A comparative analysis of physical activity interventions for young children

<p>Evidence suggests that physical inactivity is increasingly prevalent among young children. A common recommendation provided to parents suggests that they become actively involved in increasing their child's physical activity. However, this recommendation does not specify how a parent should become involved. Further, the evaluation of parental involvement in children's physical activity has yet to be conducted. The purpose of the current study was to conduct a functional analysis to identify a social, environmental variable that would engender a higher level of physical activity in young children. Once a social consequence was identified, reinforcement provided contingently on higher levels of physical activity and according to a fixed-time schedule was compared in an intervention analysis. The overall results of the study indicated that children were most active when receiving a form of social reinforcement contingent on higher levels of physical activity. These results suggest that parents of young children should become involved in increasing their child's physical activity by providing attention or physical engagement contingent on higher levels of physical activity.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis - Pacific Access Restricted

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Year dc:date.available

2014

Author dc:creator

• Zerger, Heather M.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Matthew Normand

• Behavioral psychology
• Social psychology
• Kinesiology
• Developmental psychology
• Psychology
• Health and environmental sciences
• Children
• Contingent reinforcement
• Intervention
• Physical activity
• Medicine and Health Sciences
• Psychiatry and Psychology
• Social and Behavioral Sciences

Licence

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Identifier

9781321386417

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarlycommons.pacific.edu:uop_etds-1296