Adolescent Cultural Identity Development in Context: The Dynamic Interplay of the Identity Project With Classroom Cultural Diversity Climate in Italy and Germany.

While both the classroom cultural diversity climate and curriculum-based interventions can promote cultural identity development, they have not been studied together. Drawing on theories of ethnic-racial identity development, the current study aimed to understand the dynamic interplay of a curriculum-based intervention (the Identity Project) with the classroom cultural diversity climate (heritage culture and intercultural learning, critical consciousness socialization and equal treatment) on cultural identity exploration and resolution. Our sample included 906 mid-adolescents in Italy (32.36% immigrant descent, Mage (SD) = 15.12 (0.68) years, 51.73% female), and 504 early adolescents in Germany (53.86% immigrant descent, Mage (SD) = 12.82 (0.89) years, 42.37% female). Bayesian multivariate linear models show that the Identity Project and a stronger critical consciousness climate in the classroom before the intervention promoted cultural identity exploration at post-test in both countries. However, effects of the intervention and facets of the diversity climate on subsequent resolution were only observed in Italy. There was some evidence that the intervention could alter the classroom cultural diversity climate in Germany, while the intervention could compensate for a less positive diversity climate in the slightly older sample in Italy. Thus, it seems promising to systematically build in opportunities to engage with students' diverse heritage cultures and identities when developing new curricula, as well as to train teachers to implement such curricula.

Promoting Adolescents' Heritage Cultural Identity Development: Exploring the Role of Autonomy and Relatedness Satisfaction in School-Based Interventions.

Given the significance of heritage cultural identity for optimal adolescent development, it is imperative to investigate factors influencing the efficacy of interventions aimed at promoting heritage cultural identity. Using latent profile cluster analysis and multinomial logistic regressions, this longitudinal study examined how autonomy and relatedness need satisfaction at school (1) related to heritage cultural identity development trajectories, and (2) moderated effects of a school-based intervention. The study included N = 198 adolescents (Mage = 12.86 years, SDage = 0.75, 52% female, 41% immigrant descent, 49% intervention group) in Germany. Teacher-student relationships played an important role in facilitating intervention effects on identity development trajectories, emphasizing the importance of the relational context when implementing school-based interventions to promote heritage cultural identity development.

Impact of Vascular Function on Maximum Power Output in Elite Handball Athletes.

Purpose: To evaluate vascular function and its relationship to cardiorespiratory fitness in professional handball athletes. Method: We examined 30 male professional handball athletes (age 27 ± 4 y) and 10 male sedentary controls (age 26 ± 5 y) at rest. The workup included exercise testing via ergometry. To assess vascular function, a validated electronic model of the arterial tree (vasc assist 2®) was used. It replicates noninvasively acquired pulse pressure waves by modulating the relevant functional parameters of compliance, resistance, inertia, pressure, and flow. The maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max) was estimated using the validated heart rate ratio method. Results: Athletes had a significantly lower systolic and diastolic central blood pressure (cBP) compared to controls (102 ± 9/60 ± 9 vs. 110 ± 8/74 ± 9 mmHg, p < .01), whereas aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV) (6.2 ± 0.8 vs. 6.3 ± 0.5 m/s, p = .45) and augmentation index at a heart rate of 75 (Aix@75) (-4 ± 12 vs. -13 ± 16%, p = .06) were not different. Resistance index (R) (15.9 ± 4.4 vs. 10.6 ± 0.6, p = .001) and maximum power output (MPO) (3.55 ± 0.54 vs. 2.46 ± 0.55 Watt/kg, p < .001) were significantly higher in athletes compared to controls. We found no relevant correlation between MPO, resting heart rate, PWV, Aix@75, and cBP. A higher VO2max (p = .02) and a lower R (p < .01) were significant predictors of a higher MPO in athletes. Conclusion: R had an independent and strong correlation to MPO in athletes, which might help to disentangle the contribution of aerobic capacity and arterial function to physical power.

Elite athletes as research model: vitamin D insufficiency associates with elevated central blood pressure in professional handball athletes.

PURPOSE: Low vitamin D levels have been associated with elevated blood pressure in the general population. Prospective studies, however, have produced conflicting evidence about the blood pressure-lowering effects of vitamin D supplementation. Cardiorespiratory fitness may modulate the vitamin D-blood pressure association. We therefore examined this association in professional athletes, whose high training load serves as a biological control for physical fitness. METHODS: 50 male professional handball players (age 26 ± 5 years) were examined. We assessed the central aortic pressure parameters using transfer function-based analysis of oscillometrically obtained peripheral arterial waveforms. Serum 25-OH vitamin D concentrations were determined by chemiluminescent immunoassay. The threshold for insufficiency was set at values of < 30 ng/mL. RESULTS: Central blood pressure (cBP) was 98 ± 7/60 ± 10 mmHg. The aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV) was 6.3 ± 1.0 m/s. Nine athletes (18%) displayed insufficient 25-OH vitamin D levels and had a significantly (p < 0.01) higher cBP compared with the 41 (82%) athletes with sufficient 25-OH vitamin D levels (106 ± 5/68 ± 8 vs. 97 ± 7/58 ± 9 mmHg). Central systolic blood pressure (cSBP) in vitamin D-sufficient athletes was significantly lower in comparison to the healthy reference population (97 mmHg vs. 103 mmHg, p < 0.001). This significance of difference was lost in vitamin D-insufficient athletes (106 mmHg vs. 103 mmHg, p = 0.12). CONCLUSION: Significantly raised central systolic and diastolic blood pressure in vitamin D-insufficient elite athletes implicates vitamin D as a potential modifier of vascular functional health.