Date of Submission
2018
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)
Department
Psychology
Department Chair
Robert A DiTomasso, PhD, ABPP
First Advisor
George McCloskey, PhD
Second Advisor
Katy Tresco, PhD
Third Advisor
Timothy Brennan, EdD
Abstract
Executive functions (EF) are the directive capacities of the human brain that are responsible for a person’s ability to engage in purposeful, organized, goal-directed behavior and to cue and direct perceptions, feelings, thoughts and actions in specific ways. There has been a growing body of research indicating that sports such as soccer, basketball, and baseball require the effective use of self-regulation executive functions that cue and direct attention, inhibition, shifting, flexibility and working memory. The objective of the study was to investigate student athletes’ perceptions of the relationship between playing sports and their effective use of executive functions and teacher perceptions of student athletes’ effective use of executive capacities. The data file used in this study consisted of the survey responses obtained from 70 student athletes divided into two groups: contact required sports (n=37), and contact nonrequired sports (n=33). The data file also consisted of teacher ratings of the athletes’ current executive function abilities, which were divided into two groups: contact required sports (n=25), and contact nonrequired sports (n=25). The results of the student survey item analyses indicated that a majority of the athletes agreed or strongly agreed that playing organized sports helped them with the effective use of their executive capacities. The results from the student surveys did not indicate any perceived differences in the use of executive capacities between students in contact required sports and students in contact nonrequired sports. Teacher ratings indicated that a large portion of the athletes rated demonstrate executive strengths and did not indicate any perceived differences in the use of executive capacities between students in contact required sports and students in contact nonrequired sports.
Recommended Citation
Edelsberg, Rebecca T., "Student and Teacher Perceptions of the Relationship Between Self-Regulation Executive Functions and Playing Team Sports" (2018). PCOM Psychology Dissertations. 462.
https://digitalcommons.pcom.edu/psychology_dissertations/462