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The quality of undergraduate student writing is cause for concern among academics and industry professionals alike. Because writing apprehension is thought to be a contributing factor in the current deficit of undergraduate writing proficiency, the Writing Apprehension Test (WAT) was administered to parks, recreation, and tourism students to determine change in self-reported levels of writing apprehension as a result of a writing intervention program. The writing intervention program centered on the use of graduate writing mentorship and scaffolded, authentic writing assignments. Differences in pre- and post-WAT scores indicated lowered levels of writing apprehension for the intervention group. Additional analyses were conducted by deconstructing items included in the WAT into four subsets (e.g., enjoyment of writing, confident in ability, self-esteem, evaluation of writing), furthering empirical research on the WAT itself. Findings suggest that mentorship and authentic writing assignments within the discipline may be a viable avenue for improvement in undergraduate writing ability.

Objective: To examine the presence of body image concerns, drive for muscularity, and disordered eating behaviors in collegiate student-athletes. Participants: One hundred and one NCAA Division I student-athletes participated in Phase I; 15 of these also participated in Phase II. Methods: This study employed a mixed method, sequential explanatory design. Participants first completed survey measures assessing body image concern, drive for muscularity, and eating behaviors. These results influenced open-ended, semi-structured interviews, which were thematically analyzed. Results: Body image and disordered eating behaviors were of greater concern than drive for muscularity. Student-athletes reported engaging in eating behaviors as opposed to not eating, yet these eating behaviors trended toward disordered behaviors such as obsessive "healthy eating" or orthorexia. Conclusions: This study took a novel methodological approach to examining student-athlete body image and eating behaviors. Results emphasize the need for further support and education for student-athletes around body image and eating behaviors.

While I have always considered my approach to teaching to be student-centered, teaching during a pandemic challenged me to critically examine my teaching philosophy and practices. Guided by principles of the pedagogy of kindness, I sought student input as we collaboratively modified our courses during the COVID-19-induced shift to online learning. Through this, I found that extending compassion to students, while not compromising the rigor or course expectations, resulted in high student engagement and learning, particularly as evidenced through weekly check-ins and end of semester feedback. This paper will provide a brief synopsis of the pedagogy of kindness, offer a glimpse into the student-teacher collaborative effort of assignment and course modification, and highlight the reality that sometimes, before we see the 'wins' of content knowledge or critical thinking in our students, we first need to shore up their hearts.

Evidence suggests that contemporary children are spending less time outdoors than their predecessors. Concurrent reports also highlight the rise of electronic media use in the lives of youth. We explored relationships between self-reported outdoor time, screen time, and connection to nature in a sample of sixth- to eighth-grade students across rural South Carolina (N = 543). We found that most youth spent time outdoors, but they spent more time with electronic media. The outdoor versus screen time discrepancy was particularly pronounced for girls, African Americans, and eighth graders. Connection to nature, linked to outdoor time, was highest among boys, White students, and sixth graders. Our study contributes to growing evidence highlighting the negative influence of escalating screen time on outdoor time and connection to nature during adolescence. Programs designed to address these troubling trends could focus on two groups at particularly high risk: girls and youth of color. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Natural mentoring relationships have been linked to diverse outcomes in youth; however, little research has examined the role of natural mentors in adolescent eating disorder symptomatology. The present study applied a strength‐based, positive youth development (PYD) perspective to examine the cross‐sectional relations among disordered eating attitudes and behaviors, PYD, and natural mentoring relationships. We used data from 975 9th‐grade youth (61.1% female; meanage = 15.01, standard deviation = 0.73) who participated in the 4‐H Study of PYD. Natural mentoring relationships had a differential association with outcomes based on youth sex. Natural mentors were linked to higher levels of PYD in both males and females, but these relationships were more strongly linked to eating disorder symptomatology and PYD in males. Having a natural mentor predicted significantly lower body dissatisfaction in males, but not in females. Natural mentoring relationships did buffer the relation between drive for thinness symptoms and PYD in females. The present study provides evidence for the benefits natural mentors may provide to youth reporting disordered eating attitudes and behaviors. The findings suggest taking an ecological approach to eating disorder symptomatology and ways youth–adult partnerships can be leveraged or nurtured to promote positive and healthy development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]