رویا حسین زاده پیغان

Although some factors affecting children’s participation in physical activity and sports are well known, the important social factors that influence children’s participation in physical activity and sports have not been properly identified. In this study, we aimed to design a model of social factors influencing children’s participation in physical activity and sports. The method used in the present research is descriptive-correlation based on the structural equation method. The statistical sample of the study consisted of 384 students who were selected through convenience sampling method. Social factors such as parental socioeconomic status, social support, social competence, and social acceptance were measured using standard questionnaires. Structural equation modelling was used to analyze data. The results of the path analysis showed that parental socioeconomic status, social support, social competence and social acceptance had significant effects on motivation (all T>1.96). Moreover, motivation had significant effect on intention to physical activity (T=3.628). Finally, intention to physical activity had significant effect on physical activity (T=5.189). These results show that social factors can be considered in the process of children’s participation in physical activity and sports. In this regard, the role of parents, physical education teachers and friends is very important.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of teaching style in physical education on prosocial and antisocial behaviors of children. We used a descriptive-correlational method for this study. The participates of the present study included 384 primary school students (mean age of 9.17 years old), including 192 boys and 192 girls which were selected by using a convenience sampling method. For collecting data, teacher as social context (TASC) Questionnaire, sport climate questionnaire (SCQ) and prosocial and antisocial behavior in sport scale (PABSS) were used. Correlation test and structural equation method were used for da analysis.  The results showed that perceived need support directly affected prosocial behaviors. In addition, perceived need thwarting indirectly affected prosocial behaviors. Moreover, perceived need support indirectly affected antisocial behaviors. Finally, perceived need thwarting directly affected antisocial behaviors. These findings demonstrate that needs supportive teaching style would lead to increase the prosocial behaviors and decrease antisocial behaviors in the physical education class among children.  

The effects of motor imagery and physical practice on motor learning in individuals with ADHD received very little attention. Therefore, in the present study, we aimed to examine the effects of motor imagery and physical practice on motor performance and learning dart-throwing in adolescents with ADHD. The current research was based on a causal-comparative approach. The participants included 60 adolescents with ADHD (with the age range of 12 to 17 years) randomly and equally assigned into four groups: 1) motor imagery, 2) physical practice, 3) combination of motor imagery and physical practice, and 4) control. The motor task involved dart-throwing, in which the accurate throw score was measured as the dependent variable. The participants performed the pre-test (ten throws) and the retention test (ten throws). ANOVA was run to analyze the throwing accuracy. Results showed that all groups had similar throwing scores in the pretest, however, in the retention test, the results indicated that combination group had significantly better throwing scores than all other groups (in all groups, P=0.000). In addition, physical practice group had significantly better throwing scores than motor imagery and control groups (both P=0.000). Finally, motor imagery group had significantly better throwing scores than control group (P=0.000). Individuals with ADHD benefit from motor imagery, indicating that they have the necessary mechanisms to learn new skills through motor imagery. Moreover, a combination of motor imagery and physical practice would be a better strategy for learning new motor skills.

One of the disabilities that has rarely been studied in the field of observational learning is autism. the purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of watching a video model with different skill levels on learning a basketball skill in adolescents with autism. The current study is descriptive and causal-comparative. The subjects of this study consisted of 60 adolescents with autism with an age range of 13 to 18 years, and they were randomly and equally divided into three groups: skilled model, novice model, and control. The motor task involved a basketball throwing, in which the accuracy score was measured as the dependent variable. The subjects performed the pre-test (including ten throws), the acquisition stage (including 5 10-throws training blocks), and the retention test (including ten throws). Subjects in the observation groups watched their respective models for five times before each training block. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze the throwing accuracy. The results showed that novice video group had significantly better throwing scores than skilled video model and control groups in the acquisition phase and retention test. In addition, skilled group had significantly better throwing scores than control group in the acquisition phase and retention test. The results of this study show that people with autism benefit from watching a video model to learn a basketball throwing skill. This result may indicate that these people have the necessary mechanisms to learn new skills through video observation.