In these female adults, endurance swimming was mildly associated with body adiposity. Age was not associated with body fat mass independently from swimming activity except with that measure reflecting abdominal visceral fat deposits. These data suggest that greater fat mass in female swimmers is more strongly related to lower levels of exercise than to age but that there is an additional influence of age on fat accumulation in the intra-abdominal area of the body.

No abstract

This study was an attempt to develop an easily coded, research-oriented instrument to assess teacher effectiveness in the class- room. A 35-item Likert format scale was developed which included three subscales of teacher effectiveness: classroom management, instruction, and classroom climate. The results of the study indicated that the Virgilio Teacher Behavior Inventory (VTBI) is a reliable and valid instrument which can be administered with confidence either in elementary or junior high schools. Instrument development included the generation of an initial pool of 80 items which was refined during pilot testing to a final 35-item version. Content validity of the VTBI was indicated by an assessment of a panel of judges. Estimates of internal consistency (coefficient alpha) were .96 for the total inventory and .88, .96, and .85 for the classroom management, instruction, and classroom climate subscales, respectively. The relationship between the VTBI and a time-on-task measure ( r = .64, p < .0001) provided an indication of concurrent validity. A five-factor solution consistent with the theoretical structure of the VTBI was obtained tentatively defining one classroom management, two instruction, and two classroom climate dimensions.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between religiousness and alcohol use of adolescents. A sample of high school seniors was drawn based on the second follow-up National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88). Multiple regression was employed using a hierarchical strategy to determine the impact of religiousness on alcohol use when accounting for other factors that have been shown to affect alcohol use. The results provide support for examining religiousness variables as predictors of alcohol use patterns for adolescents. Also, inconsistent patterns between Asian-American, Hispanic, African-American, and Caucasian students were detected. Implications of the study and suggestions for future research are offered.