Assignment:
This journal article review is designed to help you become familiar with reviewing and interpreting academic literature. For most, verbiage in scientific journals can read like a foreign language. However, as Kinesiologists, it is critical to be comfortable with this style of writing to ensure you are staying up to date with current research. Further, the skills needed to examine scientific writing will help you better discern popular articles such as blogs, magazines, websites, etc.
For example, if an article has statistics or opinionated statements without supporting sources, it may bring in to question the strength of the claim. Rather than relying on others to fact check or substantiate claims, you will have the ability to do it yourself. Lastly, reading this type of literature can help with your writing skills. Notice the language being used and begin including it in your written submissions for Kinesiology courses where appropriate.
For this assignment, a peer-reviewed article has been provided (Cecchini et al., 2020). This is a scientific study related to physical activity (physiology) and motivation (psychology). Read the article and answer the questions in the attached Word document (Assignment 2- Research Questions). This is an opportunity to demonstrate your scientific writing skills and ability to cross reference multiple studies.
Although there is not a page limit, answers should be in full sentences and/or paragraphs where appropriate. Because multiple articles are referenced, at minimum, these sources should be cited within the text and included in a reference section. Your submission should reflect current APA guidelines. All written documents need to include a title page, running head, page numbers, proper document formatting (12 pt font, 1" margins, etc.), appropriate in-text citation formatting, and a reference page. Please note that comments made on formatting need to be applied in future written assignments throughout the course and program.
Question 1. Is depression among adolescents and young adults more prevalent in males or females? (be sure to support your answer with evidence)
Question 2. What major framework has been used for understanding human behavior?
Question 3. What is the difference between intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and amotivation? (no direct quotes here, rather, synthesize and summarize the information in to your own words and cite the original source)
Question 4. Identify and define the three basic psychological needs for optimal motivated behavior and psychological well-being?
Question 5. What is the purpose of this study?
Question 6. What is the sex, mean age, and number of participants?
Question 7. How were depressive symptoms assessed?
Question 8. What instrument was used to measure physical activity and inactivity? How was physical activity measured and what were the names and ranges of each group? What instrument was used to examine motivation? What anthropometric measurements were taken?
Question 9. What percentage of participants showed depressive symptoms? What parentage of them were considered overweight or obese? Participants at level three (high) of the MET-minutes/week were how many times less likely to report depressive symptoms? How many 18 year old's showed depressive symptoms? How many participants classified with a normal body weight reported depressive symptoms? How many reported no depressive symptoms? Participants who spent 11 or more hours per day performing sedentary activities compared to less than 4 hours per day were how many more times likely to report depressive symptoms?
Question 10. How many limitations did this study identify? What were they?
Readings:
Connections among physical activity, motivation, and depressive symptoms in adolescent girls
By Jose A Cecchini