• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.4 no.1
• /
• pp.52-62
• /
• 2013

Objectives: To investigate the association between psychological distress and obesity among law enforcement officers (LEOs) in the United States. Methods: Self-reported data on psychological distress based on six key questions were obtained from LEOs who participated in the National Health Interview Survey (2004-2010). We used Prochaska's cut-point of a Kessler 6 score ${\geq}5$ for moderate/high mental distress in our analysis. Mean levels of body mass index (BMI) were compared across three levels of psychological distress. Results: The average age of LEOs (n = 929) was 39.3 years; 25% were female. Overall, 8.1% of LEOs had moderate or high psychological distress; 37.5% were obese (BMI ${\geq}30$). Mean BMI increased with increasing psychological distress (no distress, BMI = $27.2kg/m^2$; mild distress, $27.6kg/m^2$; and moderate/high distress, $33.1kg/m^2$; p = 0.016) after adjustment for age, race, income, and education level among female officers only. Physical activity modified the association between psychological distress and BMI but only among male LEOs (interaction p = 0.002). Among male LEOs reporting low physical activity, psychological distress was positively associated with BMI ($30.3kg/m^2$ for no distress, 30.7 for mild distress, 31.8 for moderate/high distress; p = 0.179) after adjustment, but not significantly. This association was not significant among males reporting high physical activity. Conclusion: Mean BMI significantly increased as psychological distress increased among female LEOs. A longitudinal study design may reveal the directionality of this association as well as the potential role that physical activity might play in this association.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.28-36
• /
• 2007

This study investigated the influences of small group discussion and students' visual learning style in learning chemical concepts with drawing and writing as methods to assist students in connecting and integrating multiple external representations. Seventh graders (N=449) at a coed middle school were assigned to individual drawing (ID), pair drawing (PD), individual writing (IW), and pair writing (PW) groups. All students learned "Boyle's Law" and "Charles's Law" for two class periods. Analyses of the results revealed that the students in the PD group, regardless of students' visual learning style, scored significantly higher than those in the ID group in a conception test. The scores of the students with strong visual learning preference in the PW group were significantly higher than those in the IW group in the conception test, while the scores of the students with weak visual learning preference were not significantly different between the two groups. Although the conception test scores of the PD group were higher than those of the PW group, the difference was relatively small. It was found that most students in both PD and PW groups perceived pair drawing and pair writing positively upon cognitive and motivational aspects.