The overarching premise of this dissertation is to understand how different college and university physical activity education policies affect college and university students. Fundamentally, some American colleges and universities require their students to complete a physical activity education requirement whereas others do not. Given the different policy arrangements of college...
Current literature supports the benefits of participation in extracurricular activities(Barnett & Weber, 2008). However, a report from the U.S. Government AccountabilityOffice (GAO) found that students with disabilities participated in athletics to varyingdegrees, but at consistently lower rates than students without disabilities (US GovernmentAccountability Office, 2010). In January 2013, in response...
According to most health organizations, "obesity" (defined as body mass index [BMI] greater than 30) is a world health problem of "epidemic" proportions. The underlying assumption is that weight is a proxy for health. However, obesity prevention and reduction interventions are designed to regulate body weight, rather than improve health....
Not all experiences in physical activity, exercise, and sport are positive. Losing, getting injured, making a mistake, and not measuring up can all elicit a variety of highly negative emotions, including shame. To make matters worse, individuals often cope with shame in maladaptive ways––magnifying, suppressing, or ignoring the experience––which can...
Adapted physical activity and education (APA/APE) service-learning has received considerable attention as a training tool to prepare undergraduate students, including preservice physical education teachers, to work with people with disabilities (Hodge, 1998; Rowe & Stutts, 1987; Taliaferro et al., 2015). Much of this research focuses on demonstrating the effects of...
The importance of physical activity is well documented (Haskell et al., 2009a; McReynolds & Rossen, 2004; Steinbeck, 2001). Despite physical activity’s benefits, many individuals are not meeting current weekly physical activity guidelines recommending ≥ 150 minutes of moderate or ≥ 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic physical activity and 2 or...
Household food availability is comprised of both food purchases and foods obtained from alternative sources, like social networks, community services, and household food production. While the food available at home is associated with eating behaviors, diet quality, and health outcomes of children and adults, the literature on food acquisition of...
Chinese international students in American colleges and universities report low levels of physical activity involvement, which may limit them in terms of
realizing their full human potential (i.e., cognitively, physically, socially). The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the psychosocial mechanisms as well as the sociocultural influences to understand...
Classroom-based physical activity (CBPA) breaks are a common and cost-effective physical activity (PA) promotion strategy at elementary schools. Nevertheless, there is limited research examining how teacher-level factors such as value for PA and perceived support to deliver CBPA breaks influence teacher implementation of CBPA breaks. In addition, to date no...
Individuals who have been traumatized have the opportunity to experience posttraumatic growth, conceptualized as positive changes that result from navigating highly challenging life circumstances (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2004). The current model of posttraumatic growth (Calhoun, Cann, & Tedeschi, 2010) is based solely on cognitive-emotional processing yet by examining the role...