of sustaining more than one. Use of narcotic pain relievers on three or more occasions associated with increased male concussion frequency, while use of the substances once or twice associated with an increase in concussions among females. Implications, limitations, and recommendations for future research are provided. Keywords: Adolescents; concussions; high-school sports; pain relievers, Research suggests that approximately 14% of high-school students in the United States have misused prescription opioids at some point in their lives and that individuals who misuse the substances are [...]

When challenger Jack Johnson took to the ring against heavyweight champion Tommy Burns, newspapers across the US quickly cast the bout as a battle between the races. Johnson, an African American, won the battle decisively and began his reign atop the world of prize fighting. This examination of content in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch seeks to inform newspaper coverage of Johnson during his time as the heavyweight champion, and considers the racial attitudes of Joseph Pulitzer and those of his son, Joseph Pulitzer II. The study finds that while the Post-Dispatch acknowledged Johnson as champion and occasionally published dignified photos of the boxer, content became contemptuous after his 1910 victory over former champion James Jeffries. Although the boxers appeared more likely than the newspaper to use racial epithets, the Post-Dispatch published multiple derogatory and racist cartoons of Johnson. Despite the lofty journalistic principles Pulitzer espoused and the perceived historical accuracy of those ideals—a 2016 editorial in the Post-Dispatch stated that Pulitzer "championed racial justice and women's rights decades before those ideas were popularly held"—history demonstrates a newspaper unconcerned with the sensibilities of African Americans while Johnson reigned as heavyweight champ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Binge drinking is a major public health concern on college campuses and shares a deep connection to sporting culture. As such, student-athletes are potential referent points for addressing this destructive behavior among the student body. This study utilizes the theoretical frameworks of the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) and parasocial relationships (PSRs) to investigate the effects that student-athletes' health advocacy has on college students' attitudinal and behavioral intentions to binge drink. Analysis of data collected from 161 college students, who met the clinical definition of binge drinkers, indicated that issue involvement was associated with more favorable attitudes and the intention to continue drinking, and a disregard for student-athlete health advocacy. Greater degrees of source involvement (i.e., PSR), with depicted student-athletes, however, was found to positively affect elaboration and indirectly foster behavioral intentions to cease binge drinking. Results enhance our understanding of the ELM by suggesting source involvement – as opposed to issue involvement – can be an effective means of encouraging elaboration and decreasing college students' behavioral intentions to binge drink. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on data gathered in the 2009 Monitoring the Future study of American youth, and controlling for race and noncompetitive exercise frequency, this research examined the explanatory effects of competitive sports participation on alcohol consumption and marijuana use as well as the nonmedical use of prescription pain relievers among American high school seniors. Also including a self-esteem index in multivariate analysis of covariance equations, the study found that, among males, football players used all three substances at comparably high levels. In addition, females with comparably low levels of self-esteem smoked marijuana and used prescription drugs more frequently. Limitations of the study and recommendations for future research are offered.

Drawing on contact, social identity, and self-categorization theories, this study examines the extent to which adolescent sports participation associates with (a) concern about the treatment of minority groups and (b) worry about race relations in the United States. Based on data gathered in the 2016 Monitoring the Future study of twelfth-grade students, the study finds that females, Hispanic study participants, respondents in the West region, and sports participants expressed greater concern about minority treatment. On the second dependent variable, females, Black study participants, and respondents in the West region indicated greater worry about race relations. The study also examined whether attitudes appeared to vary across baseball/softball, basketball, and soccer participation. Baseball/softball participants, who were predominantly White, expressed less concern about minority groups but did not differ from others on attitudes toward race relations. Additionally, while Black adolescents competing in baseball/softball and soccer worried about race relations at relatively high levels, those competing in basketball expressed significantly less concern. Implications and recommendations for future research are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grounded in symbolic interactionism and drawing on data gathered in the 2007 Monitoring the Future Study (n = 2,201), this research examines how self-esteem and perceived intelligence, as well as attitudes and behaviors related to school environments, associate with perceptions of anabolic-androgenic steroids. With perceived risk and approval/disapproval of steroid use as dependent measures, logistic regression models identified explanatory effects for sex, race, newspaper exposure, and peer use of steroids, with males, Whites, those who seldom read the newspaper, and those with friends who had used steroids estimating lower levels of risk and indicating less disapproval. Those who viewed themselves as being more intelligent than their peers as well as those with higher levels of self-esteem estimated higher levels of risk and expressed greater disapproval, whereas those who indicated "hating" school and those who had skipped school the most estimated lower risk and less disapproval. Logit log-linear models identified the most parsimonious representations of variable relationships, demonstrating how the presence of a self-esteem index stands to reduce the centrality of sex and race as explanatory measures. (Contains 4 tables.)

