Perceptualand Motor Skills, 2007, 104,937-946. 0 Perceptual and Motor Skills 2007

APPROACH-AVOIDANCE INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN CHANGING STUDENTS' RESPONSES T O PHYSICAL EDUCATION '

CLAUD10 ROBAZZA AND LAURA BORTOLI

Facolta di Scienze dell'Educazione Motoria Universzta di Chieti

ATTILIO CARRARO MAURIZIO BERTOLLO

Facolt2 di Scknze della Formazione Facolta di Scienze dell'Educaztone Motoria Univer~i t i di Padova Universiti di Chzeti

Summay.-The purpose of this report was to examine the effects of physical ed- ucation acrobatic activities as a function of individual differences on approach-avoid- ance tendencies for acrobatics. The data of a study conducted by Robazza, Bortoli, Carraro, and Bertollo (2006) were analyzed after having classified students as high- or low-avoiders. Approach-avoidance tendencies and idiosyncratic emotions related to ac- robatic tasks and adventurous sports were originally assessed for 72 Italian male high school students. Experimental participants engaged in acrobatic tasks of physical edu- cation for 12 lessons, while control participants were involved in team sports. Analysis showed that high-avoiders changed their emotions posit~vely toward physical education tasks more than low-avoiders, whereas the latter modified their attitudes for adventur- ous sports. Approach-avoidance tendencies can be expected to moderate involvement in challenging physical activities.

In a previous study, acrobatic activities were proposed to high school Italian boys and girls during physical education lessons (Robazza & Bortoli, 2005). Students were involved in floor acrobatics, trampoline jumps, parallel bars exercises, rope climbing, and several other activities having the poten- tial to be intrinsically rewarding and emotionally arousing given physical and psychological challenges inherent to the tasks. The effects of the intervention were evaluated through the Motor Activity Anxiety Test (Bortoli & Robazza, 1994) and an emotion-profiling assessment grounded on the Individual Zones of Optimal Functioning framework (Hanin, 2000). The test and the emotional assessment are intended to gauge the students' attitude and emo- tions in dealing with physical education tasks typified by challenging situa- tions. The assessment included colored pictures of students undertaking po- tentially dangerous physical education activities in a gymnasium, such as for- ward somersaults, exercises on the parallel bars, and acrobatic jumps. Meth- odological principles for the treatment encompassed the progressive practice from easy to difficult situations, the individualization of learning, a variety of

'Address correspondence to Claudio Robazza, Ph.D., Dipartimento di Scienze del Movimento Umano, Facolta di Scienze dell'Educazione Motoria, Universita di Chieti, Viale Abruzzo, 322, 66013 Chieti, Italy or e-mail (c.robazza@unich.it).

DO1 10.2466/PMS.104.3.937-946

C. ROBAZZA, ET AL.

thrilling activities, verbal reinforcement, feedback, and direct and indirect as- sistance (Rink, 2002). The 12-lesson intervention program was successful in increasing the students' predisposition to face acrobatics and experience fa- cilitative and pleasant emotions.

In a second investigation, Robazza, Bortoli, Carraro, and Bertollo (2006) implemented the same intervention and assessment procedure of the first study as well as the Adventure Sport Pictures Test. The test consisted of col- ored pictures of people engaged in sports such as mountain climbing, raft- ing, scuba-diving, surfing, parachute jumping, and snowboarding. It was in- tended to measure the individual's attitude and emotions in facing adventur- ous sports. The study demonstrated that acrobatic activities were also effec- tive in producing a favorable change in the individuals' tendency to under- take out-of-school adventurous sports.

Taken together, the findings of the two studies suggest that engaging students in these emotionally arousing tasks may increase their interest and intrinsic motivation for physical education and out-of-school activities. How- ever, acrobatics in physical education and adventurous sports can elicit a range of emotional states typified by pleasant or unpleasant hedonic valence (Cogan & Brown, 1999; Price & Bundesen, 2005). The experience of a situ- ation as either thrilling or threatening depends on the individual's percep- tion of being able to deal with situational demands (Bandura, 1982). When a challenging task is perceived as under control, pleasant emotions are likely to occur, and the person can be motivated to engage further (Biddle & Chatzisarantis, 1999). Conversely, when a situation is perceived out of con- trol, an unpleasant state probably takes place leading to withdrawal. There- fore, pleasant or unpleasant emotions and related approach or avoidance atti- tudes can reflect one's confidence of being able to face a task (Deci, 1980; Frijda, 1986). Emotions and approach-avoidance tendencies may be hypoth- esized to moderate involvement in challenging physical activities.

