Antecedent exercise as a treatment for disruptive behavior: Testing hypothesized mechanisms of action

Abstract

This study evaluated the effects of antecedent physical exercise (AE) and a mastery task on behaviorally disturbed children's self-concepts and rates of disruptive behaviors. In addition, we evaluated whether changes in self-concept mediated any exercise induced changes in rates of disruptive behavior. Fifty-eight children were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (a) antecedent exercise (jog/walk), (b) "mastery" task (a successive improvement miniaturebasketball shooting task), and (c) no treatment control group. A week of baseline was followed by 4 weeks of treatment and, finally another week of return to baseline. Results indicated that: (a) AE produced significantly less disruptive behavior than no treatment, (b) the "Mastery" task did not produce significantly less disruptive behavior than no treatment, (c) neither treatment produced increases in self-concept relative to no treatment, and (d) changes in self-concept did not mediate AE induced reductions in disruptive behaviors.This study evaluated the effects of antecedent physical exercise (AE) and a mastery task on behaviorally disturbed children's self-concepts and rates of disruptive behaviors. The purpose was to test two hypotheses regarding the mechanisms underlying the effects of AE. One proposed hypothesis is that improvement in an activity, whether physically beneficial or not, is what underlies the behavioral benefits of AE. The second hypothesis is that changes in self-concept mediate the effects of AE on disruptive behavior.During the last decade or so, researchers have begun to focus on the psychological and behavioral effects of physical exercise (Seraganian, 1993).Requests for reprints should be sent to Vincent C. Basile who is now at Milestone School for Child Development, 2025 64th Street, Brooklyn NY 11204.This project was completed in partial fulfillment for the requirements of a doctoral degree by Vincent C. Bade under the supervision of Robert W. Motta.

Review: A systematic review of the impact of physical activity programmes on social and emotional well‐being in at‐risk youth

“…Their failure to include a control group and the high risk of bias in this study, make it difficult to interpret the intervention effects. Alternatively, the fitness programme evaluated by Basile et al (1995) did not improve self-concept in a group of children with behavioural disorders. The fitness programme consisted of jogging and walking around the school playground for 20 min.…”

“…Our search identified 15 studies that evaluated the effects of physical activity programmes on social and emotional well-being in at-risk children and adolescents (Table 1). Seven studies evaluated the effects of outdoor adventure programmes (Bloemhoff, 2006;Cross, 2002;Green, Kleiber, & Tarrant, 2000;Kaiser, Smith, Heleski, & Spence, 2006;Minor & Elrod, 1994;Pommier & Witt, 1995;Wu & Hsieh, 2006), seven studies evaluated the effects of sport and skill-based interventions (Basile, Motta, & Allison, 1995;Bonnette, McBride, & Tolson, 2001;Goodway & Rudisill, 1996;Maiano, Ninot, Morin, & Bilard, 2007;Palermo et al, 2006;Robinson et al, 2009;Tester, Watkins, & Rouse, 1999) and two studies reported the effects of physical fitness programmes (Basile et al, 1995;Collingwood, Sunderlin, & Kohl, 1994). The majority of studies evaluated the effects of programmes among older children and adolescents, however, two studies (Goodway & Rudisill, 1996;Robinson et al, 2009) reported the effects of motor skill interventions in at-risk preschool children.…”

“…Few studies provided stratified baseline characteristics and four studies did not include a control group or comparison group (Collingwood et al, 1994;Kaiser et al, 2006;Tester et al, 1999;Wu & Hsieh, 2006). Although a number of studies were randomised controlled trials (Basile et al, 1995;Goodway & Rudisill, 1996;Minor & Elrod, 1994;Palermo et al, 2006), only one study described the process of randomisation (Basile et al, 1995). Six studies used quasi-experimental designs (Bloemhoff, 2006;Bonnette et al, 2001;Cross, 2002;Green et al, 2000;Maiano et al, 2007;Robinson et al, 2009).…”

“…Two sport-based programmes targeting at-risk adolescent boys (Bonnette et al, 2001) and adolescent boys with conduct disorders (Maiano et al, 2007) did not significantly improve physical self-perceptions. Basile et al (1995) compared the effects of a skillmastery intervention to a fitness programme and a no treatment control and found that neither programme significantly improved self-concept in children with behavioural disorders. The skill mastery programme provided participants with an opportunity to achieve mastery on a single motor task (i.e.…”

“…Two studies reported the effects of physical fitness programmes for at-risk youth (Basile et al, 1995;Collingwood et al, 1994). Collingwood et al (1994) reported significant improvements in self-concept in a large sample of at-risk adolescents following their participation in the First Choice Fitness leaders programme.…”