Over the past decade, the majority of research on perceived effort in children has emanated from a physiological perspective and has generally focused on the development of RPE scales for children. Although Tenenbaum (1999, 2001) and others have investigated the psychological factors related to perceived exertion in adults, research with children has excluded these factors. The current study examined the differences in the psychological factors involved in three components of effort perception between two cohorts of children at different stages of cognitive development (i.e. concrete operational stage and formal operation stage) during an exertive task. According to Piaget (1954, 1969) children in the concrete operational stage of development are typically between the ages of 7 to 11 years of age; while those in the formal operational stage of development are typically 11 years and older. Participants for this study were recruited from two general age groups: 9 years of age and 13 years of age. These participants were then screened on the PPVT-4th edition. The types of words used on the PPVT-4 vary from age group to age group; the level of abstractness for the words increases with age. Only children who were within the average range of receptive vocabulary were selected for this study. Fifty children participated in this study; 23 in the concrete operational stage and 27 in the formal operational stage of cognitive development. Three dimensions of perceived effort sensations, breathing, exertion, and determination, were measured at regular intervals for the duration of a stepping task. Each dimension was measured separately, using a weighted backpack at a physical load of either 0% or 20% of the participant's body weight. Contrary to expectations, results of this study revealed that children perceived the three effort dimensions differently across the duration of an exertive task and physical load. It was expected that children in the concrete operational group would not differentiate their ratings. However, both groups of participants differentiated their ratings. Exertion and breathing sensations were reported with an increased intensity in a linear fashion and also increased with intensity in physical load for both groups of participants. Unlike adults, determination ratings did not remain stable over time for the children in either stage of cognitive development, indicating that children may interpret this dimension differently than adults. This conclusion provides further support for Tenenbaum's (2001) multidimensional model of perceived effort, that exertion is only one of many sensations that are felt during exercise engagement (Hardy & Rejeski, 1989; McAuley & Courneya, 1994; Parfitt et al., 1994; Tenenbaum, 2001; Hutchinson & Tenenbaum, 2007). Thus, questioning the effectiveness of a one-item measure of effort, particularly for children. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2013. / June 24, 2013. / Children, Perceived Effort, Perceived Exertion / Includes bibliographical references. / Gershon Tenenbaum, Professor Directing Dissertation; Lynn Panton, University Representative; Robert Eklund, Committee Member; Jeannine Turner, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_183673 |
| Contributors | Braun, Robyn A. (authoraut), Tenenbaum, Gershon (professor directing dissertation), Panton, Lynn (university representative), Eklund, Robert (committee member), Turner, Jeannine (committee member), Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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