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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Women’s Precollege Sports Participation,
Enjoyment of Sports, and Self-esteem
David R. Shaffer & Erin Wittes
Published online: 16 November 2006
# Springer Science + Business Media, Inc. 2006
Abstract This study tested a model that specifies that the
psychosocial impact of women’s precollege sports partici-
pation depends on the quality of their sports experience,
that is, on participants’ enjoyment of sports and the benefits
derived from athletic pursuits. A sample of 245 college
women (mean age=19.9 years) provided retrospective
reports of their precollege sports involvement as well as
assessments of their enjoyment of sports, perceived
physical competence, body image, gender role orientation,
and self-esteem. Consistent with past research, women
students’ precollege sport participation was a modest
predictor of their self-esteem in bivariate analyses. Fol-
low-up analyses revealed that enjoyment of sports mediated
the sports participation/self-esteem relationship and implied
that female participants who find sports less enjoyable may
be at risk of experiencing declining self-esteem. However,
enjoyment of sports explained little unique variance in
global self-esteem after we controlled for the influence of
other sports-related benefits (e.g., improved physical
competence). Implications for those who hope to help
more girls reap psychosocial benefits from sporting
activities are discussed.
Keywords Sports . Enjoyment . Self-esteem
Sports and sporting activities play a prominent role in many
persons’ lives. Millions of spectators passionately track the
fortunes of their favorite teams and athletes, and a sizable
number of sports enthusiasts participate in one or more
athletic activities, either as formal participants in athletic
competitions or for recreational purposes. What benefits do
people derive from sporting activities, and to what extent
does their own participation influence their sense of self ?
Reasons for participating in sports are many and varied,
including, but not limited to, enjoyment of the activity, peer
and parental influence, presumed health benefits of partic-
ipation, and an increase in physical conditioning/well-being
(e.g., Battista, 1990; Brustad, 1988; Cote, 1999; Holland &
Andre, 1994; Scanlan & Lewthwaite, 1986; Snyder &
Spreitzer, 1979). Among the most common presumed
psychosocial benefits of sports participation is an enhanced
sense of self-worth. Research on male samples is generally
consistent with the latter assertion, which suggests that
sports participation may have both short-term and long-
term effects on persons’ self-esteem (e.g., Pascarella &
Smart, 1991; Spretizer, 1994; Taylor, 1995; Vilhjamsson &
Thorlindsson, 1992).
Our focus in the present research centers on a presumed
motivation for participating in sports and psychosocial
benefits of such sports participation in young women. Several
researchers have noted that sports and athletic activities are
still generally considered to be a masculine domain (e.g.,
Koivula, 1999; Shaw, Kleiber, & Caldwell, 1995) and that
girls may have difficulty reconciling the physical and
competitive nature of sports with their emerging feminine
self-concepts (Eccles, Barber, Jozefowicz, Malenchuk, &
Vida, 1999). Yet, girls’ and women’s participation in
athletics has increased dramatically in the past 30 years
(Schultz & Fish, 1998), owing, in part, to the passage and
enforcement of Title IX (Grant, 1995), a federal law passed
in 1972 that bans discrimination on the basis of gender in
federally funded institutions. Moreover, encouragement of
girls to participate in sports is apparent in such popular
cultural appeals as the late 1990s advertising campaign by
Sex Roles (2006) 55:225–232
DOI 10.1007/s11199-006-9074-3
This article is based on a Master’s thesis conducted by the second
author under the direction of the first author.
D. R. Shaffer (*) : E. Wittes
Department of Psychology, University of Georgia,
Athens, GA 30602, USA
e-mail: dshaffer@uga.edu
Nike that featured young girls pleading “If you let me play
sports” and then citing various health and psychosocial
benefits that purportedly result from sport participation,
including an enhanced sense of self-esteem.
Sports Participation and Girls’ Self-esteem
Previous research on the relationship between girls’ sports
participation and self-esteem is limited and somewhat
inconsistent. Several researchers have reported bivariate
relationships that indicate that girls (and boys in mixed-
gender samples) who participate in sports have higher self-
esteem than those who do not (Butcher, 1989; Centre for
Research on Girls and Women in Sport, 1997; Koivula,
1999; Rao & Overman, 1986; Taylor, 1995). Other
researchers have reported that whether sports participation
is positively or negatively related to participants’ self-esteem
is moderated by participants’ gender role orientations and the
nature of the sporting activity; for example, individuals with a
feminine gender role orientation are most likely to derive a
sense of self-worth from participating in noncompetitive than
in competitive sports (Bowker, Gadbois & Cornock, 2003).
Yet, it is worth noting that sports participation has been, at
best, a modest predictor of global self-esteem for partic-
ipants of either sex (e.g., Jackson & Marsh, 1986; Richman
& Shaffer, 2000; Spreitzer, 1994).
Jackson and Marsh (1986) suggested that sports partic-
ipation influences self-esteem indirectly by enhancing such
sports-related contributors to self-worth as perceived
physical competence and a favorable body image. Recent
research with a female sample supported this viewpoint
(Richman & Shaffer, 2000). Specifically, a positive
bivariate relationship between girls’ participation in sports
in high school and their self-esteem during the college years
was mediated by the favorable impact of sport participation
on participants’ perceived physical competence, body
image, and masculinity and that in the absence of such
“benefits,” sport participation was associated with lower
levels of self-esteem (see also Marsh, 1998, for similar
results among sample of elite athletes). Thus, one reason
that relationships between sports participation and self-
esteem are often modest is that sports affect girls in
different ways and seem to enhance self-worth only to the
extent that they promote other contributors to self-esteem.
Sport Enjoyment and Self-esteem
Although sports participants of both sexes cite health
benefits and social stimulation as reasons for participating
in sports, the most frequently cited motive participants give
is affective or evaluative in character: Sports are “fun,”
“exciting,” or “activities that I enjoy” (e.g., Battista, 1990;
Scanlan & Lewthwaite, 1986; Snyder & Spreitzer, 1979).
This finding suggests an interesting motivational model of
girls’ sports participation that, to our knowledge, has not
been evaluated. Perhaps the positive relationship between
girls’ sport participation and self-esteem is mediated (or
moderated) by the extent to which girls report that they
enjoy sporting activities. Far fewer girls than boys regularly
participate in sports (Centre for Research on Girls and
Women, 1997; Eccles & Barber, 1999), and their partici-
pation often stems from formal and informal inducements
to participate from gym teachers, parents, siblings, or peers.
We propose that girls who discover that they enjoy sporting
activities during childhood or adolescence may experience
gains in self-esteem from their participation, whereas those
who derive little enjoyment from sports participation may
benefit little from, or even suffer psychosocially from,
continued involvement in activities they dislike or perhaps
think of as stereotypically masculine endeavors. Indeed,
Bem and Lenney (1976) found that partaking in behaviors
perceived to be more appropriate for members of the other
sex is often discomforting and produces negative feelings
about the self. Thus, one goal of the present research was to
evaluate the simple but straightforward mediating/moder-
ating model depicted in Fig. 1 —a model that specifies that
sports participation fosters the self-esteem of young women
who report that they enjoy sporting activities and that, at
lower levels of enjoyment, partaking in sporting activities
may actually undermine self-esteem.