This pilot study was designed to assess the perceptions of physical therapy (PT) and occupational therapy (OT) students regarding the use of computer-assisted pedagogy and prosection-oriented communications in the laboratory component of a human anatomy course at a comprehensive health sciences university in the southeastern United States. The goal was to determine whether student perceptions changed over the course of a summer session regarding verbal, visual, tactile, and web-based teaching methodologies. Pretest and post-test surveys were distributed online to students who volunteered to participate in the pilot study. Despite the relatively small sample size, statistically significant results indicated that PT and OT students who participated in this study perceived an improved ability to name major anatomical structures from memory, to draw major anatomical structures from memory, and to explain major anatomical relationships from memory. Students differed in their preferred learning styles. This study demonstrates that the combination of small group learning and digital web-based learning seems to increase PT and OT students' confidence in their anatomical knowledge. Further research is needed to determine which forms of integrated instruction lead to improved student performance in the human gross anatomy laboratory. (Contains 2 tables.)

Grounded conceptually in social cognitive theory, this research examines how personal, behavioral, and environmental factors are associated with risk perceptions of anabolic-androgenic steroids. Ordinal logistic regression and logit log-linear models applied to data gathered from high-school seniors (N = 2,160) in the 2005 Monitoring the Future study showed significant explanatory effects for sex, race, exposure to drug spots, steroid availability, peer use of steroids, sensation-seeking, depression, and self-esteem. Females, African Americans, and those who had seen drug spots the most frequently estimated higher levels of risk associated with steroid use, while those who indicated ease in obtaining steroids and those with close friends who had used the drugs estimated lower risk. Also estimating lower levels of risk were sensation seekers, those who appeared depressed, and those with low levels of self-esteem. Analyses reveal how steroid risk determinants may differ from those related to methylenedioxymethamphetamine (i.e., MDMA, ecstasy) and marijuana use. (Contains 3 tables and 5 notes.)

Grounded in social cognitive theory, this study examines how a combination of personal, behavioral and environmental factors among youth populations correspond with attitudes toward competition, concern for material items, and the effects of advertising practices in the United States. Of particular interest was whether school-sponsored sports participation appeared to influence respondent attitudes. Drawing on data gathered from high school seniors in the 2005 Monitoring the Future study (N = 2,579), ordinary least squares (OLS) and ordinal logistic regression analyses revealed greater support for societal competition, material items, and persuasive advertising appeals among men, those who socialized the most with friends, and those who participated the most in school-sponsored sports. In addition to sex and socializing with friends, controls included race, exposure to print media, and participation in recreational sports. (Contains 5 notes and 5 tables.)

In 1969, author Bil Gilbert wrote a three-part series on performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) for Sports Illustrated. Garry Valk, publisher of the magazine, characterised the series as 'the first comprehensive and authoritative study of a vastly complicated problem.' This study examined the influence of the Gilbert series on newspaper coverage of PEDs and the reactions of policymakers to both the magazine investigation and subsequent newspaper reporting. Coverage of amphetamines and anabolic steroids increased significantly in the three years following the series, while references to anti-inflammatory drugs and painkillers decreased. These patterns reflected an apparent shift from restorative aids to additive substances following the magazine investigation. Additionally, one in three sources cited in Sports Illustrated served as a news source in subsequent press coverage, and some of those sources then testified at government hearings held at the state and national levels. Government hearings on PEDs appeared to function more symbolically than substantively, as did anti-drug campaigns and resolutions in sporting organisations. The study considers implications for sport history and the regulation of performance-enhancing drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on a national probability sample of high school seniors (n = 2,560), this research explores relationships between exposure to four types of mass communication--magazines, movies, newspapers, and television--and attitudes toward anabolic steroids, operationalized along three dependent measures. Logistic regression analyses revealed statistically significant relationships among (a) magazine exposure and estimates of drug use in professional sports, (b) newspaper and television exposure and disapproval of steroid use, (c) newspaper exposure and estimates of self-inflicted harm caused by steroid use, and (d) exposure to anti-drug spots and each of the three dependent variables. Theoretical and methodological implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Drawing on components of agenda-setting theory and the two-step flow of information from mass media to news audiences, this study examines the effects of mass and interpersonal communication on breast cancer screening practices among college- and middle-aged women (n = 284). We theorized that screening behaviors among younger women would be influenced more by interpersonal sources of information while screening among middle-aged women would be more influenced by exposure to mass-mediated information. Findings supported anticipated patterns, revealing important and varying roles for both mass and interpersonal communication in the health behaviors of women. Implications for health practitioners and campaign planners, as well as recommendations for future research, are discussed. Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Health Communication; Breast Cancer