Taking into account individual differences on approach-avoidance atti- tudes could help the teacher in planning individualized interventions. The fo- cus of the two studies mentioned above (Robazza & Bortoli, 2005; Robazza, et al., 2006) was on investigating whether physical education acrobatic activi- ties were effective in producing a change in the students' propensity to en- gage in school acrobatics and out-of-school adventurous sports. In both stud- ies, the experimental participants decreased their avoidance-action tenden- cies toward physical education activities and changed their feelings into more pleasant states. The second study also showed a favorable change in students' attitudes in relation to out-of-school adventure activities.

The focus of the present report was on examining the effects of the in- tervention as a function of individual differences on approach-avoidance ten- dencies for acrobatics. The key question was to investigate whether a physi-

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN APPROACH AVOIDANCE 93 9

cal education program would be equally effective in changing attitudes and emotions of students who exhibit high-avoidance tendencies compared to participants who manifest low-avoidance tendencies. To this purpose, the data of the second study (Robazza, et al., 2006) were analyzed after having classified students as high- or low-avoiders based on their propensity to un- dertake acrobatic tasks. In the first study (Robazza & Bortoli, 20051, differ- ences by sex were significant before and after intervention, as girls reported higher avoidance for acrobatics in physical education than boys and lower facilitative emotions. In spite of sex differences, the program produced a change in the expected direction on both girls and boys. These results led to the hypothesis that the intervention in the second study should have been effective in changing attitudes and emotions of male students for acrobatics in physical education no matter their approach or avoidance attitudes. The positive change was also expected to transfer from acrobatics to adventurous sports.

Participants Robazza, et al. (2006) involved 72 male students, ranging in age from

14 to 15 years (M= 14.3, SD=.7), drawn from an Italian high school. All boys were in the first year of high school and took part in physical educa- tion lessons twice a week. Two expert physical education teachers conducted the intervention, and each was responsible for an experimental group of nine high- and nine low-avoiders, and a control group of nine high- and nine low-avoiders. Therefore, thcre were four groups. Two experimental groups, consisting of 18 high-avoiders and 18 low-avoiders in total, underwent the same treatment, while two groups (18 high-avoiders and 18 low-avoiders) acted as controls. Participants were randomly assigned to a teacher and to an experimental or a control condition.

Assessment Pre- and postintervention assessment was originally conducted through

the Motor Activity Anxiety Test (Bortoli & Robazza, 19941, the Adventurous Sport Pictures Test (Robazza, et al., 20061, and a list of 46 pleasant-unpleas- ant randomly arranged emotional adjectives (Robazza & Bortoli, 2005). The Motor Activity Anxiety Test consisted of 16 colored pictures of students en- gaged in acrobatics in a gymnasium, such as forward somersault on the floor, rope climbing, acrobatic jumps on the trampoline, and handstand on the parallel bars. The Adventurous Sport Pictures Test had 18 pictures of peo- ple involved in open-air sports, such as mountain climbing, snowboarding, surfing, rafting, parachute jumping, and hang-gliding. The tests were intend- ed to measure the student's attitude to participate in physical education and adventurous sports and to assess pleasant or unpleasant emotions linked to

C. ROBAZZA, ET AL.

avoidance behavior, such as anxiety and fear, or approach behavior, for ex- ample, thrill and excitement.

