1,720,964 research outputs found
A fall from grace? : examining retired ballet dancers' experiences with body image and embodiment across the life course
No full textAccording to master choreographer George Balanchine, the ‘ideal ballet body’ for women is to be tall and incredibly slender, with small breasts, small hips, long limbs, and a short torso (Langdon, 2012). Women ballet dancers often experience negative body image and embodiment due to these narrow ideals; yet, how ballet training influences dancers’ relationships to their bodies following ballet retirement remained unexplored. The purpose of this study was to examine i.) how women’s history with ballet training shaped and constrained their body image and embodiment over time and following retirement, and ii.) how women ballet retirees storied their long-term body image and embodied experiences both verbally and artistically. Adopting narrative constructionism (Smith & Sparkes, 2009), I conducted one life history interview and two body mapping sessions with five retired women ballet dancers (15 sessions). Through narrative thematic analysis (Riessman, 2008), I constructed stories for each participant and three overarching themes across these stories. The first theme, Act I, The Battle: Deeply Rooted Ballet Ideals and the Changing Body examined participants’ ongoing body dissatisfaction and negative embodiment due to the lasting internalization of ballet body ideals, particularly amidst navigating the aging process, as many participants redrew their body maps to appear thinner. The second theme, Act II, Waltz of the Snowflakes: Recognition of Positive Ballet Embodiment examined participants’ positive embodiment and body image in terms of aesthetics, functionality, and ballet values (artistically demonstrated by participants’ use of glitter and bright colours on certain areas of their body maps), yet these experiences remained contingent on traditional ballet body ideals. The third theme, Act III, Pas de Deux: Tensions of Traditional and 21st Century Ballet Pedagogy explored participants’ concurrent perpetuations and rejections of traditional ballet values in their teaching practices and views toward the (slowly) evolving ballet world. These findings illustrate how ballet training can impact women’s relationship with their bodies long after dance retirement, can inform future arts-based research in physical cultural and sport psychology studies, and denote the importance of centering pedagogical approaches that support dancers’ positive body image and embodiment both during and following retirement of ballet training in Canada.Education, Faculty ofKinesiology, School ofGraduat
Positive body image development in late adolescent and young women athletes
No full textSport is a unique environment for body image experiences. Body image is gendered, and girls are susceptible to appearance and functionality-related body image concerns that may limit their sport enjoyment and participation. That said, late adolescence and young adulthood have been highlighted as a time when body image may shift more positively for girls and women athletes. Gaps in the literature remain, however, including contrasting findings in part due to variance in assessing body image constructs, a lack of focus on positive body image development, and samples with individuals who have homogenous positive body image trajectories. The purpose of this research was to understand late adolescent girls and young women athletes' experiences of positive body image development. Nine adolescent girls and young women aged 16 to 23 who were current athletes and self-identified as experiencing positive body image participated in semi-structured interviews and collage sessions where they were invited to share their experiences of positive body image over time. Using reflexive thematic analysis, three themes were identified and interpreted in the interview and collage data. 'My Body is Just Right' pertained to factors facilitating the development and maintenance of positive body image including sport-related body appreciation and acceptance, confidence, positive body image role modeling, body image self-definition, and coach influence. It’s Harder for Girls referred to challenges faced including body comments, appearance-related expectations, and pressures to be ‘perfect’. Positive body image was not something to be achieved and then forgotten, but rather needing to be continually chosen and worked on. The Balancing Act encompassed adaptive coping strategies used to develop and maintain positive body image such as mindset shifts, body diversity recognition and appreciation, self-kindness, and body protective information filtering. These findings contribute to our theoretical understanding of positive body image by highlighting the continuous maintenance processes in which athletes must engage through adaptive coping due to the pervasive sociocultural and sport-specific body-related stressors they face. This study also highlights cognitive-affective shifts, body-positive role modelling, and coach education as potential avenues for positive body image interventions. Methodologically, this research can help inform processes for collage as an arts-based research method.Education, Faculty ofKinesiology, School ofGraduat
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
