The purpose of this study is to construct a subjective assessment test of running form in children using Item Response Theory. 129 kindergartners were timed in the 25-meter run and 17 different parts of the body were checked for movement on a three-point scale of "yes", "unknown" and "no". The results of the main factors confirmed a one-dimensional structure, therefore the Item Response Theory was applied and to determine the difficulty parameter and capacity value. From the tests mentioned above, the following results were obtained.

1) Results yielded separately from samples randomly split into two groups showed a high rate of correlation. θ results of item groups yielded from the two randomly split groups showed a high rate of correlation and the capacity value was that of items that were nonexistent.

2) A significant difference was found in the θ the average of different age groups and it can be thought that is a measure of ability in proportion to age.

3) Judging from the information scheme, the assessment method for all 17 items peaked at the lower ability level, and was better suited to determine individual differences at the lower ability level.

　Furthermore, a simple method for measuring the capacity value of lower and middle levels were proposed, which needed no complex mathematical formula but showed lower accuracy. However, a high ability level test could not be constructed because the difficulty level for the items were too low. The test based on the results of this study requires no special equipment, but rather, uses a group as its specimen, therefore in terms of practicality, it can be said that this test is useful.

　The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of exercise program participation on subjective wellbeing of Japanese middle-aged and elderly. The subjects were 196 middle-aged and elderly of 68.9±5.8 years who participated in the physical performance test. They were measured by the PGC Morale Scale to examine factor structure of their subjective well-being. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses indicated that subjective well-being was composed of 3 factors - "feelings of loneliness and anxiety toward aging", "optimistic and positive attitude", and "agitation". The effects of longitudinal exercise program participation on subjective well-being were evaluated with 31 middle-aged and elderly, aged 67.6±4.3 years. The exercise program consisted of endurance and resistance exercises for about 60 minutes twice a week. After 6 months of the program, the "subjective well-being" score (p=.094) showed a tendency to increase, as did the "feelings of loneliness and anxiety toward aging" subscale score (p=.078), which means that the "feelings of loneliness and anxiety toward aging" improved. In subjects with a low initial level of well-being, the "subjective well-being" score increased (p=.046), and in particular the "feelings of loneliness and anxiety against aging" subscale score improved (p=.007). In the subjects with a high initial level, the "optimistic and positive attitude" subscale score increased (p=.018). It was concluded that exercise program participation was effective in enhancing subjective well-being, particularly in improving feelings of loneliness and anxiety toward aging for the middle-aged and elderly with initial low well-being levels, and optimistic and positive attitude for the people with a high level.

　The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of correcting visual acuity and visual fields on upright postural control. Six male and ten female university students who usually wear contact lens participated in this study. A significant difference in visual acuity was found when the participants wore contact lens as opposed to not, but no significant difference in visual acuity between the sexes was found. The participants' Center of Foot Pressure (COP) was measured with and without contact lens, and under three visual field conditions: 1) eyes open in a dark room, 2) central visual field, and 3) complete visual field. The first condition prevents any visual input, the second condition permits gazing at a red lamp fixed in the central visual field in a dark room, and the third condition permits gazing at a visual target fixed in the central visual field with cross-shaped vertical and horizontal lines in a lighted room. To evaluate the COP, we selected 60 parameters representing 7 domains (distance, central position, distribution of amplitude, area, velocity, spectrum and vector).

　There was no significant difference in visual properties (visual angle and visual field area) between the sexes, or with the two visual acuity conditions. Therefore, it was considered that correcting visual acuity does not affect visual properties. Based on these results, we examined the differences in COP between the two visual acuity conditions and the three visual field conditions integrating both sexes. There was no significant difference between the two visual acuity conditions in COP. Significant differences in COP parameters between the visual field conditions were found in five domains, excluding "central position" and "area." As a result of multiple comparisons, significant differences in COP parameters were found mainly between "eyes open in a dark room," "central visual field," and "complete visual field." It was suggested that visual input from peripheral visual fields plays an important role in controlling upright posture, and a visual target fixed in the central visual field has little effect on stabilometry.

　The purpose of this study was to examine psychological factors influencing competitive swimming performances based on swimmer's subjective information and experienced.

　A total of 387 competitive university swimmers were selected as subjects in this study. A questionnaire consisting of 43 question items which had high validity and reliability was administered to them. Items were selected from each hypothetical domain constituting the psychological factors: mental state, will power, goal, character and attitude. A factor analysis was used to grasp the objective structure of the psychological factors.

　After excluding five items which had low communality, the factor analysis was applied with 38 items to the correlation matrix. Taking into consideration the weight of the factors, the following 8 items were interpreted: mental-toughness and state, mental stability during competition, subjectivity, unstable character, self-negation, goal, practice attitude, and emotion. Structure of the psychological factors was considered to consist of the 8 factors above.

　Next, we examined the selection of useful questions representing each factor, considering factor validity, reliability and practicality. A total of 29 items were reselected. An α-coefficient of item groups representing each factor was from 0.72 to 0.84 Correlation between the selected 29 items and 38 items was very high (r=0.99). Therefore, they were considered to have high validity and reliability.

