Capturing the world of physical education through the eyes of children with autism spectrum disorders

The potential benefits of physical education (PE) are universal for all pupils. However, facilitating such benefits in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) requires careful planning. This paper reports on a small-scale case study at one school in eastern England, exploring physical education through the eyes of children (n = 5), aged 12–16, with autistic spectrum disorders. Photo-elicitation was adopted as the research tool to accord authority to the voices of the pupils, empowering them to share their feelings towards the subject by capturing significant aspects of physical education. The photographs provided prompts for greater exploration during unstructured interviews. Using the concepts of Bourdieu's reflexive sociology, the paper draws attention to how pupil's embodied dispositions interacted with what may be illustrated as the delimited spaces of the physical education field—physical education changing rooms, physical education corridors, the physical education teacher's office and physical education activities in the development of positive and negative positions and practices. The teacher's office was regarded positively as were activities that provided opportunities for engagement with peers. Opportunities to be heroic, such as scoring a goal for their team or being given an official role were important factors as was the opportunity to engage in some team sports. However, pupils' interaction with the changing rooms and physical education corridors were viewed with trepidation, worry and fear. The paper concludes by highlighting that both positive and negative interactions with the spaces of physical education develop forms of social and symbolic capital shaping the physical education experiences for pupils with ASD. Anticipating barriers presented within these integral fields of physical education space can help in preparing a rich and inclusive experience for pupils with ASD. Teachers may be better informed in providing strategies to facilitate communication and social interaction whilst allowing all pupils to engage positively with physical education.     

An examination of motives underlying active sport tourist behavior: a market segmentation approach

The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a preliminary sport tourism motivation scale (STMS) that detected unique active sport tourist segments according to their social psychological motives for traveling to a destination to compete in sport. Segments’ conative loyalty were also analyzed to gain a greater understanding of how underlying motives for sport event tourism influences consumers’ behavioral intentions. A convenient sampling approach was used to collect data from 380 athletes participating in the 2014 GoPro Mountain Games in Colorado. In developing the STMS, items derived from previously validated sport and tourism motivation scales were used to reduce and verify a parceled STMS factor structure. Confirmatory Factor Analysis yielded acceptable psychometric properties. Ward’s Hierarchical cluster analysis identified three segments: tourism-oriented, sport tourism enthusiasts, and sport-oriented. The sport tourism enthusiasts, who exhibited favorable valuations on each of the nine STMS factors, demonstrated elevated conative loyalty characteristics above those of the other two segments. Additionally, the STMS was able to explain 30% of the variation in consumers’ conative loyalty with factors, ‘Destination Attributes’ and ‘Competitive Desire’ being the most influential predictors. Overall, the study’s findings may better equip event managers with information necessary to tailor event service elements which may enhance customer satisfaction and lead to greater retention.     

STUDENT PERCEPTIONS OF CHILLING PRACTICES IN SEX-ATYPICAL MAJORS

This study examined the possibility that notonly women, but also men, face what Hall and Sandler(1982) call chilling behaviors when theyare students in a major considered nontraditional oratypical for their sex. The population for this studywas all upper-level students (N = 1,992) in accounting,education, engineering, and nursing at a publicuniversity in the mid-South. A random sample of females and males, or a total of 426 junior and seniorfull-time and part-time students in these majors, wasmailed a survey about chilling practices in their major.Analysis of variance was used to clarify the relationships between the independent variablesof students' sex and academic discipline and theinteraction of students' sex and academic discipline andthe dependent variable of perception of practices in their major. The findings indicated that,regardless of their sex, students in these majors didnot perceive practices in their major to bechilling. However, there was a differencein perceptions as a function of major. Both education andnursing students perceived a warmerenvironment in their major than did accounting andengineering students. The pattern was the same for bothfemales and males since there was no interaction of sex andacademic discipline.