‘Thinner is (not) faster’ : body image experiences of elite endurance runners
No full text‘Thinner is faster’ is a common phrase endurance runners hear throughout their careers, reflective of a long-held belief that body weight is directly related to athletic performance. The study of body image in endurance running is limited and research gaps remain, such as attention to the experiences of men athletes, Canadian collegiate runners, professional athletes, and how coaches may or may not impact sport body ideals and athletes’ body image. The purpose of this study was to a) explore the body image experiences of elite endurance runners, b) examine how gender identity might shape endurance runner’s body image, and c) explore how coach-athlete relationships impact athletes’ perceptions of body ideals and experiences of body image. Guided by a critical interpretivist lens, I conducted individual semi-structured interviews with seven elite endurance runners competing in distances of at least 1500m. Participants also completed researcher-directed diaries to record their thoughts, feelings, and behaviours related to body image, gender, and coach-athlete relationships. Using reflexive thematic analysis, four themes were developed. In Navigating Body Ideals: Isolation and Unseen Burdens, participants recounted experiences of hidden weight management, disordered eating, and isolation. Through Gendered Dialogue and Experiences of Body Image, women discussed fear in relation to body changes associated with puberty and menstruation, and scrutiny stemming from objectification. Men, in contrast, focused on the body composition changes occurring once they specialized in distance running, and used body-related humour when engaging in body-related talk which engendered self-consciousness. Agents of Conformity and Change: The Impact of Team Culture centred coaches’ reinforcement of body ideals, athletes’ places in these dynamics, and opportunities to create change through team culture. Finally, Acts of Resistance and a Shift to Sustainable Practices highlighted the resistance participants demonstrated towards distance running body ideals through self-acceptance, and their desire to prioritize longevity as a runner. This research contributes to current understandings of body image in endurance running beyond pathologies and diagnoses. The findings can inform cultural change and best practices in endurance running at the institutional and coaching levels to challenge sport body ideals and foster positive body image in athletes.Education, Faculty ofKinesiology, School ofGraduat
"I still have that athlete soul" : storying identity and pain in retired athletes
No full textSport culture narratives teach athletes that their identities should center around athletic
performance and physical superiority, with pain as an accepted part of sport-related success. A
strong athletic identity has been linked with greater amounts of pain related distress. It is not
surprising then that athletes’ learned relationship with pain may have long-term consequences for
their identities and overall well-being through the transition out of sport and beyond. While
identities in active and retired athletes have been extensively studied, less is known about retired
athletes who experience persistent pain post-sporting career. The purpose of this study was to
explore how persistent pain shaped and constrained how retired athletes negotiated their post-athletic career identities, and to illuminate how retired athletes used storytelling to make sense of their experiences with persistent pain. Adopting a narrative constructionist lens, I conducted two
life story interviews with eight retired athletes (16 interviews) who had played at an elite level
and who were currently experiencing persistent pain (pain lasting for greater than three months).
Using dialogical narrative analysis, three themes were developed. Firstly, Developing an
Intuitive Connection with the Body: participants described how pain taught them to listen to their
body in retirement, with this dialogue enabling them to attend to their body’s needs, and to
manage their ongoing pain. Secondly, Pain Enabling Empathy and Social Connection:
participants used stories to depict how their pain experiences facilitated empathy and connection
with others during retirement, which was juxtaposed to the isolation they felt as athletes when in
pain. Thirdly, Disaffiliation or Connection Through Storytelling: participants drew on different
narrative identity types (performance and relational narratives) based on their social relationships
to story their experiences of pain. Some sought disaffiliation from others by recounting stories of
athletic dominance, while others sought connection and belonging by relaying stories of
teamwork and sport comradery. The findings expand our theoretical understanding of how
stories and storytelling are used to make sense of athletes' post-sporting career lives. Application
of these findings can better equip coaches, mental performance consultants, and sport
organizations to tailor their support for athletes through the transition to retirement.Education, Faculty ofKinesiology, School ofGraduat
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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