Chapter 15: Social and Cultural Constraints in Motor Development

Socio-cultural is

Group attitudes that affect motor behaviors of an individual

• Social values, ideals, norms, stereotypes

• Culturally specific concepts about movement behaviors. Often reinforced by media

Social constraints are

pervasive group attitudes, values, and norms that influence behaviors of individuals within the group.

Social constraints create

an atmosphere encouraging socially acceptable and discouraging socially unacceptable movement activities.

Socialization process

The process by which one learns a social role in groups with certain values, morals, and rules.

For the socialization process, people and situations influence?

individuals in their choice of activities throughout their lives

What are 3 major elements of the socialization process ?

1. Significant others: Influential or important people, called

socializing agents

2. Social situations: Places where socialization takes place (e.g., schools, home, playgrounds)

3. Personal attributes: Individual constraints (e.g., strength, motivation, skill)

Sex refers to male or female

biological characteristics (individual constraint)

Gender refers to

socially determined masculine or feminine characteristics (sociocultural constraint)

Gender Typing occurs when a

a significant other encourages activities that are deemed “gender appropriate”.

• (gender stereotyping)

Regarding gender typing, societal attitudes about gender-appropriate activities can restrict

physical activity options for boys and girls

In the United States, these societal attitudes linger, but the number of girls participating in sports has dramatically

increased

• Girls still lag behind boys in number of participants.

• Girls are still more likely to drop out of sports after high school.

What federal civil rights law passed in 1972 that protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive Federal financial assistance?

Title IX

"No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”

What gender stereotypes are associated with the following activities?

Ballet

Baseball

Soccer

Wrestling

Ballet : girl

Baseball : boy

Soccer : both

Wrestling : boy

Can you think of cases where athletes went against the stereotype? How many?

volleyball, gymnastics

Socializing Agent are people that are

Most likely to play a role in an individual's socialization process.

Significant Others : parents/caregivers (have a lot of influence), siblings, friends, teachers, and coaches

Significant Others : Parents are particularly important during

early childhood

Gender of both child and parents matters , fathers tend to

reinforce gender typing in boys

• same sex parents may be more influential

Significant Others: Siblings constitute a child’s

first play group

• after childhood, sibling influence diminishes

• Patterns of family influence vary by social background, race, and geographic location.

Girl sports participation is influenced by

brothers and sisters

Significant Others: Peers have a large influence on

participation in certain activities

• playgroups

• Play : Activity that is repetitive, spontaneous, voluntary and fun

What are the different types of play?

Solitary (24-30 months)

Parallel (2.5-3.5 Years)

Associative (3.5-4.5 Years)

Cooperative (4.5-5 Years)

Types of Play Chart

When are peer groups important?

after childhood

Peers provide a strong influence for

group activities, including team sports and nonsport clubs.

Peer group preference for passive activities can lead

once-active children into sedentary adolescence

Significant Others: Coaches and Teachers have potential to expose a

different pov to that of parents and family members

• introduce them to activities and stimulate them to learn skills within the sport

• Potential to turn students away from sport and physical activity

Teachers and coaches must avoid providing

aversive socialization (Snyder & Spreitzer, 1973), which discourages participation

Significant Others: Coaches and teachers have

Potential For aversion socialization (you throw like a girl)

Negative socialization experiences that deter an individual from present/or future participation in sport

1. Fail to learn skills

2. Avoid physical activity

Social Situations include

play environments and games

Play environments and games are an adequate

environment for play, such as a backyard or playground can provide engagement in physical activity and sports

Play space can influence what?

• Activity participation/selection

• Gender-associated values

• Equipment accommodations (Body Scaling)

Playing with toys can act as

constraints

• May encourage children to be active or inactive

Gender typing via toys

• Toys marketed to boys tend to be more complex and encourage more vigorous activity than those marketed to girls.

• Toys can encourage traditional gender roles.

• Marketing, advertising, and packaging of toys can lead to gender typing.

• Parents enjoy giving their children the same kinds of toys they played with as children.

• Parents can promote gender typing by negatively reinforcing play with toys the judge to be gender inappropriate.

• Video, computer, or streamed games are increasingly influential.

Caregiver

Initial Interactions

Infants engage in

visual exchange, touch, and express distress when caregiver leaves

Infancy Locomotion

Crawling and Creeping

Infancy and Early Childhood Practice Play is

movement-oriented

Early Childhood : Family is the most ___________

influential

• siblings are a child’s first playgroup

Young children’s physical activity participation often reflects

parents interest and encouragement

During middle childhood, ______ environment becomes influential

school

• conflicting findings

• sport specialization

• Peers Influence (Cliques)

During adolescence, ____ have a _____ influence

peers , higher

• seeking approval

• seeking opportunities to do sport

• gender roles

Early Adulthood transitions

• Workforce, School, Marriage, Parenthood

• peers influential

• reduction of physical activity for individual who are married or dating

• marriage and living together

During middle and late adulthood, you will go through

transitions

• retirement, leaving the nest

• Ageism

Race relate to

genetic similarities between groups

Ethnicity have cultural

similarities within groups

SES (socioeconomic status) is describing

individuals based on their education, income, and type of job (National Cancer Ins.)

Stereotype threat is

Experience of being at risk of conforming to sociocultural stereotypes related to racial, ethnic, gender, or cultural groups.

Sociocultural constraints continually interact with

functional individualconstraints that encourage and discourage movements through participation in activities.

Youth are socialized into

sport