| The 2005 Raymond A. Weiss Lecturer, Maureen R. Weiss, is professor of sport and exercise psychology at the University of Virginia where she holds an endowed chair, the Linda K. Bunker Professorship in Education. Her research has focused on the psychological and social development of children and adolescents through participation in sport and physical activity, with particular interests in the areas of self-perceptions, motivation, observational learning, moral development, and the influence of significant others.
She is widely published, including her most recent book entitled “Developmental Sport and Exercise Psychology: A Lifespan Perspective,” and has held numerous elected offices in professional service organizations including AAHPERD, the Association for the Advancement of Applied Sport Psychology, the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity, and others.
In her lecture, Weiss will address the considerable interest in youth physical activity that has emerged over the last decade, with research and commentary appearing in diverse literatures such as developmental sport psychology, physical education pedagogy, pediatric exercise science, and public health. These varying groups, despite mutual interests and objectives, seldom include knowledge across disciplinary boundaries in their narratives that could maximize an understanding of youth physical activity. Even the term “physical activity” is often defined in specific and varied ways. Weiss will integrate knowledge of youth physical activity from multiple disciplinary perspectives to explore five issues: (a) defining physical activity behavior, (b) identifying sources of behavioral variation in physical activity, (c) distinguishing mechanisms of physical activity behavior change, (d) examining susceptibility to change in physical activity behavior due to intervention, and (e) exploring the long-term outcomes of engaging in physical activity. Synthesizing and consolidating knowledge from multiple perspectives has the potential to yield an inclusive and more complete picture of understanding, explaining, predicting, and modifying physical activity in children and adolescents. |