• physical, psychological, and social health and fitness benefits,
• development of efficient motor skills, sport performance abilities, abilities to execute the functional tasks of daily living, and positive life assets,
• centrality to an enjoyable and balanced personal and social life, and
• potential to be a mechanism of social change.

We advocate for this core belief by employing theories and tools derived from social and behavioral science. This scientific approach to physical activity involves studying:

• thoughts, feelings and actions of participants,
• interpersonal interactions and social climates,
• mechanisms of health promotion, behavior change and interventions, and
• structural-level social and societal systems that influence social processes, organization, and policy.

Our faculty and students examine a myriad of ways in which these social and behavioral factors contribute to developing physical activity participation, healthy lifestyles, effective program leadership, and supportive communities, with an emphasis on promoting the adaptive and positive personal and social aspects of such participation while preventing or reducing the maladaptive and negative aspects that exclude or harm participants. This promotion and prevention is accomplished through scholarship, curricular and instruction, and civic engagement efforts grounded in theory-driven applied research informing evidence-based professional practice in areas such as sports coaching, fitness instruction, youth leadership, physical education teaching, and sports medicine practice.

Multidisciplinary research and outreach are conducted through such School of Kinesiology and College of Education & Human Development (CEHD) entities as the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport and the Minnesota Youth Sport Research Consortium. Our scholarship involves collaboration with a wide range of other units and centers across campus as well, such as the Institute of Child Development, School of Public Health, Department of Sociology, Powell Center for Women’s Health, Extension Center for Youth Development, Applied Research Consortium for Youth Development, The Children, Youth and Family Consortium, and Department of Intercollegiate Athletics.

Our multi- and inter-disciplinary research translates into understanding issues of practical importance to physical activity promotion, such as can be found in these examples:

• theory-based physical activity interventions delivered through in-person sessions, worksites, schools, telephone, mail, and/or Internet channels to promote health behavior,
• evaluation of positive youth development outcomes achieved through physical activity contexts,
• evidence-based youth sport parenting and coaching education community youth sport programs,
• advocacy for gender equity on behalf of girls and women in sport,
• critique of social structures (e.g., media, youth sport organizations,  families, schools) and social constructions (e.g., gender, race, sexual identity, class) that inhibit, prevent, or promote participation or careers in physical activity contexts,
• physical activity and health promotion through lifestyle activities and sport, and
• educational interventions for managing the psychological and social aspects of sport injury rehabilitation.

October 2009