Of course, empirical support for the above hypotheses
raises the issue of why girls might come to enjoy (or to
derive little enjoyment from) sporting activities in the first
place. We hypothesized that girls who come to enjoy sports
the most are those who can point to clear benefits that they
receive from their participation. Such benefits may be many
and varied, although it is likely that sports-related enhance-
ments to such personal attributes as physical competence, a
favorable body image, and socially desirable masculine
characteristics such as assertiveness and a healthy sense of
Fig. 1 Path model of the pro-
posed relationships among pre-
college sports participation,
enjoyment of sports, and self-
esteem during the college years.
226 Sex Roles (2006) 55:225–232
competition, contribute heavily to girls’ enjoyment of
sports and to any enhanced sense of self-worth they may
experience from their participation. A related corollary is
that girls who fail to experience such benefits derive little if
any enjoyment or enhanced self-worth from sporting
activities. Our research was designed to test these hypoth-
eses as well as a prediction that derives from them, namely
that girls’ enjoyment of sporting activities may account for
little unique variance in self-esteem after controlling for the
effects of sports participation on such contributors to self-
worth as physical competence, a favorable body image, and
a heightened sense of masculinity.
Materials and Methods
Participants
The sample consisted of 245 female introductory psychol-
ogy students from a large southeastern university who
participated as part of a course requirement. The mean age
of participants was 19.9 years. The majority of sample was
European American (91%), 6% defined themselves as
African American, 1% as Asian American, and 1.6% as
Native American, Biracial, Hispanic, or “other.”
Antecedent Measures
Sports participation Precollege participation in sporting
activities was measured by asking participants to make
quantitative and qualitative assessments of their precollege
sporting activities using indexes developed earlier by
Richman and Shaffer (2000). The first measure, Sport
Years, asked participants to indicate the total number of
years during grade school, junior high school, and high
school that they had voluntarily taken part in athletics of
any kind as active participants. Participants could select
from seven possible responses (0=less than 1 year; 6=more
than 6 years). The second measure, Sports Involvement,
asked participants to indicate how personally involved in
sports they perceived themselves to have been prior to
coming to college (1=not at all involved; 5=very
involved). These two measures proved to be internally
consistent (α=.75) and were combined to form a composite
index of precollege sports participation with scores that
could range between 1 and 11. The mean for this sample
was 8.44 (SD=2.49), which indicates moderate precollege
sport participation overall.
Intervening Variables
Enjoyment of sports Enjoyment of sporting activities was
assessed with an 8-item instrument designed for this
project. Each item was a declarative statement pertinent to
participants’ affective/evaluative experiences in sporting
activities (e.g., “I enjoy sporting activities”; “I get excited
when thinking about my sporting activities”; “I often wish I
had chosen to participate less in sports” [reverse−scored])
that was answered on a 5-point Likert-type scale (1=not at
all true of me; 5=very true of me). Internal consistency of
these items was quite acceptable in the present sample, with
α=0.83. Thus, participants’ responses to the eight items
were summed to yield composite measures of sports
enjoyment. The mean score on the composite, which could
range from 8 to 40, was 33.94 (SD=5.10), which indicates
that the average participant in our sample derived a
moderate level of enjoyment from sports participation.1
Physical competence The 62-item Physical Self-Descrip-
tion Questionnaire (PDSQ) (Marsh, Richards, Johnson,
Roche, & Tremayne, 1994), designed for adolescents and
adults, was used to assess several dimensions of physical
competence. Each item consisted of a declarative statement
that was rated by participants on a 6-point Likert-type scale
(e.g., “I am good at coordinated movements”; “I feel good
about who I am physically”); higher scores indicate more of
each attribute. The internal consistency of these items in our
sample was quite high, α=0.95. Thus, we summed
participants’ responses across the 62 items to form a
composite index of perceived physical competence. The
mean score on this composite, which could range from 70
to 372, was 265.0 (SD=48.63), which indicates that
participants had moderately positive perceptions of their
physical competence.
Body image Body image was measured using the Body
Esteem Scale (Franzoi & Shields, 1984), a 35-item self-
report instrument that assesses participants’ feelings about
their bodies with respect to weight control, sexual attrac-
tiveness, and physical condition. Each item was rated on a
5-point Likert-type scale to describe strongly negative (1)
to strongly positive (5) feelings. The internal consistency of
our participants’ responses to the 35 items on the scale was
quite acceptable, with α=0.91. Thus, we summed partic-
ipants’ responses to form a composite Body Image index.
The mean score on this composite, which could range from
35 to 175, was 124.29 (SD=19.64), which indicates that
our sample had moderately favorable body images.
Gender role The Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ)
(Spence & Helmreich, 1978) was used to assess partic-
ipants’ gender role orientations. The PAQ is a 24-item
1 Copies of the Sports Enjoyment Scale are available, upon request,
from the first author.
Sex Roles (2006) 55:225–232 227
instrument that produces indexes of masculinity (instru-
mentality), femininity (expressiveness), and androgyny.
The PAQ asks respondents to indicate on a 5-point scale
(−2=not at all; +2=very) the extent to which each of 12
traditionally masculine attributes (e.g., competitive) and 12
traditionally feminine attributes (e.g., emotional) are self-
descriptive. Respondents who score above the sample
median on both the masculinity and femininity subscales
are classified as “androgynous,” whereas those who score
below the median on both subscales are classified as
“undifferentiated.” A desire to maximize power prompted
us to treat participants’ scores on the masculinity and the
femininity subscales as continuous variables rather than to
classify participants into discrete gender role subgroups.
Participants’ responses to the masculinity and femininity
subscales were internally consistent (α=0.76 and α=0.75,
respectively). The mean masculinity score in the present
sample was 21.38 (SD=4.13), whereas the mean femininity
score was 25.04 (SD=3.91).
Outcome Variable
Self-esteem Participants’ global self-esteem was assessed
by the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965), a
10-item instrument that consists of five positively worded
items (e.g., “On the whole, I am satisfied with myself”) and
five negatively worded items (e.g., “I feel as if I do not
have much to be proud of”). Each item was rated on a 5-
point Likert-type scale (1=strongly disagree; 5=strongly
agree), and responses were summed, after reverse-coding
the negatively worded items, to yield a composite self-
esteem score that could range between 10 and 50.
Participants’ responses to this instrument were internally
consistent(α=0.87). The mean self-esteem score was 38.38
(SD=6.90), which indicates that, on average, members of
this sample had moderately positive self-evaluations.
Results
Preliminary Analyses
Although the sample was overwhelmingly European Amer-
ican, we first evaluated the possibility that a demographic
variable, participant ethnicity, might be associated with the
primary variables of interest in this study. When participant
ethnicity was added to regression analyses that included all
other variables of interest, it did not account for significant
additional variance in either the proposed intervening
variables or the consequent variable of self-esteem. On the
basis of these results (and because no predictions were
made regarding ethnicity effects), we did not include the
participant ethnicity variable in subsequent analyses.
