Date of Award
12-1-2017
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Rehabilitation
First Advisor
Upton, Tom
Abstract
An estimated 48.9 million Americans have a disability (Bernstein, 2012). Of those 48.9 million people, 24.1 million Americans have a severe disability and 34.2 million have a functional limitation (Bernstein, 2012). The U.S. Government Accountability Office reports an increase in students with disabilities in the post-secondary population (Ridpath, n.d.). Approximately 11% of post-secondary students’ report having a disability (Ridpath, n.d.). This trend has also been reflected within the athletic population at the NCAA Division I, II, and III level (Ridpath, n.d.). This study examined the average disability attitude of NCAA Division I athletes. The average disability attitude among NCAA Division I athletes was 73.99 out of 144. Recently, the physical and mental impact that video games have on video game players has been greatly researched (Oggins, & Sammis, 2012). It has been reported that 8% of U.S. adolescents and young adults are pathological gamers (Gentile, 2009). Additionally, it has been stated that video game play of over 20 hours per week is common, and that it is not unusual for males to engage in video games for over 40 hours per week (Bailey et al., 2010). This study examined the average video gaming tendencies of NCAA Division I athletes. The data collected reports the average video gaming tendencies of athletes based on behavioral functions (attention, escape, tangible, and sensory) to be: Attention = 12.71, Escape 4.64, Tangible = 11.01, and Sensory 7.46.
Access
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