President's Challenge Research Articles

Effects of Fitness Test Type, Teacher, and Gender on Exercise Intrinsic Motivation and Physical Self‐Worth

This study compared effects on exercise intrinsic motivation and physical self-worth of taking either the President's Challenge or the Fitnessgram fitness test battery. Three teachers administered the battery to seventh and eighth grade students (N = 370). The only significant effect involving fitness test type on intrinsic motivation was a test-teacher-gender interaction on the interest-enjoyment subscale of the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI). Main effects occurred for gender on intrinsic motivation and physical self-worth (PSW). Finally, using a Fitness Level x Gender x Fitness Test Type design, a main effect occurred for fitness level on all four IMI subscales, and also on PSW. While results supported the construct validity of IMI and PSW scales, they did not support the theory-based premise that fitness test batteries would produce different motivational and self-perception outcomes. Results are discussed with reference to the limitations and delimitations of the field-based study.

Health-Related Fitness as Preventive Medicine

The decline of health-related fitness among children in the United States has brought about an interest in the topic by both professionals and the general public. The problem is pervasive and has seemed refractory to change. In a recent survey, fewer than half the children taking the fitness test of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports passed. In 1984, only 2% of all children taking the "President's Challenge" could qualify for the award that required them to uniformly do well in performing chin-ups, sit-ups, a 1 mi run/walk, and a shuttle run. Only 60% of boys aged 6 to 12 years and only 30% of girls aged 6 to 12 years and only 30% of girls aged 6 to 17 years could do more than one chin-up. Similarly, only 64% of boys aged 6 to 12 years and only 50% of girls aged 6 to 12 years could run/walk 1 mi in less than ten minutes. Declining fitness can result in an increase in cardiovascular risk factors such as obesity, hypertension, elevated serum cholesterol level, and physical inactivity. In a recent Centers for Disease Control epidemiologic study, physical inactivity was shown to be as strong a risk factor for coronary heart disease as the traditional risk factors of smoking, hypertension, and a high serum cholesterol level, and physical inactivity was three to six times more prevalent than the other risk factors.

President's Message Challenges and Responsibilities

Counselor Education and SupervisionVolume 4, Issue 4 p. 169-170 President's Message Challenges and Responsibilities Robert O. Stripling, Robert O. Stripling President ACESSearch for more papers by this author Robert O. Stripling, Robert O. Stripling President ACESSearch for more papers by this author First published: June 1965 https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1556-6978.1965.tb00404.xCitations: 1AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article.Citing Literature Volume4, Issue4June 1965Pages 169-170 RelatedInformation

The Junior Dean

T HE freshman problem is common to all large universities, but the methods of solving the problem differ for each university. What is done is indigenous to the local situation. So with Ohio State University. President Rightmire in the autumn of i926, in his first annual report to the faculty, assumed leadership in attacking the freshman problem and expressed himself as follows: I set forth the most pressing problem of the University today-the problem of the Freshman. It is vital from every standpoint. Never again will the mind of the student be so open, so conscientious, so pliable for good or ill as at the freshman age. The responsibility resting upon the University for his future is overwhelming. Appropriate faculty committees were promptly appointed, and the position of junior dean was created as the answer to the President's challenge. The plan was put into operation in the autumn of i928. The name junior dean indicated that the officer would work with Freshmen and Sophomores in the junior area. Five junior deans were appointed for the five largest colleges: Agriculture, Arts and Science, Commerce, Education, and Engineering. Four divisions enrolled no Freshmen: the Graduate School, Dentistry, Law, and Medicine; the other two colleges, Pharmacy and Veterinary Medicine, had enrollments small enough to allow the dean and his staff to care for the Freshmen. The junior dean is attached to the office of the dean of the college and is responsible to him. He is a staff officer with no line authority, although as time has passed and confidence in his judgment has become established his recommendations on actions to be taken are customarily followed. To have no line responsibilities has been an asset rather than a liability to his position. The junior dean is a major position in salary, and able men of maturity and experience have been attracted to it as a career. Two of the present officers have been in the position from the beginning. One resigned to become Vice-President of the University and one to enter the field of adult education. The two others who resigned did so to go to other institutions. To assist the officers a Junior Council was set up by the President. It is advisory to the President and has no authority. Its membership, appointed by the President, consists