The paper contains the results of the field research that the authors used in order to determine the existence and manifesting forms of peer pressure in youth sports. The sample consists of young people aged 11 to 18, who practice sport (N=536). The research was conducted in the second half of 2019 in the territory of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina. The research results indicate that there are various forms of aggressive and violent behavior among youth, among which psychological violence predominates. The most common place for violence is the dressing room, after training or a competition. In terms of age, high-school-age children report higher level of violence victimization compared to older primary school children. The research results Introduction DOI: 10.31382/eqol.200603  The aggression and violence are global social phenomena, which have been researched in the past three decades. By examining many definitions of aggression it can be concluded that it is any “behavior that is intended to harm another person who is motivated to avoid that harm” (Allen & Anderson, 2017: 2; Bushman & Huesmann, 2010; DeWall, Anderson, & Bushman, 2011); whereas violence is, among other things, described as an “extreme form of aggression that has severe physical harm (e.g.,serious injury or death) as its goal” (Allen & Anderson, 2017: 3; Anderson & Bushman, 2002; Bushman & Huesmann, 2010; Huesmann & Taylor, 2006). testify to the fact that sport shares “the fate” of the society in which it exists and that policy makers in youth sports should take into consideration this social phenomenon as well.  

Participating in elite sports can be beneficial for many reasons – but the question arises: what is the payoff to be an elite athlete or what are the consequences of being an elite athlete in sports? The phenomenon which became popular and opens many conversations in sport and psychology circles is the occurrence of common mental disorders (CMD) in former elite athletes.

In this literature review, three electronic databases were searched: PubMed, Web of Science, ScienceDirect.

This paper summarizes eight studies which were selected following the PRISMA guidelines. The studies covered mental health disorders among former elite athletes and their symptoms: distress, sleep disturbance, anxiety/depression, and alcohol misuse, the occurrence of life events and career dissatisfaction. This literature review showed the prevalence of CMD in former elite athletes.

There were no results about the contribution to developing CMD in former elite athletes. Factors associated with the occurrence of CMD in former athletes included involuntary retirement from the sport, concussions, collision/high contact sport, increased body mass index, osteoarthritis.

The increasing incidence of infertility and contrary the remaining levels of success rate of assisted reproductive therapies (ART) justify expanding the biomedical approach and underline the importance of psychosocial and lifestyle factors. The aim of the study was to examine the effects of pre-treatment physical activity (PA) on the quality of life (QoL) in infertile women. A cross sectional cohort study was carried out involving 50 female patients with infertility diagnosis. Standardized QoL questionnaires and pre-treatment PA patterns were administrated during December 2018 – April 2019 in a university hospital-based fertility centre in South-Hungary. 43% of the women reported regular exercise. Regarding GPAQ moderate intensity PA in work and recreation was preferred. They spent 4.2 hours with active transportation weekly, and 4.5 hours sedentary daily. 68.89% reached the 150min/week MVPA recommendation and 18.2% spent more than 4 hours with exercise Respondents were less satisfied with Physical Domain (57.7±7.5) and most with Psychological Domain (72.2±12.1) of WHOQOL-BREF. Lower QoL by Emotional (56.46±18.12) and Mind-Body (56.84±19.67), mediate by Social (62.76±17.40) and better values by Relational Subscale (76.48±19.62) were measured with FertiQoL. Significant difference between active and inactive group was described for Psychological domain (Z=-2.240, p=0.025). Positive correlation was found between MVPA vs Total MET and Emotional Subscale (p=0.014, p=0.009) and between work-related PA and Mindbody Subscale (p=0.006). Pre-treatment PA could positively affect QoL undergoing ART. However, for more impressive results, objective assessment of physical activity, increased number of participants, and further examinations are needed.

To test the effectiveness of dance aerobics to optimize the motor activity and the psychophysical state of female students. Medical and biological: body weight (kg), BPM and BPD (mmHg), ChSS in a state of rest and the Stange test. All the data obtained by the study were processed by the procedures of descriptive and comparative statistical methods. From the area of the descriptive statistics the following parameters were defined: representative central and dispersive parameters: arithmetic average; standard deviation; initial and final measuring. Unpaired test, applied in comparative statistics, was performed in order to compare the arithmetic means of two independent data sets (experimental and control groups). Statistical analysis was performed by applying SPSS statistical software. Comparative analysis of data confirmed the effectiveness of dance aerobics tools not only in the absence of negative changes during the examination session, but also improvement of the psychophysical state (state of health by the method of WAM in KG – 3.8 points, EG1 – 4.3 points, EG2 – 4.5 points, ЕG3 – 4.8 points) and the level of somatic health of students (in KG 0.23 ± 0.04 points, ЕG1 8.78 ± 0.50 points, ЕG2 8.77 ± 0.61 points, ЕG3 11, 65 ± 0.55 points). During the studying, and especially the examination time, students experience strong psycho-emotional stress and the physical state becomes worse. The use of dance aerobics has a positive influence on the psychophysical state of female students and the optimization of their physical activity.

Longevity and high quality of life are amongst the most desired traits of humanity. However, the incidences of non-communicable diseases are rising, while sedentary lifestyles and malnutrition are more common than ever, and in general both functional and cognitive health is declining. Besides the concurrent costs to provide healthcare for such an aging population are dramatically increasing and depend on pharmacological treatment. There is an urgent need to raise awareness for cost-saving healthier customs and to adjust lifestyles. From specific geographic areas around the globe, where its citizens tend to grow (very) old, that is over 100 years of age (indicated as ‘oldest old’), without the obvious health-deficits, the so-called blue zones, lifestyle factors have been identified, or will be proposed, and taken as candidate for nonpharmacologic approaches to improve general health. This paper will summarize scientific studies focussing on cardiovascular and cognitive health benefits induced by: Physical activity through exercise, light to moderate intensity, and nonexercise outdoors activities; Nutrition through the Mediterranean diet and the incidence of neurodegeneration; Cognitive engagement through cognitive-motor exercises, language usage, and meditation; and finally: Sleep. The identified denominators are reviewed through various scientific studies regarding substantiated healthinducing effects. Adherence to such nonpharmacologic lifestyles is eventually a personal choice, and for governments to take notice of, and to include in policies.

