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This study examined the relative ways in which muscularity and thinness concerns longitudinally influence adolescents’ intentions to use doping substances. It was hypothesized that muscularity and thinness exert their effects on doping intentions by promoting endorsement of positive attitudes toward doping use in male and female adolescents and across different levels of sport involvement. To test this hypothesis, nearly 900 high school adolescents provided questionnaire data on two separate occasions during an academic year. On average, boys, as well as boys and girls who practice some sport, had relatively strong concerns about muscularity, whereas girls showed relatively strong thinness concerns. Boys also expressed more positive attitudes about doping than did girls. Structural equation modeling showed that muscularity and thinness have direct effects on adolescents’ intentions to engage in doping and that muscularity, but not thinness, partly exerts its effects through the endorsement of positive attitudes toward doping.

The present study evaluated whether, and to what extent, the constructs implicated in the theory of planned behavior could predict behavioral intention to exercise and exercise-class attendance of older adults (age 65–90 years) already enrolled in a physical activity program. The study also evaluated whether including self-efficacy judgments might improve the predictive capacity of the model. Participants (N = 1,095) were randomly sampled Italian volunteers from exercise classes for older adults. First, they completed questionnaires assessing the above-mentioned constructs. Then, class attendance was recorded during the following 3 months. Results indicated a substantial correspondence between the model and the data. Perceived behavioral control and self-efficacy were the strongest predictors of behavioral intention, whereas attitudes and subjective norms only partially contributed to its prediction. The inclusion of self-efficacy improved the predictive capacity of the overall model. Finally, results showed a weak relation between behavioral intention and attendance rate in physical activity sessions.

The aim of the study was to evaluate sleep complaints in two groups of subjects all involved in sport but differing with respect to their level of commitment and weekly amount of practice. The first group was composed of 103 elite Italian Olympic athletes. The second group consisted of 198 recreational athletes, divided into two subsets on the basis of their self-reported habitual weekly amount of exercise. Subjects were requested to complete a short questionnaire (SDQ) assessing the presence and intensity of sleep disorders according to DSM-IV-TR and ICSD-2 criteria. A logistic regression was carried out to assess any differences in sleep disorders between Olympic and recreational athletes. The Olympic athletes were more likely to show no sleep disorders and less likely to show chronic or occasional sleep disorders as compared to both the other groups of athletes. No differences were found between the two subsets of recreational athletes.