Bivariate Analyses
Bivariate correlations among all the variables were calcu-
lated to determine their degree of interrelatedness and to
establish a foundation for further analyses. Intercorrelations
among variables for the sample appear in Table 1. As
expected, greater precollege sports participation predicted a
more favorable body image, greater perceived physical
competence, more flexible gender role attributes (i.e.,
greater masculinity), greater enjoyment of sports, and
(marginally) higher levels of self-esteem. In addition, the
proposed intervening variables were reliably associated
with the consequent variable, global self-esteem. That is,
women with more favorable body images, greater perceived
physical competence, a stronger sense of masculinity, and
who derived greater enjoyment of sporting activities
reported higher levels of global self-esteem. It is interesting
that femininity (or feminine expressivity) was not associ-
ated with the proposed antecedent variable (sports partic-
ipation), although it was modestly correlated with the
consequent variable (global self-esteem).
Table 1 Intercorrelations among the antecedent, intervening, and consequent variables.
Variable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Antecedent
1. Precollege sport participation – 0.65*** 0.44*** 0.20*** 0.24*** 0.02 0.12*
Intervening
2. Enjoyment of sports – 0.56*** 0.33*** 0.32*** 0.06 0.26***
3. Physical competence – 0.64*** 0.53*** 0.00 0.32***
4. Body image – 0.37*** 0.10 0.47***
5. Masculinity – −0.10 0.50***
6. Femininity – 0.15**
Consequent
7. Self-esteem –
*p = 0.06
**p < 0.05
***p < 0.01
228 Sex Roles (2006) 55:225–232
In sum, precollege sports participation was correlated
with all of the proposed intervening variables and with self-
esteem during the college years (albeit modestly), and all of
the proposed intervening variables were reliable predictors
of self-esteem.
Testing the Enjoyment Model
Standard path analysis (Darlington, 1990) was used to
evaluate the plausibility of a mediational model that
specifies that precollege sports participation would posi-
tively influence the self-esteem of young women to the
extent that they enjoy such activities. First, the proposed
intervening variable (enjoyment of sports) was regressed
onto precollege sports participation. In the second step,
self-esteem was the outcome variable, and enjoyment of
sports was treated as a predictor. Significant pathways that
emerged from these analyses appear in Fig. 2.
The path model accounted for a significant portion of the
variance in women’s self-esteem, Total R2=0.36, p<
0.0001. As can be seen, sport participation predicted
enjoyment of sports, which in turn, was a significant
predictor of global self-esteem.
Recall from the bivariate correlations that precollege
sports participation was positively correlated (r=0.12) with
self-esteem. Note, however, that this relationship was
reversed from positive to significantly negative when the
proposed intervening variable of enjoyment of sport was
included in the path model. It thus appears that participants’
sport enjoyment totally mediated the relationship between
sports participation and self-esteem: Earlier sport participa-
tion appears to foster self-worth to the extent that girls
enjoy their sporting activities, but may actually undermine
the self-esteem of girls and women who find sporting
activities less enjoyable.
Although the path model is consistent with a mediational
model of the relationships among sports participation,
enjoyment of sport, and self-esteem, additional analyses
were performed to determine if enjoyment of sport might
have moderated the sports participation–self-esteem rela-
tionship. No support was found for moderating effects. That
is, a regression analyses that included the interaction term
between sports participation and enjoyment of sports, with
self-esteem as the criterion, revealed no interaction effect
after we controlled for the variance in self-esteem attribut-
able to the main effects in the model.
Does Enjoyment of Sports Stem from Beneficial Correlates
of Sport Participation?
Although enjoyment of sporting activities appears to
mediate the relationship between sports participation and
subsequent self-esteem, we hypothesized that enjoyment of
sports results from tangible benefits associated with sports
participation and may account for little unique variance in
participants’ self-esteem after controlling for such benefits.
As expected, the bivariate analyses in Table 1 revealed that
such sports-related benefits as physical competence, a
favorable body image, and masculinity were reliably
associated with sports participation and with participants’
enjoyment of sports. A hierarchical regression analysis was
then performed to test our hypotheses. The outcome
variable was self-esteem, whereas the predictors, entered
in five steps in the order listed here, were sports
participation, physical competence, body image, masculin-
ity, and sports enjoyment.
A summary of this analysis appears in Table 2. As the
table indicates, precollege sports participation was a
marginally significant predictor of participants’ self-esteem
during the college years. Moreover, entry of each of the
proposed “benefits” of sport participation at Steps 2–4 (i.e.,
physical competence, body image, and masculinity)
resulted in significant changes in R2, which indicates that
each of these variables made a unique contribution to
participants’ self-esteem, Total R2=0.42. Finally, sports
enjoyment, entered at Step 5, failed to increase R2, which
indicates that this variable does not contribute uniquely to
women’s self-esteem after controlling for the main effects
of sports participation and “benefits” that appear to result
from sporting activities. Notice, also, that the relationship
Fig. 2 Path model of the relationships among precollege sports participation, enjoyment of sports, and self-esteem during the college years.
Sex Roles (2006) 55:225–232 229
between sport participation and self-esteem changed from
marginally positive to significantly negative after the
presumed impacts of sports participation on physical
competence, body image, and masculinity were entered
into the model. This finding implies that girls may not
benefit (and could suffer) psychosocially unless their
participation in sporting activities results in such benefits
as enhancements in their physical competence, body image,
or sense of masculine instrumentality.
Discussion
Previous research on the psychosocial impact for girls of
participating in sporting activities is limited and somewhat
inconsistent. Although several investigators have argued
that sports participation can have a salutary effect on girls’
self-esteem, the resulting sports–self-esteem relationships
are typically modest and subject to qualification (see for
example, Bowker et al., 2003; Richman & Shaffer, 2000).
One potential shortcoming of previous research is that it
typically fails to consider the “quality” of girls’ sports
experience, that is, how much girls enjoy the sporting
activities they undertake. Given that enjoyment is the most
frequently cited reason that participants list for partaking in
sports, we chose to evaluate a mediating/moderating model
that specifies that girls who enjoy sports would benefit
psychosocially from their participation and that, at lower
levels of enjoyment, continued sports participation may
have a negative impact on self-esteem. Our data were
consistent with these premises. Not only did sports
participation predict sports enjoyment which, in turn,
predicted girls’ self-esteem, but the marginally significant
positive relationship between sports participation and self-
esteem became significantly negative after we controlled
for the influence of sports enjoyment. Thus, consistent with
our model, these outcomes indicate that (1) earlier sports
participation fosters self-esteem to the extent that girls
enjoy their sporting activities, but (2) could actually
undermine the self-worth of girls who find sporting
activities less enjoyable.
Our next concern was to explore some potentially
important reasons why girls differ in their enjoyment of
sports and to determine whether sports enjoyment might
make a unique contribution to girls’ self-esteem after
controlling for the effects of those factors that might
contribute to their enjoyment of sporting activities. There
are, of course, a multitude of reasons why girls might enjoy
sports. In this project, we focused on three sports-related
“benefits” that had, in previous research (cf. Richman &
Shaffer, 2000), totally mediated the positive relationship
between girls’ earlier sports participation and later self-
esteem: perceived physical competence, favorability of
body image, and masculinity. As expected, each of these
proposed contributors to sports enjoyment predicted pre-
college sports enjoyment and self-esteem during the college
years in bivariate analyses. Moreover, each made unique
contributions to self-esteem after we controlled for the main
effect of precollege sports participation. Finally, our
analyses revealed that the sports enjoyment variable did
not account for any variance in participants’ self-esteem
after we controlled for precollege sports participation and
such presumed sports-related benefits as increased physical
competence, a more favorable body image, and an
enhanced sense of masculinity. This finding was anticipated
and simply reflects, we believe, that (1) girls enjoy sports to
the extent that they perceive themselves as benefiting in
some way from sporting activities, and (2) the perceived
benefits, rather then enjoyment per se, explains any positive
effect of earlier sports participation on the self-esteem of
college women.
