Academic literature on the topic 'Parks and Recreation Management'

The purpose of this study was to examine middle school females' perceptions of physical activity, eating, and physical health. This research considers several key issues, including high obesity rates, girls' lack of physical activity, the decrease in physical activity during adolescence, and teenagers' failure to meet nutritional guidelines. A qualitative approach was selected to gain a deeper understanding of the significance girls place on these health behaviors and some of the factors that go into their decisions about leisure time activity and eating. Four focus groups were conducted in central North Carolina with a total of 28 girls in sixth through eighth grades. Data were analyzed with ATLAS.ti 5.2. Four themes emerged from the analysis: perceptions of health, social norms, family, and enjoyment. Recommendations are given for ways to encourage healthy diets and PA participation in adolescent girls.

<p>MURPHY, JILL MARIE. The Effect of a One-Time Team Building Exercise on Team Cohesion when working with a NCAA Division I Women?s Basketball Team. Dr. Aram Attarian, Committee Chair. The purpose of this preliminary study was to measure the effects on a one-time team building exercise on team cohesion. A NCAA Division I women?s basketball team participated in this study. The team building exercise used was a rescue simulation. The instrument used to measure team cohesion was the Group Environment Questionnaire (GEQ). The GEQ was administered one week prior and one week after the rescue simulation. The data was analyzed using Microsoft Excel with StatPlus. After analyzing the data, no significant changes were found between the pretest and posttest. <P>

Though there is a wealth of research concerning residentsâ attitudes toward tourism, little research has been conducted regarding residentsâ attachment to their community. Exploring the possible links between resident attachment and attitude toward tourism is likely to provide key insights into the root causes of resident attitude. The purpose of this research was to explore the concepts of community attachment (attachment to social ties and relationships) and place attachment (attachment to the physical landscape) as they relate to one another and affect resident attitudes toward tourism development (i.e. a residentâs feeling about the rate of development in their community due to tourism). While past research often blurred the lines between community and place attachment, the current study sought to disentangle the two constructs. Using Ashe County, NC, as a study area, a 47-item intercept survey was used to explore attachment and attitudes. The survey measured three main constructs: community attachment, place attachment and resident attitude toward tourism development. The data were collected in Summer 2009. An exploratory factor analysis of the attachment items reduced into two dimensions: community attachment and place attachment. Subsequent Pearson Correlation tests found significant correlation between the two types of attachment. In addition, community attachment and place attachment were significantly correlated with resident attitudes toward tourism, especially in the areas of economic benefit and urbanization or overcrowding. Residents with higher levels of both community attachment and place attachment were more likely to agree that tourism was causing overcrowding in their community. Finally, a residentâs percent of life lived in the study area was found to be a statistically significant predictor of community attachment and 11 of 13 resident attitude items. The variable percent of life lived in community has not been used in previous published research and was shown in this research to be a good predictor of community attachment and resident attitudes. It is important to note that only community attachment was significantly correlated with items that dealt with economic development and equitable distribution of economic benefits, whereas high place attachment indicated a greater correlation with items dealing with land use. This supports the idea that respondents who are attached to community are more interested in economic development and equitable sharing of gains. Respondents with higher place attachment were concerned with the environmental impacts of tourism such as urbanization and overcrowding, without significant concern for economic benefit. This suggests that in the planning stages, newcomers would advocate for environmental protection and regulations such as zoning, while long-term residents would be concerned about the environment but also take notice of the economic aspects of tourism. This suggests that high percent of life (high community attachment) residents are more likely to take a holistic view of tourism in their community and both its positive and negative impacts. By successfully disentangling community attachment from place attachment, this study was able to gain insights into how each type of attachment influences resident attitudes toward tourism. By identifying the important issues of both groups, positive benefits can be accentuated and encouraged while negative impacts can be minimized.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of location and size on sponsorships in collegiate athletics. The study compared university?s number of sponsors based on size in terms of student population and size of a respective football program. The study also compared industry sponsorship rate to location of an athletic department. Small universities, under 15,000 students, were found to have a greater number of sponsors than large universities with 15,000 or more students. The size of the football program had no relationship on the total number of sponsors for an athletic department. Several industries were regionalized in terms of high sponsorship rate. The sponsors that were the most regionalized were the telecommunications industry in the Southeast, the medical industry in the Northwest and the automotive industry in the Midwest. An analysis of these variables and a discussion of the results are presented in this study.