Each participant was required to look at each picture, imagine himself as facing the task in that moment and choose a sentence that best described own feelings on a Likert-type scale anchored as 1 ("I'd like to do it immedi- ately; it looks like fun"); 2 ("I'd think about it, and then I'd give it a try"); 3 ("I don't know if I will do it; maybe I will, maybe I won't"); 4 ("I don't feel very confident in doing it"); 5 ("I would not do it; it looks too danger- ous"). High scores indicated avoidance tendencies, whereas low scores indi- cated approach tendencies. The Motor Activity Anxiety Test has face valid- ity, is reliable (Cronbach a = 34, test-retest= .84), and correlates negatively with motor skills of physical education (see Bortoli & Robazza, 1994). For the current sample, the reliability of the test was acceptable (Cronbach a= .89, test-retest on the control groups = 31). The Adventurous Sport Pictures Test also showed good reliability (Cronbach a = .92, test-retest on the control groups= 28; Robazza, et d l . , 2006) and correlated with the Motor Activity Anxiety Test (total scores, r = .59).

After administration of the Motor Activity Anxiety Test, emotional as- sessment was originally conducted through a methodology drawn from the Individual Zones of Optimal Functioning model (Hanin, 2000). This model places emphasis on the idiosyncratic nature of the emotional experience and proposes a two-dimensional classification of emotions based on their func- tional effect on performance, that is, facilitative or debilitative, and hedonic tone, that is, pleasant or unpleasant. Each participant was requested to think about the whole situations portrayed in the Motor Activity Anxiety Test, imagine himself as actually executing the tasks and identify from the idiosyn- cratic list of descriptors three emotions representative of emotional states. Examples of most commonly identified idiosyncratic descriptors were calm, confident, motivated, and excited as facilitative-pleasant; tense, afraid, un- sure, and uncertain as facilitative-unpleasant; tense, afraid, concerned, and worried as debilitative-unpleasant; excited, sure, happy, and overjoyed as de- bilitative-pleasant.

Participants were then asked to indicate for each emotion the perceived functional effect on performance (i.e., facilitative or debilitative) and the he- donic tone (i.e., pleasant or unpleasant), and to score the intensity of func- tional effect and hedonic tone on a 0-11 point Category Ratio scale (see Borg, 2001). Thus, two intensity scores were assigned to each emotion re- garding their perceived functional effect and hedonic tone. Debilitative or unpleasant emotion scores had a negative sign, whereas facilitative or pleas- ant emotion scores had a positive sign (emotion scores ranged from -11 to 11). Test-retest reliability was .70 for both functional effect and hedonic tone of emotions.

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN APPROACH-AVOIDANCE 94 1

The assessment procedure was repeated for the Adventurous Sport Pic- tures Test. For each picture, students chose a sentence to indicate personal feelings. For the whole situations depicted in the test, pupils then identified three emotions and scored them on both perceived functional effect and he- donic tone. Test-retest reliability was .72 for both functional effect and he- donic tone of emotions.

Intervention The experimental groups were gradually involved in learning and per-

forming several challenging and emotionally arousing physical education tasks, including floor acrobatics, tumbling skills, horse vaulting, parallel bars exercises, mini-trampoline jumps, ladder-rope climbing, and 3-m high jumps onto a mat. Floor acrobatics and tumbling skills consisted of forward roll, backward roll, handstand, handstand forward roll, handstand backward roll, cartwheel, cartwheel and round off rebound, front handspring, dive forward roll, and somersault. Horse vaulting encompasses squat, straddle, flank and front vaults, basic vaults with half or complete twists, and handspring vault. Parallel bars exercises embraced swings, handstand, forward roll and dis- mounts. Mini-trampoline exercises involved straight, straddle and tuck jumps, and jumps with turns. Risky tasks were surrounded by or executed on safety mats under the supervision, assistance, and feedback of the teach- er. A gradually progressing practice from easy to difficult tasks was also used to prevent harm and ensure task involvement. Each lesson entailed differen; activities to enhance participation and to engage students in individualized assignments. For instance, ,'orward roll and jumps of 2-m high preceded a dive forward roll or jumps of 3-m high, respectively. Students were allowed to progress to a more difficult assignment only when an easier task was exe- cuted safely.