Table 2 Summary of hierarchical regression analysis of sports-related predictors of women’s self-esteem.
R2 change Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Step 5
Step 1
Sports Participation 0.025* 0.12* −0.12* −0.09 −0.13** −16**
Step 2
Physical Competence 0.22** – 0.53** 0.35** 0.18** 0.18**
Step 3
Body Image 0.09** – – 0.35** 0.35** 0.35**
Step 4
Masculinity 0.08** – – – 0.25** 0.25**
Step 5
Sport Enjoyment – – – – – 0.08
Total R2 = 0.42**
*p < 0.06 **p < 0.01
230 Sex Roles (2006) 55:225–232
Limitations of the Present Research
Clearly, this is a correlational study that relies on
retrospective reports of prior sports participation and does
not conclusively establish that involvement in sporting
activities is causally related to either changes in self-esteem
or to the variables presumed to mediate the relationship
between sports participation and self-esteem. Accuracy of
retrospective reports can always be questioned. Although in
this project we did not measure how involved our
participants were as collegians in sporting activities, we
can point to data from prior samples drawn from the same
population as our participants that indicate that retrospec-
tive reports of precollege sports participation reliably
predict college self-esteem and current perceptions of
physical competence, body image, and masculinity, where-
as measures of participants’ college sports participation do
not (Richman, 2001; Richman & Shaffer, 2000). This
provides some evidence that our measure of precollege
sports participation was not merely a stand-in for current
sports participation. And, unlike college students’ reports of
global self-esteem, earlier participants’ retrospective reports
of high school self-esteem were not significantly correlated
in previous research with their reports of body image,
physical competence, or masculinity during the college
years (Richman & Shaffer, 2000). Although not definitive,
such observations increase our confidence that earlier sports
participation could well have meaningful effects on the
model’s intervening variables and on self-esteem that were
not qualified by participants’ current levels of sports
participation or their prior levels of global self-esteem.
Nevertheless, results from this and earlier studies would
certainly be bolstered by a prospective study that provided
corroborating longitudinal data. Ideally, researchers would
collect data from participants in at least three waves: (1)
before they begin athletic participation, to establish a
baseline for self-esteem; (2) during their periods of
participation, to assess any immediate impacts of sporting
activities on the model’s intervening and criterion variables;
and (3) after athletic participation winds down or ends to
assess the longevity of the effects. This design would yield
the kinds of longitudinal data that come closer to
illuminating any causal links among sports participation,
the proposed intervening variables, and self-esteem.
We also wish to caution against treating the experiences
of our highly educated and predominantly White samples as
the “norm” and failing to consider that any psychosocial
impact of sports participation may reliably differ for young
women from other educational and racial/ethnic back-
grounds. Indeed, racial/ethnic variations in women’s body
image and endorsement of gender-typed traits (Harris, 1994;
Myers, 1989) are reasons to suspect that any effect of sport
participation on self-esteem could vary across populations
and that our findings may not be at all “normative” for
Women of Color.2 Thus, future researchers might strive to
oversample participants from minority groups and to treat
the diverse racial/ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds of
study participants as integral to model building rather than
simply assuming that a middle-class cultural context
represents the norm for all young women.
Conclusions and Implications
Despite its limitations, the present research clearly extends
existing knowledge by (1) proposing how the quality of
girls’ sporting experiences (as indexed by sports enjoyment)
and specific correlates of these evaluative judgments might
influence the relationship between sports participation and
self-esteem and (2) generating some plausible support for
this model. Our findings also provide some clues about why
the apparent psychosocial impacts of sports participation are
modest in scope. Simply stated, sporting activities affect
different girls in different ways. Sports participation appears
to foster the self-esteem of girls who enjoy sporting
activities because they perceive themselves as benefiting
in some ways by their participation. But in the absence of
these positive outcomes, participating in sporting activities
may have little psychosocial impact or could actually
undermine self-worth. How? For some participants, social
comparisons undertaken during sporting activities may
highlight just how physically uncoordinated or incapable
they are—an inference that may undermine their enjoyment
of sports and their sense of global self-worth. Other girls,
who may be facing increased pressures to conform to
gender-stereotyped behaviors—pressures that are common
among adolescent girls (cf. Hill & Lynch, 1983; Ruble &
Martin, 1998)—may derive little psychosocial benefit from
sporting activities if they are concerned about the non-
traditionality of their behavior as participants in a masculine
activity or about others’ potentially negative reactions to it
(Koivula, 1999; Richman, 2001).
The finding that sports participation might actually
undermine the self-worth of some girls has implications
for physical educators, parents, or anybody else who might
encourage girls to partake in sporting activities. The goal,
we believe, should be to find ways of illustrating to
participants the benefits they might incur from sports-
enhanced physical capabilities, weight control, learning to
be more appropriately assertive, or even that their efforts,
no matter how minor, might contribute in important ways to
team objectives and shared goals. Accordingly, gym classes
2 Although race/ethnicity did not explain additional variance for any
measure in our model, the fact remains that our small number of
participants of Color may not have been sufficient to detect
meaningful racial/ethnic differences in the sport participation/self-
esteem relationship.
Sex Roles (2006) 55:225–232 231
and formal team sports might prove beneficial to larger
numbers of girls if educators, coaches, and parents were to
emphasize and to devise ways to measure and illustrate the
physical and psychological gains derived from formal and
informal sporting activities, and to concentrate less on the
outcomes of competitive sports or the physical deficiencies
of the less athletic girls under their tutelage. In short, we
believe that there are steps that adults can take to highlight
how girls can profit from participating in sports so that
more of them will enjoy such activities, remain physically
active, and reap both physical and psychosocial benefits
from their participation.
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232 Sex Roles (2006) 55:225–232
http://bailiwick.lib.uiowa.edu/ge/present
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
- Women’s Precollege Sports Participation, Enjoyment of Sports, and Self-esteem
Abstract
Sports Participation and Girls’ Self-esteem
Sport Enjoyment and Self-esteem
Materials and Methods
Participants
Antecedent Measures
Intervening Variables
Outcome Variable
Results
Preliminary Analyses
Bivariate Analyses
Testing the Enjoyment Model
Does Enjoyment of Sports Stem from Beneficial Correlates of Sport Participation?
Discussion
Limitations of the Present Research
Conclusions and Implications
References
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Contribution of Athletic Identity to Child and Adolescent Physical
Activity
Cheryl B. Anderson, PhD1, Louise C. Mâsse, PhD3, Hong Zhang, MS2, Karen J. Coleman
,
PhD4, and Shine Chang, PhD2
1 Department of Pediatrics Children’s Nutrition Research Center, Baylor College of Medicine,
Houston, Texas
2 Department of Epidemiology, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
3 Centre for Community Child Health Research, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British
Columbia
4 Department of Research & Evaluation, Southern California Permanente Medical Group,
Pasadena, California
Abstract
Background—Identity theorists maintain that domain-specific self-concepts help explain the
differential investment of people’s time and effort in various activitie
s.
