This study examined the role of men athletes in framing women athletes in marketing images, and CrossFit was used as the sport-specific context. The purpose was to understand how consumers perceive women athletes, whether the presence of men athletes influences these perceptions, and if consumers perceive women athletes to be represented more accurately when pictured alone or with male counterparts. Using a mixed-methods approach involving both quantitative and qualitative analysis, questionnaires (n = 389) and interviews (n = 19) were utilized to gather participants’ perceptions on videos featuring all women CrossFit athletes and/or those with men and women CrossFit athletes. Results showed that consumers’ perceptions began to shift when looking at their athletic competence, although a focus on appearance remained. While the results of the questionnaires revealed no clear correlation between the presence of men athletes and the perception of women athletes, the interviews suggested a relationship, highlighting the complex role that male athletes play. Overall, the study indicates that consumers perceive women athletes to be framed more accurately when pictured alone and offers valuable insights into how men athletes affect consumers’ perceptions of women athletes.
Browse
Does He Make a Difference? Analyzing the Role of Men Athletes in the Framing of Elite Women CrossFit Athletes in Sportswear Retailers’ Marketing Materials
Alexandra Gibson and Andrea N. Geurin
Volume 32 (2024): Issue 5 (Oct 2024)
Volume 21 (2024): Issue 10 (Oct 2024)
Volume 46 (2024): Issue 5 (Oct 2024)
Motor Competence as Key to Support Healthy Development of 3- to 5-Year-Old Children: An Expert Statement on Behalf of the International Motor Development Research Consortium
Clarice Martins, Nadia C. Valentini, Arja Sääkslahti, Eileen K. Africa, E. Kipling Webster, Glauber Nobre, Leah E. Robinson, Michael Duncan, Patrizia Tortella, Paulo F. Bandeira, and Lisa M. Barnett
The first years of life are an optimal time for developing motor competence. However, the evidence regarding motor competence in early childhood is fragmented and needs to be clearly synthesized and presented. To establish effective evidence-based decision making in research, practice, and policy for the early years, this expert statement, on behalf of the International Motor Development Research Consortium, draws together what is currently known about 3- to 5-year-old children on (a) how skilled are children around the world, (b) the link between motor competence and healthy developmental outcomes, and (c) the capacity to improve children’s motor competence through intervention. This expert statement presents a summary of recent evidence for each of these specific points, followed by recommendations for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers.
Prospective Association Between 24-Hour Movement Behaviors and Fundamental Movement Skills in Chinese Preschoolers During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Compositional and Reallocation Analysis
Huiqi Song, Patrick W.C. Lau, Jing-Jing Wang, Peng Zhou, and Lei Shi
Background: This prospective observation study explored the association between 24-hour movement behaviors and fundamental movement skills (FMS) in Chinese preschoolers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Four hundred and eighteen preschoolers (226 males; 4.0 [0.6] y old) from Zhuhai, China, completed the device-based physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior measures, and sleep duration was reported by parents at baseline (October 2021 to December 2021). FMS was assessed using the Test of Gross Motor Development: Third Edition at 1-year follow-up (October 2022 to December 2022). The compositional analysis and isotemporal substitution were used. Results: Moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) was positively associated with locomotor skills and ball skills (P < .05), and light physical activity was negatively associated with locomotor skills (P < .05) during the COVID-19 pandemic. FMS improvements were linked to the addition of MVPA at the expense of light physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep. The estimated detriments to FMS were larger in magnitude than the estimated benefits of time reallocation from MVPA to light physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep. Conclusions: This study provides evidence about 24-hour movement behaviors and FMS during the COVID-19 pandemic and highlights the importance of participating in MVPA to improve preschoolers’ FMS development during the COVID-19 era.
“I Use Technologies Strategically With My Family Now”: Practices That Parents Value to Promote Physical Activity in Young Children
Juliana Zabatiero, Laura Stone, Derek McCormack, David Zarb, Andrea Nolan, Kate Highfield, Helen Skouteris, Susan Edwards, and Leon Straker
Background: Although widely accessible digital technology (DT) provided multiple opportunities for young children’s play, learning, and development, it also raised parents and professionals’ concerns regarding its impact on children’s physical activity. This study aimed to identify practices involving DT that were valued by parents in helping their young child to be physically active. Methods: Participants were parents of ambulatory young children (less than 5 y of age) engaged with a playgroup. The study involved representatives from 3 service organizations, who compiled a list of digital resources related to using DT to promote children’s physical activity that were suitable to be shared and trialed by parents and young children. During a pretrial workshop, researchers, participants, and organization representatives collaboratively developed the intervention, which involved the delivery of selected resources by weekly email, over a 12-week period. Participants provided weekly feedback about their experiences and participated in a postintervention semistructured qualitative interview. Results: Thirteen families, with children aged between 15 and 36 months, completed the trial. Participants reported several valued practices to promote their children’s physical activity, including those where the child was active while engaging with DT, where child engagement with DT acted as a prompt for later physical activity, where DT assisted parents in planning physical activity, where DT assisted parents in integrating movement with learning and play, and where DT was used to reinforce the child’s enthusiasm for physical activity. Conclusions: Parents reported several valued practices where children were physically active, rather than sedentary, while using digital technology.
