This study examined the relationships and differences amongst selected physical education and psychological characteristics of boys before and after secondary school transfer. The purpose of the study was to determine the significance of boys' attitudes to physical education, motor performance and physical education self-esteem (self-perceptions of performance in physical education) at the age of school transfer, and establish the role of physical education before and during adjustment to secondary school. Independent samples of Primary schoolboys (n = 50) and secondary schoolboys(n = 107) formed a cross-sectional study, whilst twenty-five primary school transferees formed a small-scale longitudinal study. Pupils' attitudes towards physical education, motor performance and physical education self-esteem (PESE) were assessed during the last term at primary school and on two occasions (December and June) during the first year at secondary school. In addition, global self-esteem and anxiety were measured at each stage, and a self-report school transfer questionnaire was administered at the end of the transfer year. From these sources, low self-esteem, high anxiety and negative attitudes to secondary school were used as indicators of poor school adjustment. Differences amongst the psychological variables across transfer revealed that the move to secondary school appeared to be a positive experience for most boys. However, those boys identified as poorly adjusted to secondary school were less sure of themselves, more anxious, and recorded lower global and physical education self-esteem. Correlational analysis and discriminant analysis of low, average, and high motor performers (actual and perceived) revealed that poor motor performance was not consistently associated with low global self-esteem, high anxiety, or poor school adjustment. In contrast, low physical education selfesteem was associated with negative psychological characteristics and all the indicators of poor secondary school adjustment. Findings also suggested that physical education self-esteem may serve (1) as a mediating variable between actual motor performance and global self-esteem, and (2) as a mediating variable between physical education experiences and school adjustment. On the basis of the results, a preliminary model of secondary school adjustment incorporating physical education is presented for discussion and empirical test. Also in light of the study's findings, the National Curriculum for England and Wales is analysed to consider the extent to which physical education experiences are likely to assist children's motor and psychological development before transfer and during secondary school adjustment.

This thesis examined the regulatory role of emotion in antisocial behaviour using Bandura’s (1991) social cognitive theory of moral thought and action as a framework. In Chapter 2, moral disengagement was associated with reduced, and empathy with increased, negative affective reactions to unpleasant images depicting players hurt or mistreated. In Chapter 3, an initial study yielded a positive link between moral disengagement and antisocial behaviour which was partially mediated by anticipated guilt. In a second study, manipulating attribution of blame (mechanism of moral disengagement) led to reduced unpleasant affective reactions to images depicting aggressive content. Moreover, attribution of blame led to greater likelihood to aggress which was partly mediated by a reduction in anticipated guilt. Chapter 4 revealed that inducing empathy led to more unpleasant affective reactions to antisocial conduct as well as reduced the likelihood to aggress, which was mediated by an enhancement in anticipated guilt. In the final experiment, empathy reduced aggression following provocation during a competitive reaction time task that was partially mediated by guilt, but not anger. Collectively, these results provide support for the role of emotion in regulating antisocial behaviour, and indicate that moral disengagement may negate and empathy may enhance this self-regulatory mechanism.

The role of outdoor adventure programmes as a recognised approach for the effective treatment of psychological issues has, in recent years, reflected the growing interest in the development of adventure therapy. Although there has been an increased awareness of the possibilities of such a therapeutic approach there is limited practice, and thus very little instruction for how to implement such approaches, especially from a UK perspective. The aim of this study was to develop adventure therapy practice in the UK by specifically developing an intervention for women with eating disorders. Given that this specific approach for working with eating disorders didn't exist at the time of this study, this thesis is based on the principles of action research -a key aspect of the research process was the development of adventure therapy practice itself. Given the gender considerations of working in an outdoor adventure setting and the fact that eating disorders are largely a female phenomenon this study also took a feminist approach to ensure that disordered eating was in fact not reinforced by any adventure therapy approach developed. The thesis itself describes in detail the processes of developing the adventure therapy intervention and the associated experience of the six women who were recruited and took part in the intervention. The dilemmas and decisions made with regard to a number of issues in implementing an adventure therapy approach are examined, for example, facilitating therapeutic processes in an outdoor setting, identifying issues related to eating disorders that might arise in an outdoor adventure context, and examining feminist principles in action (e. g. reflexivity). As well as the six women's experiences of the different aspects of the adventure therapy intervention, the overall impact of the intervention for each woman is also examined. Data collected from a range of tools completed by the women, including personal information sheets, the Eating Disorders Inventory (EDI), personal journals, individual interviews and a final focus group indicate changes in most, but not all of the women. The results suggests that for the women with less chronic eating disorder symptoms positive change across a range of clinical symptoms were evident, including reduced troubled eating behaviours, improved body image, and motivation for change, albeit to different degrees for each woman. And for the one woman with the most chronic symptoms, although the intervention was a positive experience there was no evidence to suggest the intervention had any sustained impact. Although, the results from this study are not representative of a large clinical population of women, there is an indication that the intervention did initiate therapeutic change for some of the women and thus suggests that adventure therapy has the potential to be an effective therapeutic treatment for eating disorders and is, therefore, worthy of further investigation. Inevitably, in continuing to develop work in this area many questions and issues are raised as result of the action research process and the thesis concludes with a consideration of some of the needs of developing future adventure therapy research and practice in the UK.

