Physical Activity and Engagement in Adolescent Girls with Neurodiverse Traits

Project Member(s): Watsford, M., Kneebone, I., Caperchione, C.

Funding or Partner Organisation: Monte Sant' Angelo Mercy College Limited
Monte Sant' Angelo Mercy College Limited

Start year: 2024

Summary: The health and well-being of adolescents has been documented through physical, cognitive, behavioural and emotional lenses. To-date, the literature has been centred around neurotypical individuals and there is an absence of information about students are diagnosed with, or by imputation, would be considered neurodiverse. Neurodiversity relates to differences in brain activity and behaviour with respect to the range of variation evident in humans. Rules, schedules and behavioural expectations are generally devised from observations pertaining to neurotypical individuals, however, there may be differences in the way individuals with neurodiversity participate in and perceive physical activity. Mark Watsford and Cristina Caperchione from the School of Sport, Exercise & Rehabilitation, and Ian Kneebone from the Graduate School of Health in the Faculty of Health at UTS have held discussions Nicole Christensen, Rob Spurrs and Liz Marin from Monte Sant Angelo College. The discussions have identified the scope for research in the neurodiversity area, with a focus on physical activity behaviour and engagement. This proposal outlines a sequence of research projects to investigate the state of the literature pertaining to physical activity in adolescents who are neurodiverse, quantify physical activity engagement in adolescent girls who are neurodiverse, and examine the effectiveness of exercise interventions on adolescent girls who are neurodiverse.

FOR Codes: Sport and exercise psychology, Sport, exercise and recreation