Blankenship, Bonnie Tjeerdsma
Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance (JOPERD), v78 n6 p39-44 Aug 2007
Negative stress in physical education can reduce a student's enjoyment of physical activity and destroy the individual's desire to be a lifelong mover. The purpose of this article is to explore the concept of stress in physical education. Stress is defined as a substantial imbalance between the demand of a situation and the individual's capability to respond, when the consequences are important to the individual. The stress process consists of four stages: (1) a demand (which can be physical, psychological, or cognitive); (2) appraisal of the demand and of the available resources and capability to deal with the demand; (3) a negative response to the cognitive appraisal of the demand and the resources with various levels of cognitive and somatic anxiety, depression, fear, and anger; and (4) the stress response, which affects behavior and/or performance. This article discusses various strategies that can help students to overcome each stage of the stress process so they will view physical education as a positive, life-enhancing experience. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)
Descriptors: Physical Education, Physical Activities, Depression (Psychology), Student Evaluation, Anxiety, Performance, Student Behavior, Cognitive Processes, Stress Management, Behavior Modification, Educational Strategies, Relaxation Training, Physical Education Teachers
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