EFFECTS OF YOGA PRACTICE ON LEARNING BEHAVIOUR AND ASSERTIVENESS AMONG SCHOOL CHILDREN IN TAMILNADU

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to find out the effect of yoga practice on learning behaviour and assertiveness among school children of Tamilnadu. For this purpose, ninety male adolescents studying in socially backward region of Tamilnadu, with the age group of 15 to 17 years who were studying in Nandanar Boys Higher Secondary School, Chidambaram (Cuddalore District), Government Boys Higher Secondary School, Vallalapatty, Madurai (Madurai District) and Government Boys Higher Secondary School, Thiruvannamalai (Thiruvannamalai District), were chosen as subjects. They were divided into two equal groups, each group consisted of forty-five subjects, in which experimental group - I underwent yoga practice and experimental group - II acted as control that did not participate in any special activities apart from their regular curricular activities. The training period for the study was five days (Monday to Friday) a week for twelve weeks. Prior to and after the experimental period, the subjects were tested on learning behaviour and assertiveness. Learning behavior was surveyed by the Jegadheesh Srivastava learning behaviour Questionnaire and Assertiveness was surveyed by Rathu’s Assertiveness inventory. The Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was applied to find out any significant difference between the experimental groups and control group on selected criterion variables. The result of the study shows that the yoga practice group was significantly improved the learning behaviour and assertiveness when compared with the control group.