Background: Firefighters are required to have high levels of aerobic and anaerobic power because they often perform physically demanding work in dangerous environments. Therefore, it is important to find out salient factors influencing voluntary exercise training among Korean firefighters based on well-validated theory. Methods: The present study conducted an elicitation study to elicit salient behavioral, normative, and control beliefs about exercise training among Korean firefighters and identified salient beliefs that have a significant indirect effect on behavior through intention using structural equation modeling. Results: Although ten modal salient beliefs obtained from our elicitation study are similar to those elicited from previous TPB belief-based research with a focus on exercise behavior, only three of these (i.e., “improves my physical ability” (coef. = 0.078, p = 0.006), “takes too much time” (coef. = 0.064, p = 0.023), and “colleagues” (coef. = 0.069, p = 0.016) indirectly influenced exercise training behavior through intention among Korean firefighters. Conclusions: Our results may contribute to the literature by providing important information suggesting that three modal salient beliefs are major cognitive determinants of exercise training behavior among Korean firefighters and they may play an essential role in developing effective programs or policies for promoting Korean firefighters’ exercise training.

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The most critical step in developing and implementing effective physical activity interventions is to understand the determinants and correlates of physical activity, and it is strongly suggested that such effort should be based on theories. The purpose of this study is to test the direct, indirect, and total effect of social cognitive theory constructs on physical activity among Korean male high-school students. Three-hundred and forty-one 10th-grade male students were recruited from a private single-sex high school located in Seoul, South Korea. Structural equation modeling was used to test the expected relationships among the latent variables. The proposed model accounted for 42% of the variance in physical activity. Self-efficacy had the strongest total effect on physical activity. Self-efficacy for being physically active was positively associated with physical activity (p < .01). Self-efficacy also had positive indirect effects on physical activity through perceived benefits (p < .05) and goal setting (p < .01). The results of this study indicated that the social cognitive theory is a useful framework to understand physical activity among Korean male adolescents. Physical activity interventions targeting Korean male high-school students should focus on the major sources of efficacy.

Functional variants in dopaminergic genes and their association with reward sensitivity and executive functioning.The DRD1 gene encodes the dopamine receptor D1 receptor (DRD1). DRD1 belongs to the D1like family of dopamine receptors which are stimulatory G-protein coupled receptors. Binding of dopamine to this receptor increases the cellular response to dopamine by increasing cAMP production. The rs265981 polymorphism (minor allele A and major allele G) is located 800bp upstream of DRD1 exon 1 and is part of a DRD1 haplotype (1). The A allele has been associated with decreased DRD1 expression levels and thus decreased dopamine responsiveness (2). This same allele has been frequently associated with ADHD (3,4), reporting significantly higher frequencies of the A allele among individuals with ADHD compared to controls (3). With regard to executive functioning specifically the A allele has been associated with inattentiveness (4) and decreased reaction time on a response inhibition task (3). No studies have investigated a direct relationship between this polymorphism and reward sensitivity. However, the A allele has been associated with addictive behaviors (5) and severity of substance dependence (6), behaviors that are associated with increased reward sensitivity (7-9).The DRD2 gene encodes the dopamine receptor D2 (DRD2). DRD2 belongs to the D2-like family of dopamine receptors which is mainly expressed in the midbrain (Hawrylycz et al., 2012: Allen Human Brain Atlas, http://human.brain-map.org). The D2-like family of dopamine receptors are inhibitory G-protein coupled receptors. Binding of dopamine to this receptor decreases the cellular response to dopamine by decreasing cAMP production. The rs1800497 polymorphism