The effects of group relaxation training/large muscle exercise and parental involvement on attention to task, impulsivity and locus of control among hyperactive male children

Childhood hyperactivity, recently relabeled as "attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity". Diagnostic and Statistical Manual III, has an estimated incidence of 5 [percent]-20[percent] among school children, and is ten times more common among boys than among girls. The hyperactive syndrome has traditionally been treated with drug therapy and behavior modification techniques. However, the intervention of relaxation training/large muscle exercise has recently been used successfully to treat the behavioral correlates of hyperactivity. While the behavioral syndrome of hyperactivity has been fraught with lack of agreement as to definition, etiology and diagnosis, it is now generally recognized as an attentional deficit with the primary characteristics of impulsivity and overactivity. Recent research has shown the hyperactive youngster to be more likely to perceive an external locus of control than the normal youngster. Since the hyperactive child sees no relationship between his efforts and outside events, he is logically discouraged from expending what he perceives to be useless effort on his part. Relaxation training/large muscle exercise involve hyperactive youngsters learning methods by which they might achieve direct control and management of anxious states of tension. When these methods are practiced by parents as well as teachers, not only is the child"s total environment utilized in treatment, but the parent is further equipped with effective methods by which he might benefit himself in learning relaxation techniques useful in living with a hyperactive child. This study was designed to measure the effects of relaxation training/large muscle exercise and parental involvement on attention to task, locus of control and impulsivity among hyperactive boys. This study determined (1) to what extent group relaxation training/large muscle exercise alters the impulsibity, attention to task, and locus of control of hyperactive boys, and (2) to what extent parental involvement alters the impulsivity, attention to task, and locus of control of hyperactive boys. The hyperactive child who learns relaxation training large muscle exercise will evidence greater attention to task, less impulsivity and a more internal locus of control than the hyperactive child who does not learn such techniques. Experimental Group II, hyperactive children who have relaxa tion training/large muscle exercise emphasized by parents as well as in the school environment evidenced greater attention to task, less impulsivity, and a more internal locus of control than experimental group I hyperactive children who only have such techniques emphasized in the school setting. The Teacher Rating Scale was used to select a sample of thirty-four hyperactive suburban elementary school male students, who had not been medicated for their symptoms during the past three years. Subjects were assigned randomly to group relaxation training/large muscle exercise, group relaxation training/large muscle exercise utilizing parental involvement, or group control treatment.Relaxation training/large muscle exercise was implemented through group instruction. The control group listened to narrated children"s stories selected to induce. neither arousal nor relaxation. Treatment was provided in three twenty-five minute sessions (with an additional two meetings provided for the parents in the group utilizing parental involvement) scheduled at weekly intervals. Pre- and post-treatment data on attention to task, impulsibity, and locus of control were collected one week preceding and following this sequence, using, respectively, the Matching Familiar Figures Test and the Nowicki-Strickland Scale. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) procedures were used to test for differences between the two experimental groups and the control group, as well as between the experimental groups on the dependent variables of impulsivity, attention to task, and locus of control. If MANOVA techniques revealed that significant differences-did exist, post hoc discriminant analysis techniques were implemented to determine which variables independently proved to be significant discriminators and which variables, after controlling for the effect of all other variables, proved to be valid discriminators