The control groups were involved in volleyball, basketball, and handball without any relationship to the tasks of the experimental groups. Teachers were instructed to provide students of both experimental and control groups with verbal assistance, feedback, and support. Experimental and control groups underwent 12 lessons, two lessons a week over a month and a half. Test and retest sessions took place in two additional meetings a week before and a week after intervention.

Data Analysis To evaluate the effect of the treatment as a function of individual ten-

dencies, participants' scores of the Robazza, et al. study (2006) were dichoto- mized into high and low categories on the Motor Activity Anxiety Test approach-avoidance scores, obtained at the initial assessment, using the me-

C. ROBAZZA, E?' AL.

dian-split technique. Students were thus categorized as "high-avoiders" (n = 36, M=50.2, SD=6.9) or "low-avoiders" (n=36, M=30.4, SD=6.9) on the basis of the level of approach-avoidance propensity to face the Motor Activ- ity Anxiety Test situations. This allowed for the application of a 2 x 2 (high/ low avoidance tendencies x experimental/control groups) design with equal numbers of participants (n = 18) in each cell. Possible differences between experimental and control groups were preliminarily checked on the scores of the dependent variables at first assessment through a 2 x 2 analysis of vari- ance. The dependent variables were the total scores on the Motor Activity Anxiety Test and the Adventurous Sport Pictures Test, and the mean values of the functional effect and the lledonic tone of the three idiosyncratic emo- tions related to each test. Significant differences between high and low avoid- ers on mean scores of most variables were obvious. However, group main effect or interaction of group by avoidance was not significant. Therefore, mean scores of the experimental and control groups did not differ at time of assessment.

The reliability of the Motor Activity Anxiety Test was acceptable for both samples of high-avoiders (Cronbach a= .81) and low-avoiders (Cron- bach a = 30) . The Adventurous Sport Pictures Test also showed good reli- ability (Cronbach a = .90 for the sample of high-avoiders, and Cronbach a= .87 for the sample of low-avoiders).

Treatment Effect5 A 2 x 2 x 2 (avoidance tendencies x groups x tests) analysis of variance

with repeated measures was performed on the dependent variable scores to examine treatment effects. When significance was p < .01, Tukey HSD post hoc was applied to explore the locus of significant differences. Means, SDs, and F ratios from analysis of variance for interactions are summarized in Ta- ble I . At the end of treatment, low- and high-avoiders of the experimental group reported lower mean scores on the Motor Activity Anxiety Test, that is, less avoidance for challenging physical education tasks, than their low- and high-avoider counterparts of the control group ( p < .05 at Tukey HSD follow-up). A significant increase in the mean scores of functional effect of emotions related to the Motor Activity Anxiety Test was also noted for the experimental group. The postintervention difference on functional scores be- tween the experimental group and the control group was significant. Further- more, scores of hedonic tone of emotions increased for the experimental group from test to retest, but the interaction of group by test did not reach significance (p = .06). The intervention was therefore successful for low- and high-avoiders of the experimental group in decreasing their avoidance for motor tasks of the Motor Activity Anxiety Test and in increasing the percep- tion of facilitative effects of emotions.

TABLE 1 DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS AND ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE INTERACTIONS FOR TWO TESTS

-- .-

Variable Groun: Avoiders Test" Retestt Analvsis of Variance

---

M o t ~ Activity Anxiety Test Experimental high Control high Experimental low Control low

Emotion Functional Effect Experimental high Control high Experimental low Control low

Emotion Hedonic Tone Experimental high Control high Experimental low Control low

Adventurous Sport Pictures Test Experimental high Control high Experimental low Control lour

Emotion Functional Effect Experimental high Control high Experimental low Control low

Emotion Hedonic Tone Experimental high Control high Experimental low

-- Control low

"Pre-intencention. tPostintervention.

