Date of Award

4-1982

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Dr. R. Wayne Fuqua

Second Advisor

Dr. Alan Poling

Third Advisor

Dr. Malcolm Robertson

Access Setting

Masters Thesis-Open Access

Abstract

The effects of several levels of exercise on inappropriate behaviors of four trainable mentally impaired subjects were observed in a school setting. Treatment conditions, which occurred as the first daily activity, included (a) Phase I, daily alternating conditions of warm-up exercises and jogging at a moderate rate for a short distance; (b) Phase II, daily alternating conditions of no exercise and jogging at a vigorous rate for a moderate distance; and (c) Phase III, jogging at a vigorous rate for a moderate distance on consecutive days. For one subject two additional conditions, (a) Phase IV, jogging on consecutive days at a vigorous rate for a long distance and (b) Phase V, consecutive days of no exercise, were included. Observations of three inappropriate behaviors of each subject occurred immediately after, 1 hour after and 2 hours after each daily condition. Results indicate for three subjects a decrease in inappropriate behaviors was directly related to the increase in the level of exercise; in three subjects there were consistent effects across all behaviors; and a decrease in level of off-task behaviors was observed in each subject. Improvements over existing studies are discussed with suggestions for future research.

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