Purpose—This study examined the contribution of athletic identity and three key demographic
variables to physical activity and sports team participatio
n.
Methods—Students in Grades 4–5 (n=391, mean age 9.9 years, range 8–13 years, collected in 2003)
and Grades 7–8 (n=948, mean age 13.6 years, range 11–15 years, collected in 2002 and 2006)
completed the 40-item Athletic Identity Questionnaire, which measures self-perceptions of athletic
appearance; competence; importance of physical activity and sports; and encouragement for activity
from parents, teachers, and friends. Hierarchic multiple regression analyses in 2008 assessed the
effects of athletic identity, race/ethnicity group, gender, and overweight status on 7-day moderate-
to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and organized sport team participation in each age group.
Results—In children and adolescents, the global score of athletic identity was independently,
positively related to MVPA (p<0.0001, p<0.0001, respectively) and team participation (p<0.0001,
p<0.0001, respectively), after controlling for demographic variables. More variance in MVPA was
explained in children (23%) than in adolescents (5%), in contrast to team sports (5% in children,
15% in adolescents). In the subscale analyses, positive relationships for appearance, competence,
importance, and parental encouragement persisted independent of demographic factors.
Conclusions—Results support the role of athletic self-concept in promoting physical activity and
organized sport participation in children and adolescents.
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Cheryl B. Anderson, PhD, Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, The
Children’s Nutrition Research Center, 1100 Bates St., Houston TX 77030. cheryla@bcm.tmc.edu.
No financial disclosures were reported by the authors of this pape
r.
Publisher’s Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited m
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we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting
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NIH Public Access
Author M
anuscript
Am J Prev Med. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2010 September 1.
Published in final edited form as:
Am J Prev Med. 2009 September ; 37(3): 220–226. doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2009.05.017.
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Introductio
n
Recent revisions in recommendations on the prevention and treatment of child and adolescent
overweight continue to emphasize participation in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity
(MVPA).1 Multiple cross-sectional studies have established an inverse relationship between
physical activity and overweight among adolescents and children,2–6 and longitudinal data
indicate that physical activity is protective against weight and fatness gains in youth,7 even
into adulthood.8,9
Obesity and chronic disease prevention efforts have begun to focus on identifying correlates
of physical activity that may serve as mediating variables that can be targeted in interventions,
particularly psychological constructs.10,11 Physical self-concept and identities specific to
physical activity and sports have become an important research focus,12–14 as both outcome
and mediating variables for physical activity.15,16 Multidimensional measures of physical self-
concept and athletic identity, the focus of the current study, have been significantly related to
physical activity, fitness, and sport participation in multiple studies among adolescents and
children.17–20
Although prior research on athletic identity has found positive relationships with physical
activity and sports team participation in both adolescents17 and children,18 the influence of
important demographic factors, such as gender, race/ethnicity, and overweight status, has not
been considered. Consistently in the literature, studies10 have shown that boys are more
physically active than girls in both children and adolescents, and that white adolescents are
more physically active than adolescents from other race/ethnicity groups. In addition, recent
investigations have found important interactions of gender, race/ethnicity, and overweight in
relation to both physical activity and sports team participation. For example, across four race/
ethnicity groups of adolescents in the nationally representative Add Health sample, MVPA
was lowest in non-Hispanic black and Hispanic girls.21 Similarly, varsity sport participati
on
has been low in these two groups,22 and in overweight or obese Hispanic girls.23 More
knowledge is needed about the complex, demographic relationships with physical activity and
sports team that may exist in both children and adolescents, along with a better understanding
of the role that athletic identity may play in promoting physical activity behavior over and
beyond the impact of fundamental demographic factors that have been linked with physical
activity.
In order to clarify the relationship between self-concept and physical activity, the current study
examined the association of athletic identity, as measured by the multidimensional Athletic
Identity Questionnaire (AIQ),12 with physical activity and organized sports team participation,
over and above the effects of gender, race/ethnicity, and overweight status, in two age groups.
It was hypothesized that the AIQ global score and its individual subscale scores would be
independently and positively associated with physical activity and sports team participation in
both 4th and 5th grade elementary school children and in 7th and 8th grade middle-school
adolescents.
Methods
Participants
One sample of 4th and 5th grade children (mean age 9.88 years, range 8–13 years) from public
elementary schools, and two samples of 7th and 8th grade adolescents (mean age 13.63 years,
range 11–15 years) from public middle schools in metropolitan Houston TX, were analyzed.
Children (n=432) were recruited for a study on parental influence and measure developmen
t.
18,24 Adolescents were recruited to develop the AIQ-Adolescent17 (n=408), and as part of a
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longitudinal study of athletic self-concept over the transition from middle to high school
(n=663).
Measures
Athletic identity questionnaire—The 40-item AIQ-Adolescent17 was developed and
validated in two multiethnic samples. It has a four-factor structure of athletic appearance (five
items, e.g., I look like a person who is physically fit; My body looks in shape); competence (six
items, e.g., I have skill in several sports or physical activities; I can perform well in at least
one type of physical activity); importance of physical activity/exercise/sports (eight items, e.g.,
I love to play active sports; I put a lot of effort into sports or exercise); and encouragement
from others, which consists of the three subfactors of encouragement from parents (seven
items), friends (seven items), and teachers/other adults (seven items). The same seven items
are used on each source of encouragement to enable comparisons across sources (e.g.,
encourage me to exercise or be physically active; watch me closely and give me feedback on
what I’m doing). The measure’s factor structure was supported with confirmatory facto
r
analysis (root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA] range 0.043–0.076). AIQ factor
correlations with physical activity have ranged from 0.32 to 0.61, TV watching from −0.20 to
−0.50, and sports team participation from 0.20 to 0.54.
The 40-item AIQ-Child,18 adapted from the adolescent measure, was validated in two samples
of children aged 9 and 10 years (one ethnically diverse and one Hispanic sample). Confirmatory
factor analysis supported the four-factor structure in each sample (RMSEA range 0.038–
0.039). The AIQ-Child factors were positively related to physical activity (mean r =0.64) and
fitness measured with a shuttle run (mean r =0.32), and they were negatively related to TV and
computer use (mean r = −0.18) and adiposity (r = −0.32 for the appearance factor).
Past 7-day physical activity: elementary school—Children completed the Physical
Activity Questionnaire for Older Children (PAQ-C)25,26 to determine MVPA during the
previous 7 days. Nine items (5-point scale) are averaged to yield an overall score from 1 to 5.
The 5-point rating results in a more normal distribution of scores than is found among most
measures, and it is one of few questionnaires specifically designed and validated for use in
children in Grades 4–8. One-week test–retest reliability has ranged from 0.74 to 0.82. It has
been related to the seven-day recall standardized interview (r =0.46, Seven-Day Physical
Activity Recall [PAR]27), the Caltrac accelerometer (r =0.39), and a step test of fitness (r =0.28)
26. In the current subsample validity assessment (n=58 children), associations with the MTI
(Manufacturing Technology, now ActiGraph, Pensacola FL) accelerometer were r=0.45 for
MVPA, 0.12 for light activity, and −0.45 for inactive minutes during waking hours.
