Search results for ""Author Alan L Smith""

The fourth edition of Advances in Sport and Exercise Psychology retains the book’s sterling reputation in the field and provides advanced psychology students with a thorough examination and critical analysis of the current research in the psychology of physical activity. This revitalized text, known in its first three editions as Advances in Sport Psychology, uses a traditional textbook approach, appropriate for advanced classes, as opposed to an informal handbook style. Longtime editor and author Thelma Horn is joined by a new coeditor, Alan Smith, as well as new and returning contributors (55 in all), including many of the most prolific researchers and scholars in the field. As the updated title indicates, this edition emphasizes exercise psychology constructs as well as sport psychology. The new edition highlights some of the career possibilities in health and wellness areas as well as some of the distinctions between sport and exercise psychology research. Further updates to this text include the following: • Nine new and heavily referenced chapters, including Family Influences on Active Free Play and Youth Sport, Leadership in Physical Activity Contexts, and Youth Talent Development • Refreshed theoretical and empirical data based on advances in the sport, exercise, and physical activity psychology field • Expanded topics in exercise psychology, such as physical activity and mental health, physical activity and cognitive abilities, and health-based exercise motivation models • Contemporary interest areas in sport psychology, such as perfectionism, passion, self-presentation concerns, stereotype threat, psychopathology issues in sport and exercise, positive youth development, sport talent development, and physical activity within specific populations The reorganized text is divided into seven parts. Part I provides an overview of the field in the psychology of physical activity. Part II examines characteristics of people that can affect their behavior and psychosocial well-being in sport, exercise, and physical activity contexts. In part III, students learn about socioenvironmental factors that impinge on participants’ behavior and psychosocial well-being in sport and physical activity domains. Part IV explores psychological factors that can affect behavior and performance in sport and physical activity settings. In part V, students gain insights into the motivational models and theories regarding individuals’ behavior in sport, exercise, and physical activity contexts. Part VI discusses the links between sport, physical activity, exercise, and health. Part VII analyzes the concepts related to lifespan and developmental processes. For instructors, Advances in Sport and Exercise Psychology includes an image bank that houses nearly all the tables and figures from the book. With its broad range of new and established content, its inclusion of exercise psychology constructs, and its addition of many new and bright voices, Advances in Sport and Exercise Psychology maintains the standard of excellence set by its preceding editions.

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As interest in the public health challenge of youth inactivity increases, the ambitious Youth Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior sets a standard for addressing a problem with worldwide implications. Drawing on the contributions of a diverse group of international experts, this reference challenges professionals, researchers, and students to implement new solutions and further their research and work. No other text addresses the causes, contributing factors, and fundamental issues in dealing with youth physical activity with such depth or comprehensive coverage. Using a multidisciplinary approach, Youth Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior breaks away from traditional thinking that places activity and sedentary behavior on a single continuum, which may limit progress in addressing youth inactivity. Instead, the authors encourage readers to focus on how sedentary and physically active behaviors coexist and consider how the two behaviors may have different determinants. In doing so, the text also considers developmental features such as maturation, ethnicity, environment, and genetics across both childhood (through age 12) and adolescence (the teen years). By looking at a variety of psychosocial and epidemiological factors, the authors set the stage for a critical analysis of beliefs and views at a time when many assumptions are taken for granted. This book is organized in three parts that build on one another to deepen readers' understanding of this complex problem. This text begins by addressing the fundamental issues and assumptions pertaining to youth physical activity and sedentary behavior, covering such topics as measurement of the behavior in question, health outcomes, concepts, and trends in a public health context. Once readers have grasped this foundational knowledge, they advance to part II for a comprehensive account of personal factors likely to be associated with the problem. Part III moves beyond the individual into the wider social and contextual aspects of physically active and sedentary living in young people. Through this concluding part, readers gain the latest thinking on how parents, peers, schools, organized sport, and related factors link to youth physical activity and sedentary behavior. Each chapter presents the latest theory and research, real-world approaches to implementation, and background information to encourage discussion and future directions in national policy making. Youth Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior also contains the following features that add to an unprecedented learning experience: -An at-a-glance look at why and how research can be used in the real world helps researchers relate their work to overall solutions. -Coverage of more issues related to this subject than are available in any other reference makes this a one-stop resource. -Internationally respected foreword writer, editors, and contributors provide a cross-disciplinary perspective valuable for putting solutions into a wider context. -Applications for Professionals boxes and Applications for Researchers boxes at the end of each chapter provide practical suggestions for implementing solutions. Youth Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior: Challenges and Solutions considers current research about youth physical activity and sedentary behavior across a range of personal factors as well as cultural and social influences. The text communicates the knowledge base on developmental, economic, psychological, and social factors related to youth physical activity and sedentary behavior and provides an overview of youth-specific approaches to addressing the problem of inactivity among youth.

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