Search Results

High-quality mentoring is a vital component of graduate education that leads to degree completion. For many students and faculty members, the traditional model of mentorship based on a fixed hierarchy is no longer viable because of the increasing complexity of higher education, diversification of graduate student career paths, and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. For the success of our students and graduate programs, it is essential that kinesiology leaders place renewed effort on supporting the mentoring relationship through departmental strategies. Effective mentoring can assist students in feeling competent, autonomous, and connected with others. The purpose of this paper is to explore the three components of a contemporary model of mentorship—transparent socialization, mutually shared expectations, and the student as a whole individual.

The purpose of our quasi-experimental study was to examine the impact of the Girls on the Run (GOTR) program on multidimensional self-concept and attitudes toward fat. Young girls (N= 21) participated in a 12-week running program designed to increase their running ability, self-esteem, and, in general, their emotional, social, and mental well-being. It was hypothesized that girls would experience favorable changes in their global self-esteem, appearance, peer, physical, and running self-concepts and their attitudes toward fat. The overall RM-ANOVA examining for pre to post differences was significant, F(13, 8) = 26.46, p < .001, η² = .977, and follow-up within subjects contrasts revealed three significant differences: Physical, F(1, 20) = 6.24, p < .02, η² = .24, and running self-concept, F(1, 20) = 11.18, p< .003, η² = .36, as well as fear of fat, F(1, 20) = 4.37, p < .049, η² = .18, were all significant with meaningful effect sizes. These findings provided preliminary support for the major goal of the GOTR program, enhancing physical and running self-concept with some support for secondary gains in nonphysical ability areas (i.e., reductions in fear of fat).