As natural environments have been identified as places for mental restoration and social development there is the potential to address a number of bio-psychosocial health inequalities by encouraging urban park use. The current research explores the link between people and nature within the urban context of Liverpool across 3 phases of research. The reconnaissance phase explored health inequalities, physical activity levels and park access in Liverpool. Analysis showed that Liverpool is one of the most socially and economically deprived areas within England, with less than 70% of the survey population not meeting recommended physical activity levels. Although Liverpool has an abundance of parks and urban green spaces, the high health inequalities and lack of physical activity correlation with environment features suggests residents might not access parks and urban green spaces for health benefits. The exploratory study adopted a multi-method approach to investigate bio-psychosocial responses to urban city and park environments. Using repeated measures, 18 participants walked on a treadmill for 20 minutes whilst viewing and listening to either a Liverpool urban park or city centre scene. A two-way ANOVA was conducted to compare means between data collection time points within each condition for heart rate and blood pressure. Analysis for mean arterial pressure found a significant reduction for the park condition post physical activity [F(2,18) 6.83, p=.02] with the same effect on systolic blood . pressure [F(2, 18)=8.61, p=.OO] in comparison to the city scene. Semi-structured interviews conducted after testing found that cultural and social experiences influenced how participants interact with the urban environment. In particular, opportunities to access parks and natural environments during childhood was attributed to a lifespan connection. Participants reported psychological benefits of stress reduction and attention restoration and social benefits including providing a place for family and friend interaction in a park setting. Social barriers included fear from crime and harassment from teenagers. While the city was associated with traffic, congestion and noise that could evoke negative emotions, the history and diversity of Liverpool aroused pride and enjoyment that could also promote psychosocial benefits. The intervention study adopted ethnographic principles to explore cultural and individual beliefs of a group of eleven teenagers engaged in a park based physical activity programme. Observations during the programme indicated that the practitioner's role and skill base was paramount to park and activity engagement. Changes to participants across the programme impacted negatively on group dynamics, with external pressures from family and friends contributing to low attendance rates, poor time keeping and low concentration during activities. The social intervention highlighted the need to fully engage participants in the planning process and provide an agreed structure and policy for behaviour. The research highlighted a number of organisational, cultural and social issues that need to be tackled before benefits from green spaces can be fully realised. Overall research findings suggest that potential bio-psychosocial benefits of physical activity in parks and urban green spaces may be influenced by complex social issues surrounding values, culture and tradition. Further investigation into the interrelationships between neighbourhood residents, parks and urban green spaces, activities of users, and potential restorative effects could provide beneficial insights for policy makers and practitioners who would look to use these spaces for bio-psychosocial wellbeing.

