Competitive Anxiety and Coping Strategies in Young Martial Arts and Track and Field Athletes: This study is an examination of the relationship between competitive anxiety and coping strategies in young athletes. Sixty karatekas and 72 track and field athletes were the subjects of the study. The age of the athletes ranged between 18 and 25 years. All had been practicing their sports for 6-8 years. The research instruments employed are the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2) and the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS). Results show that martial arts athletes reported a significantly higher level of self-confidence and lower levels of cognitive and somatic anxiety compared to track and field athletes. The two groups also differed in regard to the use of coping strategies in stressful situations. For example, the karate athletes used more effective strategies such as task-oriented coping. In the next step of the study, the subjects were divided into two groups according to the level of performance (i.e. "winners" and "losers"). The "losers exhibited higher levels of anxiety, both cognitive and somatic, than "winners". They also had higher scores on less effective coping subscales, e.g. emotion-oriented and avoidance-oriented. There is a significant interdependence between anxiety and level of performance in competitive stress situations. Future research should also consider the possible mediating role of other psychological factors, such as personality traits.

This paper presents results of the only large-scale study carried-out in Poland to date on the prevalence of psychopathic traits and their relationship with aggressive behaviour in mainstream adolescents. The sample consists of 9,415 students (4,808 boys, 4,607 girls) in the first to third grades at 142 public secondary schools. Psychopathic traits were measured by teacher-report ratings with the antisocial process screening device (APSD), while aggressive behaviours were assessed using the Reactive-Proactive Aggression Questionnaire. Analysis of results revealed that boys scored much higher than girls in total APSD scale measuring psychopathic traits. Only 2.68 % of assessed adolescents scored above the cut-off of 25 points. Results also showed significant correlations between psychopathic traits and both proactive and reactive aggression. The authors concluded that screening a large sample to identify children and youths with psychopathic traits has some important advantages but, on the other hand, it is a sensitive undertaking because of the label ‘psychopath’ can have negative consequences for the subjects.

Although the number of patients needing organ transplantation systematically increases, recent years have seen a considerable shortage of donors. The level of knowledge and attitudes toward donation are critical factors in achieving the required balance between supply and demand. This pilot study assessed the knowledge, opinions, and behaviors related to organ donation and transplantation among 625 students representing eight different fields of study from the University of Rzeszow in south-eastern Poland. Although the participants provided evidence of knowledge about human organ donation and transplantation, they were aware of the main organs of the human body for potential transplants, and generally showed positive attitudes; only 24% of the subjects indicated their willingness to register as a donor; only 3% stated that they had already registered and had a donor card. The findings suggest that good intentions do not translate into action and that Poland needs to develop a nation-wide, up-to-date, and youth-oriented health education program that builds on favorable attitudes toward organ donation and transplantation.

Although the corresponding literature contains a substantial number of studies on the relationship between psychological factors and attitude towards seeking professional psychological help, the role of some determinants remains unexplored, especially among Polish young adults. The present study investigated diversity among a large cohort of Polish university students related to attitudes towards help-seeking and the regulative roles of gender, level of university education, health locus of control and sense of coherence. The total sample comprised 1706 participants who completed the following measures: Attitude Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale-SF, Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scale, and Orientation to Life Questionnaire (SOC-29). They were recruited from various university faculties and courses by means of random selection. The findings revealed that, among socio-demographic variables, female gender moderately and graduate of university study strongly predict attitude towards seeking help. Internal locus of control and all domains of sense of coherence are significantly correlated with the scores related to the help-seeking attitude. Attitudes toward psychological help-seeking are significantly related to female gender, graduate university education, internal health locus of control and sense of coherence. Further research must be performed in Poland in order to validate these results in different age and social groups.

The aims of this study were to investigate the awareness of the human papillomavirus (HPV) and attitudes toward HPV vaccination among Polish university students. The authors made a cross-sectional survey by means of a questionnaire, completed anonymously, to gage the knowledge of HPV infection and attitudes toward vaccination. A diverse group of 465 graduate and undergraduate university students participated in the survey. The level of knowledge of HPV infection, its prevalence, and consequences was relatively low. Most respondents were unclear about the correlation between HPV infection and cervical cancer. The survey revealed misconceptions relating to the role of men in transmitting HPV infection. Almost 60% of the students were against or doubtful about HPV vaccination. Females and graduate students generally presented a higher awareness. Polish university students do not have a satisfactory level of knowledge about HPV infections and its health consequences. Health education programs about the causes of cervical cancer are necessary.