Date Available

6-17-2016

Year of Publication

2016

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Document Type

Doctoral Dissertation

College

Education

Department/School/Program

Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

First Advisor

Dr. Alicia Fedewa

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of yoga on children’s executive function and selective attention. There were three primary aims of this study. The first aim was to examine whether yoga would have a positive effect on children’s selective attention in a school setting. Another aim was to explore if teachers will report an improved change in children’s executive function in the classroom. The final aim was to determine if yoga would be a socially acceptable intervention to teachers and students. Participants included three fifth grade students and two teachers. Mixed methods were used to visually analyze selective attention data using a Multiple Probe Across Participants Multiple Baseline design, as well quantitative analysis of executive functioning data and qualitative analysis of social validity data. Results indicated that no functional relations were found between selective attention and yoga and no significant differences were found on pre-post measures of executive functioning. Improvements were seen when descriptive data was analyzed for dependent variables and the intervention was determined to be socially acceptable to teachers and students. Implications from the findings and recommendations for future research are presented.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

http://dx.doi.org/10.13023/ETD.2016.243

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