Past 7-day physical activity: middle school—Adolescents completed the Modifiable
Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents (MAQ-A)28 that assesses current- and past-year
physical activity, weekly TV, and competitive sport team participation. The open-ended
questions used for past 7-day vigorous and moderate activity were summed to yield sessions
of MVPA (for vigorous: In the last 7 days, how many sessions (20 minutes or more) of vigorous
physical activity have you done? ____. Vigorous physical activity is activity that makes you
breathe heavily, your heart beat very fast, and may cause you to sweat. Examples: running/
jogging, fast bicycling, playing basketball, karate, playing tennis, etc.; for moderate: In the
last 7 days, how many sessions (20 minutes or more) of moderate physical activity have you
done? ____. Moderate physical activity is activity that is similar to how you feel when walking
at a normal pace. Examples: walking, slow bicycling, shooting baskets, golf, playing softball,
etc.). Past-year to past-week hr/wk relation has been 0.55 for boys and 0.82 for girls, and
agreement between reported sports participation and interscholastic rosters has been 100% for
fall, 86% for winter, and 95% for spring.28
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Sports team participation—Both elementary and middle-school students were asked an
open-ended modification of the teams question from the MAQ-Adolescent: In the past year
(this time last year until now), on how many sports teams did you participate at a competitive
level? (Such as school teams, church league, Little League baseball, YMCA teams, community
leagues, etc.). _____number of teams.
Anthropometry—Trained staff measured students’ (with shoes removed) height (nearest 0.1
cm) and weight (nearest 0.1 kg) twice, using a Seca #214 Road Rod Portable Stadiometer and
a Befour PS6600 Digital Scale, and averaged. BMI was calculated. BMIs for age and gender
percentiles were calculated using the SAS program for the CDC growth charts, provided by
the CDC. Overweight (85th percentile ≤ BMI <95th percentile) and obese (BMI ≥95th
percentile) were defined using the December 2007 Expert Committee recommendations.1
Procedure—The IRB of Baylor College of Medicine approved the study protocol. Students
provided written parental consent, and adolescents (but not children) signed the consent form.
Participants were recruited at individual schools, and data were collected by the research team
during health/physical education class during school. Students received a $5 movie ticket.
Statistical analysis—Hierarchic regression analyses were conducted, using the AIQ global
score (Model A) and six AIQ subscale scores (Model B) as predictors, adjusting the models
for gender, race/ethnicity, and BMI. Physical activity (past 7-day) and number of competitive
sport teams (past year) were used as dependent variables. Statistical analyses were completed
with SAS version 9.1.
Results
Participant Characteristics
Descriptive analyses were conducted on three levels of race, because the remaining students
(n=42 of 433 children, n=121 of 1070 adolescents) were too ethnically diverse to yield
meaningful conclusions as a fourth group. Final sample sizes were 391 children and 948
adolescents (one adolescent was deleted as a result of missing data). Demographics by age
group are shown in Table 1. Chi-square analyses indicated that the gender proportions by age
group were significantly different (p=0.007), with a higher percentage of girls in the adolescent
group. The distribution of race/ethnicity also differed by age group (p=0.006), with a higher
percentage of non-Hispanic whites in the elementary group. There were no differences in the
BMI distributions (p=0.630).
Descriptive statistics and Pearson correlations for the primary variables are shown in Table 2.
Moderate correlations were observed among the AIQ subscales (r =0.22–0.71), supporting
their construct distinction across age groups. Examination of multicollinearity among the AIQ
subscales yielded acceptable tolerance values, ranging from 0.40 to 0.70. The children had
significantly higher mean scores on the appearance, competence, and importance subscales
than did adolescents. However, adolescents had higher encouragement scores, relative to the
younger children, with significant differences on encouragement from teachers.
Prediction of 7-Day Physical Activity
The hierarchic multiple regressions are shown in Table 3. In the baseline model for each age
group, which included gender, race/ethnicity, and BMI (no interactions significant), being a
girl was associated with lower physical activity relative to boys in children (β= −0.11,
p=0.0280), and minority race/ethnicity was associated with lower physical activity relative to
whites in adolescents (for Hispanics, β= −0.26, p<0.0001; for blacks, β= −0.13, p=0.0025).
BMI was not significantly related to physical activity in either age group. The baseline
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demographic models explained 1% of the variance in physical activity in children, 6% in
adolescents. The AIQ composite score (Model A) was positively related to physical activity
in both age groups (β1=0.486, p<0.0001; β2=0.247, p<0.0001), accounting for about 23% and
5% (respectively) of the variance. The results for the subscale regression (Model B) showed
significant, positive effects for competence (β=0.194, p=0.0017) and encouragement from
parents (β=0.137, p=0.0347) in children, and for importance in adolescents (β=0.172,
p=0.0064). The subscale models explained about the same variance as the composite score
(23% in children, 6% in adolescents).
Prediction of Sports Team Participation
The hierarchic multiple regressions for sports teams are shown in Table 3. In the baseline
models, being a girl was associated with less team participation relative to boys in children
(β= −0.10, p=0.0418). Minority race/ethnicity was associated with less team participation
relative to whites in both children (for Hispanics, β= −0.32, p<0.0001; for blacks, β= −0.17,
p=0.0009) and adolescents (for Hispanics, β= −0.36, p<0.0001; for blacks, β= −0.19,
p<0.0001). BMI was not significantly related to organized team participation in either age
group. The baseline demographic models explained 10% of the variance in children, 13% in
adolescents. The AIQ composite score (Model A) was positively related to team participation
in both age groups (β1=0.247, p<0.0001; β2=0.407, p<0.0001), accounting for about 5% and
15% (respectively) of the variance. The results for the subscale regression (Model B) showed
significant, positive effects for competence (β=0.130, p=0.0448) in children; and for
appearance (β=0.170, p=0.0002), competence (β=0.153, p=0.0044), and importance (β=0.161,
p=0.0039) in adolescents. The subscale models explained slightly more variance than the
composite score (6% in children, 18% in adolescents).
Discussion
These results provide support for athletic identity as a factor related to physical activity and
sports team participation, over and above three established correlates. The findings suggest
two key points. First, the components that make up athletic identity operate in a collective
synergy in relation to level of activity. The results imply that the combination of multiple
positive self-views and perceptions of encouragement, even if some individual component
contributions are small, will have a positive impact on activity, and that this occurs regardless
of a child/adolescent’s weight, minority status, or gender. As proposed in its theoretic
framework, each component of athletic identity contributes to the synergist effect, meaning
that all of the components are important in describing athletic self-concept. Secondly, some
individual components seem less influenced by demographic factors than others. The subscale
analyses revealed that not all of the components were individually associated with behavior,
after accounting for demographics.
Athletic identity, regardless of the modeling perspective used (global score or subscales), was
less strongly associated with 7-day physical activity in adolescents than in children, but more
strongly associated with sports team participation in adolescents. The weaker association with
physical activity in adolescents may indicate that, regardless of self-views, there are many
influences on adolescent behavior, especially from peers (the encouragement from friends–
physical activity correlation was 0.32 in children, 0.15 in adolescents). Another explanation,
especially in light of the sports teams results, is that the weaker association reflects the different
MVPA measures used in each group. Identity theory would predict a stronger, rather than
weaker, association between behavior and age. A highly positive athletic identity would be
expected to result in identity enactment29 and in identity becoming more ingrained over time.