In the United States, the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA) classified dietary supplements as a subcategory of food, exempting manufacturers from providing premarket evidence of product safety and efficacy. Under DSHEA, agencies such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cannot inspect supplements until after the products have entered the marketplace. Recognizing that both limited resources and DSHEA prevent the FDA from conducting broad-based inspections on a regular basis, disreputable manufacturers have spiked products with drugs such as anabolic steroids and amphetamines. With contaminated supplements now causing athletes to fail drug tests and, in some instances, threatening public health, it becomes important to examine sources of supplement information. This article reviews 53 studies that have addressed athlete information sources about dietary supplements. It finds that athletes, in general, rely heavily on coaches and trainers as well as friends and family for information. Relative to U.S. athletes, those competing internationally appear more likely to seek information from a physician or nutritionist. The article offers recommendations for individuals and organizations based on the most frequent information sources identified by athletes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Designer steroids contain chemical structures "derived from, or substantially similar to" anabolic steroids, which became Schedule III controlled substances in the United States in 1990. Chemists create designer steroids by reverse engineering existing drugs, altering their chemical structures, and creating new compounds. Seeking to help curtail problems with steroid-spiked dietary supplements, the Designer Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 2014 classified 25 designer steroids, many contained in supplements, as controlled substances. Previous versions of the 2014 legislation, introduced in 2010 and 2012, had failed to become law despite consistent news accounts of supplements contaminated with conventional and designer steroids, as well as steroid precursors. Guided conceptually by a streams-of-influence model, the present article examines regulatory processes involving designer steroids and discusses limitations on the capacity of news outlets to build policy agendas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In studying media enjoyment, communication scholars have assumed a measurable, internally valid relationship between program content and viewer response. Drawing on literature from sport and social psychology in addition to communication, this article posits that media enjoyment reflects a coalescence of 3 factors: (a) social norms, (b) viewing situations, and (c) program content. The article explores this conceptualization with televised football as a content source, social norms that reflect hegemonic masculinity, and a viewing situation in which audience members are part of a homogenous social group. Drawing on uses and gratifications, social identity, disposition, and uncertainty reduction theories, the article suggests that social norms and viewing situations are ultimately as central to enjoyment as content is.

Extant research has discussed the importance of social climates surrounding sport-related concussion (SRC) reporting, especially the need to address parents/guardians' role in concussion management. This study explores parents/guardians' intentions toward SRC-related conversations with their children and their seeking of conversational resources via the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Data collected from 292 parents/guardians of 1st-12th graders who play contact sports are examined via a structural equation model. The results indicate that parents/guardians' intention toward communicating with their child about SRC reporting was determined by their attitudes and subjective norms but that perceived behavioral control was not a significant predictor of intention. Furthermore, parents/guardians' intention toward having these conversations was predictive of whether they sought information to aid these conversations. This study answers calls to address parents/guardians' involvement in SRC management and provides preliminary information for persuading parents/guardians to have conversations with their children about SRC reporting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the impact of a dramatic news event on press coverage of an issue, focusing on football player Lyle Alzado's attribution of brain cancer to anabolic steroid usage. It is posited that news events and their participants build contexts and expectations on which future coverage is based.

This study analyzed 264 athlete images featured on the covers of nine men's magazines across a 40-year period, 1980–2019. Among males, who accounted for 227 (81%) of the 264 athletes, African Americans and Latinos each represented 6 sports, most of which involved team competition, while White males represented 21 sports, many of which were individual. Analyses of position stacking in football showed White players in positions considered "central" to contest outcomes and Black athletes assigned to more "peripheral" roles. Among females, nearly all of whom were White, more than one in three participated in professional wrestling or sports entertainment. Other female athletes represented individual sports such as tennis and swimming. Overall, the study concludes that men's magazines reproduced stacking patterns observed in earlier research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses how The New York Times, through an investigative series on drug use and catastrophic breakdowns in U.S. horse racing, influenced policy initiatives across a 6-month period. Beginning with the March 25, 2012, exposé "Mangled Horses, Maimed Jockeys," the article analyzes how the newspaper helped define policy conversations at both the state and national levels. The article also addresses how the Interstate Horseracing Improvement Act of 2011, a fledgling piece of legislation, became what Kingdon described as a "solution in search of a problem" and thus a political lever in policy deliberations. Long recognized for its capacity to influence the content of other news outlets, the article concludes, The New York Tunes can also play an important role in legislative arenas, informing lawmakers of salient issues, as well as opportunities for substantive and symbolic policy actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]