Pokemon Go is a virtual reality game that mixes the smart mobile technology with real life exploration. The aim of this research is to investigate whether Pokemon Go app increases the levels of physical activity. Thirty-two healthy subjects were included in this 5-week study (12 males and 20 females, age 18-49) and they were allocated into three groups, experimental group: new trainers (N=10) and control groups: regular trainers (N=11) and nontrainers (N=11). Level of physical activity was assessed using Pedometer – Step Counter Free & Calorie Burner that counts daily walking distance in km and steps. Subjects were instructed to provide screenshots of their km recorded. At each level of measurement groups significantly differed in walking distance (p<0.01). The time did not have significant effect on the walking distance. The interaction effect was significant from fourth level to fifth level of measurement (p<005). LSD test revealed that regular trainers significantly differed from both, new and non-trainers, having the most walked distance. New trainers and non-trainers did not differ in the level physical activity in the first three weeks, but in the fourth- and fifth-week new trainers group significantly increased the levels of physical activity regarding non-trainers group (mean difference +21.688 and +15.688, respectively). In the first two weeks, the new trainers group walked 27km, and after the installation of the games, the increase was more than 10 km. It could be concluded that Pokemon Go app has impact on the levels of physical activity, but some period of time is needed for participants to learn how to play the game and enjoy it. 

The purpose of this research was to review current research findings related to injuries in elite athletes. For the needs of the paper, professional and scientific literature was analyzed from prestigious scientific journals. The types of athletic injuries that occur are dependent on the athletic discipline. The most commonly injured sites in athletes are the front and back muscles of the thigh and in the ankle joint. The results of this study have indicated that the causes of most injuries are due to overstraining and overload syndrome. These causes often arise from training procedures that have been implemented inadequately and usually relate to the volume and intensity of training without the application of injury prevention techniques.  

We intend to identify the effects of the occupational therapy means on self-esteem and on the psychomotor development level for hearing-impaired students. Two instruments (test-retest at an 18month interval) have been used for the hearingimpaired pupils of the “VasilePavelcu” Technological Special High School in Iasi: the scale of multidimensional attitudes for self-esteem E.T.E.S. (N=45 subjects, 24 boys and 21 girls, aged between 13 and 18) in elementary and high school, each groups of 15 subjects; the test Ozeretski – Guillmain (N= 45 de subjects: 25 boys and 20 girls, aged between 8 and 12) in primary and elementary school. Individual test applied for assessment of pshycho-motor development level. The subjects for whom we have assessed the self-esteem attended activities that included pantomime / puppet theater, manual and sports skills activities. The subjects for whom we have assessed the psycho-motor development level have attended the following activities: manual skills, painting, and sports activities. All activities were attended following a preset graph. There is a significant statistical difference to subjects in the phase of retesting to the testing phase for all the variables taken into account: social self-esteem, prospective self-esteem, total level of psycho-motor development. Self-esteem  and the level of psycho-motor development are two variables that can improve the psychophysical state of children with hearing impairment through occupational therapy. Under its various forms, it can be a tool used by and in school to achieve socio-professional integration, but also training and personal development. 

The development of video games can be traced back to the 80s of the last century. The final phase of the gaming industry’s development brought with it another phenomenon — e-sport. “Electronic sport” presupposes playing video games in a competitive setting, with emphasis on increased “institutionalization” of gaming activity through the organization of e-sports teams and official international competitions. In order to define esports, it’s important to note that not every activity of playing video games can be described as e-sport, but every e-sport is essentially playing video games. The interest for the phenomenon of electronic sport has increased over the past several years in all social sciences, including sociology. This paper aims to present several dimensions of the “electronic sport” phenomenon, review the existing research in this field, compare various aspects of e-sports and “traditional” sports, and discuss the formation of new subcultural group gathered around video games. The key task of this paper is to examine the distance between e-sports and “traditional” sport and frame the socio-economic scale of the phenomenon.

Evidence is lacking that describe the status of physical activity (PA) behaviours among adolescents in Kazakhstan. The aims of the study are to examine the associations between PA and screen time behaviours (STB) among children and young adolescents in Kazakhstan. Data were pooled from the 2015/16 Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI) study (N=4932, 49.8% girls, mean (age)=8.77 SD (age) =0.68) and the 2017/18 Health Behaviour in Schoolaged Children (HBSC) study (N=4153, 49.3% girls, Mean(age)=12.93 SD (age)=1.64). Both studies carried out a two-stage cluster sample to determine a national representative sample. Parental reported their children’s PA levels and weekday STB time in the COSI study. In the HBSC study, young adolescents self-reported their PA levels in the past week and the amount of STB hours including TV viewing during weekdays. Data were analysed through DOI: 10.31382/eqol.191202  The number of children and young adolescents who met the PA recommendations reduced among children aged 9y (68.1%), to young adolescents aged 11y (35%), 13y (37%) and 15y (31%). Similarly, there was a reduction in the proportion of adolescents who met the STB recommendations between the ages of 9y (75%), 11y (60%), 13y (53%), and 15y (47%).  Despite some limitations in the methodologies between the COSI and HBSC surveys, and reporting of behaviours, there is a clear pattern that health promoting activities lowers as children transition into young adolescents.