30
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Regarding the subscale analyses, competence and parental encouragement emerged as
significant correlates of physical activity among children but not adolescents. The age-decline
seen in the competence ratings is consistent with other studies that have found age-related
declines in ability conceptions, with higher degrees of optimism among younger children.31
Similarly, parental support may be more important in influencing activity for children,
regardless of demographic factors, than for adolescents, when interest (or disinterest) in activity
is likely already established and ability-inclusive community sport programs are less available.
As expected, competence ratings were significantly related to team participation in both age
groups, and the association strengthened with age. However, parental encouragement was not
a significant factor in team membership in either age group. Compared to teachers and friends,
parents did seem to be the strongest source of encouragement for sports team participation in
both children and adolescents (as indicated by the Pearson correlations), but parental support
did not independently contribute to team participation, after demographic factors were
controlled. However, as argued above, the multiple contributions from the components that
make up identity, regardless of their individual significance, are important in defining the self’s
attributes and role identities, and their effect on behavior.
Findings for the importance subscale also differed by age group, where importance
significantly predicted both physical activity and sports team participation only in adolescents,
although it approached significance in the younger children for physical activity (p=0.0825).
Expectancy-value theorists have long argued that individuals tend to do tasks they positively
value and avoid less-valued tasks.32–34 With increasing age, the importance placed on activity
would be expected to play a greater role in behavior, and that is exactly what was found. Placing
high importance on playing sports and being active transcended the effects of gender, ethnicity,
and overweight status on two measures of activity in adolescents in the current study, a time
when substantial declines in activity have been documented.35
The current results have interesting similarities to Dishman et al.,20 who used Marsh et
al.’s13 measure of physical self-concept in a study of 12th-grade girls. The current study also
found that appearance and BMI were not related to overall physical activity in adolescents.
This result was also true for children in our study. However, unlike previous findings,20
appearance was still related to team participation after controlling for BMI. Similar to previous
findings, in adolescents in the current study, the relationship of competence to sports team
participation was stronger than that of competence to physical activity, but in the children,
competence was more strongly related to physical activity than to team participation. This
particular finding may reflect the fact that team membership is more ability-inclusive at the
elementary school level (i.e., there are many community team opportunities) than in middle
school. The same MVPA–sports team relationship as in previous findings was found here, in
both children and adolescents (r =0.30).
In previous studies, which focused on the psychometric properties of the AIQ instrument,
without control for demographics, strong, positive relationships were found between all of the
AIQ factors and both physical activity and team participation. However, there were many
differences in the analytic strategies used, in addition to control of demographics, which help
to explain the differences in findings between those studies and the current study. Both of the
previous adolescent and child AIQ measurement papers17,18 used structural equation modeling
methodology, and physical activity was used as a latent variable and defined differently.
The current study suggests that interventions that include a focus on athletic identity could be
useful in increasing physical activity behaviors. It also suggests two important considerations
for interventions that attempt to change athletic self-concept. First, the influence of
demographics should be recognized. Effects of gender and race/ethnicity on both activity
outcomes were found in our study, as in others. In the current results, the demographic variables
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had a stronger relationship with both types of activity in adolescents than in children, and a
stronger relationship with playing sports in both age groups. The good news, however, is that,
except for team participation in children, athletic identity explains as much or more of the
variance in physical activity and sports team participation as the demographic variables. The
influence of demographic factors on behavior and the components of athletic identity can and
should be incorporated into intervention goals (e.g., sports-skill building for girls and Hispanics
to increase perceived competence). Secondly, it is important to measure, and hopefully target,
all six of the athletic identity subfactors, as all are integral to identity.
Strengths and Limitations
A major strength of this study was the demographically diverse sample from two age groups,
with measured height and weight. The substantial number of Hispanics makes the current
findings an important contribution to the literature on ethnic differences. Limitations include
a lack of geographic diversity, because all participants resided in the southwestern U.S.
Additionally, behavioral measures were self-reported. Different physical activity measures
were used for each age group, but the measure for team sports was the same. The cross-sectional
design limits conclusions regarding developmental trends between children and adolescents.
Conclusion
The results show that the way in which children and adolescents perceive themselves
athletically is related to physical activity and participation in organized sports, regardless of
gender, race/ethnicity group, and weight status. Athletic identity explained as much or more
variance in behavior as the demographic factors in most models.
Acknowledgments
This research and the preparation of this article were supported by grants from the Cancer Research Foundation of
America (now known as the Prevent Cancer Foundation); American Cancer Society (IRG-9303406); Curtis Hankamer
Basic Research Fund at Baylor College of Medicine; the National Cancer Institute (R03-CA90185 and R01-CA98662);
and the American Heart Association (Patient Care & Outcomes Research Award 9970182N). The preparation of this
article was also supported in part by federal funds to the Children’s Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of
Medicine from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)/ARS under Cooperative Agreement No. 6250-51000-047.
The contents of this publication do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the USDA, nor does mention of
trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. government.
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Table 1
Participant characteristics, % unless otherwise indicated
Grades 4 and 5 (n=391) Grades 7 and 8 (n=948)
Gender
Boys 47 39
Girls 53 61
Race/ethnicity
Hispanic 33 43
Non-Hispanic black 13 11
Non-Hispanic white 54 46
Age (years, mean [SD]) 9.88 (0.75) 13.63 (0.69)
BMI category
Normal and underweight (BMI<85th percentile) 60 62
Overweight (85th≤BMI<95th percentile) 21 21
Obese (BMI 95th≥percentile) 19 17
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Anderson et al. Page 11
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Am J Prev Med. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2010 September 1.
Haroona Qurban1,2 & Jin Wang1 & Hassan Siddique3 & Tony Morris4 & Zhi Qiao1
Published online: 12 October 2018
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine Chinese students’ motivation for sports participation using the theory of social learning.
We examined the role of parental support as a mediator of the relationship between motivation, self-esteem, and sports partic-
ipation. We operationalized parental support as tangible and intangible support provided by parents. We hypothesized that
motivation and self-esteem would be positively associated with tangible and intangible parental support, and parental support
would mediate the relationship between self-esteem, motivation, and sports participation. We administered questionnaires to 255
students (male = 71; mean age = 17.4, SD = 1.15; female = 184; mean age = 17.1, SD = 1.18) and either of their parents. We tested
our hypothesized model using structural equation modeling (SEM), which included testing a measurement model that specified
five latent variables and then compared the estimates generated by our hypothesized model with our data. We found our
hypothesized model fit the data well. As predicted, there were significant indirect effects of self-esteem and motivation on sports
participation through parental support, indicating evidence of mediation. The researchers suggest that parental support for
adolescents should be integrated and utilized for future interventions to promote sports participation in the cultural context of
China. Future studies with longitudinal follow-ups are suggested to explore actual causal relationships.
Keywords Parental support . Self-esteem . Motivation . Sports participation
Participation in sport is important for health and wellbeing in
childhood and adolescence, but it is declining in China (Lu
et al. 2017). In China, parents’ perception and attitude towards
their children’s health and sports participation have certain
limitations. Most Chinese parents know the significance of
physical activity (Liu et al. 2016), but research indicates that
they concentrate on promoting strong academic performance
among their children, leading to good jobs in the future
(Tudor-Locke et al. 2003). As a result, Chinese parents may
be more likely not to encourage sports participation for their
children (Fan et al. 2017).
