A Comparison of Hero-Identified and Hero-Unidentified Dependent Group Contingencies to Increase Children’s Physical Activity During Recess

Physical activity is a critical component of a healthy lifestyle and is associated with numerous physiological, mental health, and academic benefits for children. Despite these advantages, many children fail to meet the recommended daily physical activity levels. Previous research has shown that dependent group contingencies (DGC) can increase children’s physical activity at school. Within DGCs, one target student (the “hero”) is selected in advance, and the class earns a reward only if the hero meets a predetermined goal. Variations in how the hero is revealed may affect the intervention’s effectiveness. In a hero-identified DGC, the hero is revealed to the class only if they met their goal. In a hero-unidentified DGC, the hero remains anonymous regardless of the outcome. Although both variations have been used in classroom settings, they have never been directly compared. We used a multielement within a concurrent multiple baseline design across three classes to compare the effectiveness of the hero-identified and hero-unidentified DGC variations on physical activity. Both variations increased physical activity, with the hero-identified DGC condition producing larger gains at both the classwide and individual level of analyses. All classes voted to participate in the hero-identified DGC condition for the follow-up session. Physical activity levels maintained at the 4-week follow-up for Classes A and B and partially maintained at the 2-week follow-up for Class C. Across classes, participants rated the hero-identified DGC more favourably than the hero-unidentified DGC.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A. Applied Disability Studies

Level thesis:degree_level

Master

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Faculty of Social Sciences

Department dc:contributor.department

Center for Applied Disability Studies

Grantor dc:publisher

Brock University

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Kendra White

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Dr. Kimberley Zonneveld

• dependent group contingency
• physical activity
• percentile schedules
• children
• recess

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10464/19693

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:brocku.scholaris.ca:10464/19693