Sociocultural barriers to women’s participation in sport: The role of self-objectification and stereotype threat
Project Summary Women and girls in sport have endured years of cynicism regarding their physical abilities, much of which is perpetuated via media portrayals that emphasize their appearance, femininity, and (hetero) sexuality rather than athletic competence. Although female athletes have made gains in international recognition, funding and opportunity, the negative representations and resultant stereotypes about…
Understanding adolescents’ positive and negative developmental experiences in sport
Project Summary Currently, there is considerable public concern about youths’ healthy physical and psychosocial development. As such, researchers in both developmental and sport psychology highlight a need to better understand how organized sporting activities may be contributing to youths’ positive or negative development. The purpose of this study was to gain understanding of adolescents’ positive…
Combating social exclusion in sport and recreation through participatory policy development
Project Summary The purpose of this study was to examine how experiences with physical activity for recent immigrant Chinese women living in Vancouver can inform Canadian sport and recreation policy at the local, provincial, and national levels to increase their participation. The Chinese population is the largest ‘visible minority’ group’ in Canada, yet little is…
Strategies used by physical educators to implement a program that encourages their students to “adopt a healthy and active lifestyle”
Project Summary Essentially, the purpose of this research project is to implement a program, such as Team Pentathlon, in primary and secondary schools to encourage physical activity and study various aspects of the program implementation process. More specifically, we: The analysis of preliminary research data shows that 84% of the students, both boys and girls,…
A framework for creating a campus culture of compassion: A participatory action research approach to equality
Project Summary This dissertation united key stakeholders from the University of Guelph community in order to examine issues around accessibility and inclusion of students with disabilities in campus recreation and sport opportunities. The research team included representatives from the University of Guelph’s Centre for Students with Disabilities and the Department of Athletics, an undergraduate student…
Children with ADHD and physical activity behaviours: What happens when the village turns its back on you
Project Summary The three main objectives for this research project were to: (a) describe the physical activity (PA) behaviours of children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), (b) explore the feelings and attitudes that children with ADHD and their parent(s) had about PA, and (c) generate a grounded theory of PA and children with ADHD. The…
Transitioning students’ sport and physical activity participation
Project Summary The transition from late adolescence to young adulthood represents a time of profound changes, including a period for which substantial declines in physical activity levels occur. As the late adolescent population transitions into early adulthood, a number of trajectories are possible (e.g., entry to the workplace, armed forces), but a large proportion of…
Infrastructure & expertise: A model to investigate effective training through long-term athlete development
Project Summary A Hockey Intervention Program (HIP) was established as an innovative vehicle to evaluate the infrastructure-athlete relationship for training athletes in the sport of ice hockey. This research examined both system level and athlete level factors that influence stakeholders’ decisions to access and/or integrate infrastructure into athlete development and how innovative infrastructure can best…
Chinese-Canadians’ perspectives on health & sport participation
Project Summary The main objective of the project was to investigate Chinese-Canadians’ perspectives about health and sport practice. Overall, participants reported both positive and negative changes in their perspectives and practices related to health and sport participation after immigrating to Canada. They experienced both cultural conflicts and integration. Multiple factors influenced their sport participation. For…
Curling and community in rural canada
Project Summary The main objective of this research was to understand the role of curling clubs in rural Canadian life. It aimed to deepen and broaden our understanding of the role of leisure and sport settings in community development by studying the rural curling club. Specifically, it sought to: (1) explore the functions of these…