Source -

Group x Avoidance Group x Test Avoidance x Test Group x Avoidance x Test Group x Avoidance Group x Test Avoidance x Test Group x Avoidance x Test Group x Avoidance Group x Test Avoidance x Test Group x Avoidance x Test Group x Avoidance Group x Test Avoidance x Test Group x Avoidance x Test Group x Avoidance Group x Test Avoidance x Test Group x Avoidance x Test Group x Avoidance Group x Test Avoidance x Test Group x Avoidance x Test

Partial q2

C. ROBAZZA, ET AL.

Analysis of the Adventurous Sport Pictures Test scores yielded signifi- cant results, with a posttreatment reduction in the mean scores of the exper- imental group. A significant interaction of group x avoidance x test also emerged. Follow-up showed a postintervention effect for the experimental group of low-avoiders, whereas scores of high-avoiders remained somewhat unaffected. Therefore, avoidance scores of low-avoiders for adventurous sports were lower after treatment. Functional and hedonic tone mean scores on the Adventurous Sport Pictures Test were not significant.

Distribution frequencies of emotional descriptors and changes in the functional effect (from debilitative to facilitative) and the hedonic tone (from unpleasant to pleasant) were also examined through chi-square analysis. In the experimental sample of high-avoiders, 13 pleasant or unpleasant emo- tions related to the Motor Activity Anxiety Test shifted from debilitative to facilitative (xI2 = 6.3 1, p < .02, $ = 0.24). No other significant changes were ob- tained for the scores of the two tests.

D ~ s c u s s r o ~ Findings confirmed the effectiveness of a physical education program in

reducing the students' avoidance tendency for emotional-arousing acrobatic tasks and adventurous sports, and in changing favorably idiosyncratic emo- tions related to physical education acrobatics (Robazza, et al., 2006). How- ever, a different pattern of results emerged for physical education tasks and adventurous sports in function of individuals classified on approach-avoid- ance scores. Specifically, the experimental group of high-avoiders benefited more than low-avoiders from the intervention in relation to physical educa- tion tasks. Although analysis of variance showed a decreased avoidance to- ward physical education tasks for both high- and low-avoider groups, accom- panied by enhanced perception of emotional facilitative effects, chi-square analysis yielded significant results for only high-avoiders who reported a shift of 13 pleasant or unpleasant emotions from debilitative to facilitative. In con- trast, analysis of variance showed a significant postintervention diminution in avoidance scores toward adventurous sports for the experimental group of low-avoiders. High-avoiders appeared to be resistant to change their atti- tudes for adventurous sports, which likely tend to elicit more intense threat- ening feelings than physical education tasks. These students might have ben- efited from a more individualized intervention or longer exposure to physi- cal education acrobatics to attain a transfer from the physical education con- text to adventurous sports.

It is interesting to note that mean scores of functional effect and he- donic tone of emotions related to physical education situations of the Motor Activity Anxiety Test and sports of the Adventurous Sport Pictures Test were almost always positive across experimental and control groups of high-

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES I N APPROACH-AVOIDANCE 945

and low-avoiders at test and retest conditions (cf. Table I). The situations depicted might have been perceived as exciting and intrinsically rewarding. From an applied perspective, it is important to acknowledge that a direct ex- perience of stimulating activities is important to the pursuit of fun and sen- sations (Zuckerman, 1994; Cogan & Brown, 1999). According to Martens (1996), fun is rooted in the people's need for a certain amount of stimulation and excitement (referred to as arousal), not too low to provoke boredom or too high to cause fear. Most children and youngsters participate in sports and many active recreational events simply for fun. If the goal of physical ed- ucators is to have students acquire active enduring habits, then they should give priority to involve them in stimulating tasks, to make physical activity enjoyable and worthwhile.

In conclusion, findings of this report warrant further investigation to account for the approach-avoidance individual differences as moderators in the motives of people to engage in physical education and out-of-school ad- venture activities providing unusual sensations. Other differences in person- ality characteristics, such as trait anxiety, self-efficacy, and self-confidence (Bandura, 1982), and sensation seeking (Zuckerman, 1994), should be scruti- nized as potential moderators of the preference for adventurous activities. Further research should also examine the mechanisms that may have con- tributed to the intervention effects. Indeed, the dynamics of emotional expe- rience of high- and low-avoiders performing acrobatics are likely different. Therefore, pre- and postintervention measures need to be combined with as- sessments across the treatment phase to account for both the observed effects and the processes underlying the changes.

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Accepted March 27, 2007