A large proportion of UK children do not meet the recommended guidelines for participation in physical activity, which is a public health concern as the prevalence of overweight and obesity among children is rising. Increasing perceptions of competence and levels of fundamental movement skill proficiency are potential strategies to promote physical activity. The aims of this thesis were to, a) investigate the prevalence of skill proficiency and levels of perceived physical competence in UK children, b) examine the relationships between fundamental movement skill competence and physical self-perceptions with children's physical activity, fitness and body fatness, and c) determine the effectiveness of non-curricular interventions to increase fundamental movement skills and enhance perceptions of competence. The first stage of research presented is the cross-sectional study of 152 children (41% boys; Age mean 9.7?0.3 years), which were recruited from 8 primary schools. Children completed the Children and Youth Physical Self-Perception Profile (CYPSPP) and were assessed on 8 skills using video-analysis and process measures. In addition, cardiorespiratory fitness was directly measured during a treadmill protocol to exhaustion; body fat (%) was determined by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry; and physical activity was assessed by accelerometers over 7 days. The results revealed that children generally had positive perceptions of their physical self. However, levels of physical self-perceptions did not significantly predict physical activity behaviour. Perceptions of physical condition and physical strength were weak predictors of cardiorespiratory fitness and percent body fat, collectively explaining 7% and 7.8% of variance. Children's perceptions of competence were not related to their actual competence levels. Prevalence of proficiency in fundamental movement skills was low-to-moderate in boys and low in girls. Chi-square tests revealed a significantly (P < 0.01) higher proportion of boys were rated as proficient than girls in the kick (x = 37.4), catch (x = 25.3), strike (x = 28.4) and throw (x = 44.1). Total skill score significantly (P < 0.01) accounted for 11% and 9.2% of the variance in physical activity and percent total body fat, respectively. Locomotor skills significantly (P<0.01) predicted 7.7% of unique variance in moderate-to vigorous physical activity, 5.6% of total physical activity, 13.4% of cardiorespiratory fitness, and 23.7% of variance in percent body fat. Object-control skills weakly predicted total body fat (2%; P=0.04) but did not account for variance in other outcomes. This study highlighted the importance of fundamental movement skills to children's health and identified the need for interventions to enhance skill competence in older children. The next stage of research sought to determine the efficacy of interventions to increase skill competence and physical self-perceptions. An exploratory study examined the effects of a 9 week afterschool multi-skills club on skill proficiency, physical self-perceptions and body mass index (BMI) in 8-9 year old children. Two schools were randomly assigned to either a comparison (n = 15) or multi-skill club (n = 19) group. The multi-skill club received 18 coaching sessions designed to improve movement skills, while the comparison group followed normal routines. Children completed the CY-PSPP and assessments of seven movement skills, and were measured for stature and mass to calculate BMI. It was found that children in the multi-skill club had higher BMI (P<0.05) and possibly lower perceptions of body attractiveness and physical condition than children in the comparison group at post-test. Participation in the multi-skill club delivered significant (P<0.01) improvements in proficiency at post-test in static balance, whilst potentially practically important improvements were observed in performance of the catch, throw and kick skills. It was concluded that an afterschool multi-skill club offers a viable opportunity for movement skill acquisition, but any such programme would need to run for a longer duration to identify if this type of activity could benefit all skills. The final study was unique in that it was the first study to assess the impact of three different 12 month interventions on children's skill levels and perceived physical competence. One hundred and fifty-two 9-10 year old children were randomised by school to one of four conditions: a bi-weekly high-intensity physical activity afterschool club (HIPA; n=36); a bi-weekly multi-skill (fundamental movement skill) after-school club (FMS; n=37); a behaviour-modification programme (PASS; n=45); or a control-comparison (CON; n=34). Outcome measures, as employed within the cross-sectional study, were assessed at baseline, 9- and 12 months. It was found that participation in the FMS group was associated with moderate positive intervention effects on skill competence and increased the likelihood of attaining proficiency at post-test skill in 7 out of 8 skills. Participation in HIPA was associated with a small positive intervention effect on locomotor skill competence, and increased likelihood of proficiency in 5 skills, while PASS had no effect on skill competence but did increase the likelihood of attaining proficiency in 3 skills. In boys, participation in FMS and HIPA were associated with higher perceptions of sports competence, condition, and physical self-worth; HIPA elevated perceptions of strength, and, FMS increased perceived body attractiveness. PASS was associated with more positive perceptions of sports competence and body attractiveness at 9- but not 12-months. In girls, there were no positive intervention effects on CY-PSPP subscales, whilst all interventions were associated with more negative perceptions of body attractiveness. No group differences were found for body fat or physical activity, which increased from baseline to mid-test but fell sharply at post test in all conditions. Boys in HIPA improved fitness levels relative to controls, whilst girls participating in the FMS and PASS groups had lower fitness at post-test. It was concluded that multi-skill afterschool clubs are most effective at improving fundamental movement skills. Afterschool clubs may provide a means to augment boys' perceptions of competence, irrespective of activity mode; however, after-school clubs do not appear to enhance physical self-perceptions in girls. Behaviour-modification programmes appear least effective at improving actual and perceived competence, but a combined structured exercise and behaviour modification programme may be necessary to improve health outcomes. A subsequent follow-up study is required to assess long term impact of the interventions. The studies within this thesis have provided a detailed insight into the effects of different interventions on children's actual and perceived competence. To summarise, it was found that many children are not proficient at fundamental movement skills, which is important given their associations with important health outcomes. A multi-skill club programme can best impact such skills, whilst other forms of physical activity can also promote skill development. Perceptions of physical competence do not appear to have strong associations with children's health at this age. The influences of interventions on perceptions of competence appear complex and gender differences suggest that different forms of interventions may be necessary for girls.