　This study investigated the effect of a softball training for muscular strength, muscle power and agility of collegiate softball players during the regular season. Nine female softball players volunteered to participate in this program 4 times a week for 16 weeks. Grip strength, back strength, isometric force of knee extension, isokinetic arm and leg extension power, whole-body reaction time, simple reaction time, and specific bat swing reaction time were measured before and after 16 weeks of training. The training significantly increased isometric force of knee extension (24.0%, P<0.05), isokinetic arm extension power at 80 cm/sec (27.2%, P<0.05), isokinetic leg extension power at 120 cm/sec (22.1%, P<0.05) and bat swing choice reaction time (9.4%, P<0.05). On the other hand, grip strength, back strength, arm extension power at 20 cm/sec and 120 cm/sec, leg extension power at 20 cm/sec and 80 cm/sec, and whole-body and simple reaction time were unchanged significantly. These results indicate that the regular-season softball training was effective for isometric knee extension strength, isokinetic arm extension power at 80 cm/sec and leg extension power at 120 cm/sec, and bat swing choice reaction time.

　Research on postural sways has been performed for many years and the Cephalogram method is regarded as a conventional technique in this field. As the Cephalogram traces a subject's head movement with a brush pen, operations are usually complicated and its application is limited. This restriction of the recording method of the Cephalogram has lead to its diminishment in recent research. A modern alternative to the conventional Cephalogram is analysis of the center of pressure (COP) by placing a force plate under the foot of a subject. However, in some specific movements, COP cannot represent the movement features of other parts of the body. As a method for directly recording the maintenance process of the body's standing posture by sketching movement trails of the head, the Cephalogram is still a vital method. In order to improve the conventional Cephalogram method, a computer-aided Cephalogram (CAC) based on image analysis is proposed in this paper. To demonstrate and test this CAC method, two experiments are carried out. One is analysis on stance movements: that of leaning forward from the waist and that of leaning forward from the ankle. The other analyses the postural sway in an archer's shooting moments. The results show that the CAC method can result in improvement in precision; moreover, it can discover movement features different from COP analysis. The CAC method is well suited for standing posture movement analysis and is beneficial in studies focusing on the function of the stability of posture.

　The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between body - consciousness and self - consciousness of male and female adolescents. The questionnaire was based on body - satisfaction, public self - consciousness, private self - consciousness and social anxiety. Out of the total 1850 university students, 1834 university students (934 male students and 900 female students) completed the questionnaire and were included in subsequent analyses. The main findings are summarized as follows.

1) Among female students, there was a strong desire to slim down (from the point of view of current BMI and ideal BMI), regardless of body - satisfaction level.

2) Among female students, the low body - satisfaction group showed tendencies of being unhappier with their current body shape.

3) Among male university students, there was no relationship between body- satisfaction and private self - consciousness. However, among female students, the high body - satisfaction group showed a high score in private self - consciousness .

4) Both male and female student groups showed that the lower their body - satisfaction was, the higher their public self - consciousness and social anxiety were.

　The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability of exertion patterns in vertical ground reaction force (GRF), electromyogram (EMG) and stand parameters during a stand movement from a chair. The subjects stood from different height chairs, which corresponded to their lower leg length. Ten healthy young males (age 23.0 ± 2.10 yr, height 174.9 ± 4.23 cm, weight 73.0 ± 13.79 kg, lower leg length 45.9 ± 1.71 cm) were selected. Twenty-eight parameters (GRF: 18, EMG: 10) were selected to evaluate the stand movement.

　Each cross correlation between two trials of exertion pattern in GRF and EMG was very high (No work load: GRF; r =0.938-0.999, EMG; r = 0.731-0.999; Work load: GRF; r = 0.959-0.998, EMG; r = 0.726-0.999).

　The interclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of stand parameters of GRF and EMG were 0.913 ± 0.119 and 0.949 ± 0.109 with no work load, and 0.776 ± 0.221 and 0.886 ± 0.221 with work load, respectively (ICC = Mean ± SD).

　From the above, the reliability of exertion patterns in GRF and EMG at each condition was very high. Because almost ICCs in stand parameters were high (ICC 0.75) and little significant difference between two trials was observed, we judged that the reliability of stand parameters was acceptable. However, some parameters with lower reliability were observed in the beginning and completion phases of stand movement with a work load condition.

　The reliability of exertion patterns of GRF, EMG and stand parameters during a stand movement was mostly high. Therefore, the possibility of further examination was suggested.

　The purposes of this study are to examine the contribution of each flexor muscle to explosive strength by measuring EMG of forearm flexor muscles during static explosive grip (SEG) exertion using surface electromyography, and to find the relationships between force-exertion parameters and EMG parameters. Subjects are 10 healthy young male volunteers (age: 23.6 ± 4.1yr) with no upper-limb injuries.

　The reproducibility (ICC = 0.635-0.971) of EMG parameters (peak frequency, integrated EMG (IEMG), maximal amplitude time) was higher in the flexor digitorum superficialis and flexor pollicis brevis muscles than in the flexor digiti minimi brevis muscle. High relationships between force-exertion parameters and EMG parameters were not observed in any flexor muscle. The maximal amplitude time in SEG exertion was longer in the flexor digitorum superficialis muscle than the flexor pollicis brevis and flexor digiti minimi brevis muscles. During the force development phase of the force-time curve in SEG exertion, it is possible that the hand flexor muscle fibers (flexor pollicis brevis and flexor digiti minimi brevis) are mobilized quickly, then the forearm flexor muscle fibers (flexor digitorum superficialis).