Implementation Evaluation of a Parks- and Faith-Based Multilevel Intervention to Promote Physical Activity Among Latinos
Lilian G. Perez, Tara Blagg, Alane Celeste-Villalvir, Gabriela Castro, Michael A. Mata, Sergio Perez, Elva Arredondo, Steven Loy, Anne Larson, and Kathryn P. Derose
Background: Latinos in the United States face multiple barriers to engaging in physical activity (PA). We implemented a faith-based multilevel intervention to promote PA in parks for Latino adults, which was partially adapted to a virtual platform during the COVID-19 pandemic, and evaluated it using the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance framework. Methods: We conducted in-depth semistructured interviews (83% in Spanish) with 24 intervention participants (75% women) participating in a cluster randomized controlled trial in 2019–2022 that linked 6 churches (3 intervention, 3 control) with parks in East Los Angeles, CA. The intervention included in-person, park-based fitness classes, which were adapted to Facebook during the pandemic; PA motivational text messages; and other activities. Interviews assessed Reach (participation), Effectiveness (perceived impacts), Implementation (participation barriers/facilitators), and Maintenance (plans for sustaining PA), as well as perceived pandemic impacts. Results: About 80% of interviewees participated in ≥1 park class and 67% in ≥1 virtual class (Reach). Interviewees perceived positive intervention impacts across multiple health and well-being domains (Effectiveness) despite perceived negative pandemic impacts; several facilitators to participation (personal, social, program) and few barriers (personal, virtual, environmental; Implementation); and plans for maintaining PA (eg, revisiting intervention text messages and video recordings; Maintenance). Conclusions: Findings support the utility of Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance to understand the broad impacts of a faith-based PA intervention. Findings point to the adaptability and robustness of the intervention during a public health crisis. Overall, findings may help inform the translation of the intervention to other communities to advance health equity.
Associations Between Substitution of Sedentary Behavior Patterns With Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Adolescents: A 3-Year Longitudinal Study
Leonardo Alex Volpato, Vinícius Muller Reis Weber, Wendell Arthur Lopes, Jeffer Eidi Sasaki, Catiana Leila Possamai Romanzini, Enio Ricardo Vaz Ronque, and Marcelo Romanzini
Background: Little is known on how the substitution of time spent in sedentary behavior (SB) patterns with time spent in physical activity impacts cardiovascular risk factors during adolescence. The study aimed to investigate how the substitution of time spent in SB and sedentary bouts with time spent in different physical activity intensities was associated with longitudinal changes in cardiovascular risk factors in analyses stratified by sex. Methods: This is a prospective cohort study with a mean follow-up period of 3.2 (±0.34) years, involving 109 (60 girls and 49 boys) Brazilian adolescents. Body mass index, waist circumference, and cardiorespiratory fitness were the cardiovascular risk factors considered. A cardiovascular risk score was calculated. Sedentary bouts, light physical activity (LPA), and moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) were measured by accelerometers. Multivariate linear regression models adopting the isotemporal substitution were used to analyze the association between substitution of 10 minutes per day of sedentary bouts with LPA and MVPA and risk factors. All analyses considered 5% significance levels. Results: Substitutions of SB, short and long bouts, with MVPA were associated with higher cardiorespiratory fitness in boys (β = 0.077; 95% confidence interval, 0.001 to 0.55; β = 0.076; 95% confidence interval, 0.003 to 0.154; and β = 0.084; 95% confidence interval, 0.001 to 0.167, respectively). No associations were observed when analyses involved substitution of sedentary bouts with LPA, adiposity, cardiovascular risk score, and girls. Conclusions: Substituting SB bouts with MVPA appears to favorably influence changes of cardiorespiratory fitness in boys during adolescence. Greater benefits appear to occur when longer sedentary bouts are substituted by MVPA.
Throwing Them Under the Bus: The Framing of a Critical Incident at the Tour de France
Ryan Snelgrove, Laura Wood, Larena Hoeber, and Orland Hoeber
In the context of sport events, several stakeholders’ reputations could be impacted by critical incidents, including event organizers, athletes, teams, countries represented by athletes, and sponsors. The purposes of this study were to develop an understanding of (a) how an event organizer, media, and the public framed a critical incident in a rhetorical arena and (b) how frames were connected with the reputations of event stakeholders immediately following a critical incident. A three-phase approach was employed that involved collecting and analyzing data from X/Twitter about a bus crash at the 2013 Tour de France. The critical incident was framed in nine different ways, many of which were emergent. Findings demonstrated that critical incidents at a sport event are interpreted and framed in multiple ways and can have an impact on the reputations of the event and other event stakeholders.