Sports participation has declined among Chinese adoles-
cents in recent times. Liu et al. (2016) reported that more than
80% of young people in Shanghai, China are physically inac-
tive. The percentage of young people aged from 6 to 18 years
participating in organized sports/programs was only 14.9%.
For girls, the percentage was only 12%, which is lower than
for boys (17%).^ In 2015, the national PA survey report by the
General Administration of Sport of China revealed that 33.2%
of sampled Chinese children and adolescents aged 6–19 years
were physically active participating in sports (General
Administration of Sport of China 2015), which is compara-
tively larger proportion as compared with the 2016 survey
report indicating a decline. In 2006, the Ministry of
Education, the General Administration of Sport in China,
and the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist
Youth League carried out the BSunshine Physical Exercise
Project^ to promote at least 60 min of physical exercise,
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article
(https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-018-0016-3) contains supplementary
material, which is available to authorized users.
* Jin Wang
jinwang47@live.cn
1 College of Education, Zhejiang University, Room 207, West
Teaching Building II, 148 Tian Mu Shan Road, Xi Xi Campus,
Hangzhou, China
2 Mirpur University of Science and Technology (MUST),
Mirpur, AJK 10250, Pakistan
3 University of Science and Technology, Hefei, China
4 School of Exercise and Sport Science, Victoria University, PO Box
14428, Melbourne, VIC 8001, Australia
Current Psychology (2019) 38:308–319
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-018-0016-3
The mediating role of parental support: The relation between sports
participation, self-esteem, and motivation for sports
among chinese students
# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018
http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.1007/s12144-018-0016-3&domain=pdf
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-018-0016-3
mailto:jinwang47@live.cn
school wide, for every school-aged child. In addition, the
Physical Education Curriculum for Chinese Basic Education
has been reformed 4 times in the past 2 decades in an effort to
enhance students’ physical fitness and health through PA and
Sports participation. However, evidence from recent surveys
(Liu et al. 2016; General Administration of Sport of China
2015) indicate that these policies and reforms have not
brought about significant positive changes in the overall sports
participation and PA levels of young people in China^.
Two major reasons for the lack of sports participation in
Chinese students are that students have to study outside
school, so they do not have enough time for sports participa-
tion, and that students have many competing interests, includ-
ing watching TV and videos, playing computer games, and
reading instead of going out to participate in sports (Bauman
et al. 2008; Song et al. 2013). This suggests that sports partic-
ipation may not be considered a high priority by many parents
in China, as well as their children. There appears to be a
serious lack of awareness of the importance of sports partici-
pation among Chinese parents (Lu et al. 2017). Physical edu-
cation, as an important part of all education (Ma 2010), is not
only the responsibility of the school, but also the responsibility
of family. Parents play an important role in shaping the way
their children think and act. It is parents who decide whether to
encourage the development of habits of studying and partici-
pating in sports.
Previous research demonstrates that parental influence on
children (6–11 years) and/or adolescents (12–18 years) can be
important for different types of sports participation through
parents’ direct involvement and through their being active role
models, such as providing transport to sport events and en-
couragement to participate (Pugliese and Tinsley 2007).But
there are no studies we are aware of that test the role of paren-
tal support in this relationship in Chinese students and their
parents. We consider that a cultural difference may exist be-
tween Western and Eastern countries in terms of how parents
value children’s participation in sports, so that the Western
theory may not fit the Chinese situation. For example,
Confucianism is the core of the Chinese value system. This
doctrine is concerned with fulfilling social obligations,
conforming to the norms, respecting parents and achieving
family reputation through individual achievement (King and
Bond 1985). This principle provides a basis for Chinese par-
enting that determines the parent-child interaction. Parents
who strongly adhere to Chinese values are likely to maintain
a distance when interacting with their children and this is
conveyed in an authoritarian parenting style (Xu et al.
2005). On the other hand, Chao (1994, 1995) has discussed
how Chinese parents’ child rearing responsibilities are ful-
filled in the process of Bguan^, which means to Bgovern^ as
well as to Blove^. These two are the characteristics of author-
itative parenting style. Thus, authoritative and authoritarian
parenting styles are part of the Chinese value system and
expressed in varying degrees, depending on each family’s
particular circumstances. Level of education has been associ-
ated with variations in authoritative and authoritarian
parenting styles. For example, in a Chinese parenting styles
study, Chen et al. (2000) found that parents’ level of education
was positively associated with their authoritative parenting
style, and negatively associated with an authoritarian parent-
ing style. Perceived parenting distress may also play a signif-
icant role in this context. Previous studies have found that
parents with high levels of parenting distress expressed more
negative emotions, such as worry and anxiety, when
interacting with their children (Dix 1991; McLoyd 1990).
Another important factor is parents’ perceived sources of so-
cial support. Social support from family members and friends,
may provide assistance for dealing with the stress associated
with daily parenting, and may promote a less power-assertive
parenting style (Roggman et al. 1994).
The factors that affect sports participation are complex,
including intra-personal, inter-personal, organizational, com-
munity, and environmental variables, as depicted in the social-
Ecological model of participation in sport and physical activ-
ity (McNeill et al. 2006). Researchers suggest that self-esteem
and motivation are two key intra-personal variables that affect
sport participation (Slutzky and Simpkins 2009), but they are
affected by variables at other levels of the social-ecological
model, of which a key interpersonal variable is parental sup-
port (direct and indirect). Thus, in this study, we aim to exam-
ine two sets of elements that have been consistently shown to
predict students’ sports participation behavior, specifically, to
test the role of parental support for adolescents as a mediating
variable between self-esteem, motivation, and sport participa-
tion with a Chinese sample.
Relationship Between Self-Esteem and Sports
Participation
Individuals’ sports participation is associated with their self-
esteem. For example, Sport participants’ perceived physical
competence and physical self-worth predicted heightened
self-esteem (Bowker 2006). Physical self-worth can be de-
fined as general feelings of happiness, satisfaction, pride, re-
spect, and confidence in the physical-self (Fox 1998). Time
spent in sport activities provides participants opportunities to
build sport competencies and, in turn, their self-concept of
their abilities (Fox 2000; Sonstroem 1997)^.Theory suggests
that time in sports is associated with participants self-esteem
through their sports self-concept or perceived sports ability
(Fox 2000). In addition, children with higher sport self-
concepts also have higher self-esteem than children with low-
er sport self-concepts (Harter 2006).
Although there appears to be a relationship between sports
participation and general self-esteem, it is less clear. Some
Curr Psychol (2019) 38:308–319 309
studies (Taylor 1995) have shown that individuals who partic-
ipate in sports have higher self-esteem than non-participants
(Simpkins et al. 2006). However, other researchers (e.g.,
Marsh & Jackson 1986) have reported a weak link between
sports participation and self-esteem or even a negative rela-
tionship. (Richman & Shaffer 2000). Gibbons et al. (1997)
argued that Bthere is little and conflicting evidence that partic-
ipation in sports or even that winning at sports directly leads to
increases in self-esteem^ (p. 56).
Relationship Between Motivation and Sports
Participation
Motivation is a driving force that gives direction to individ-
uals’ activities, including sports (Ghaderi and Ghaderi 2012).
Vallerand (2001) proposed that motivation and its antecedents
(social factors), mediators (basic needs), and consequences
(affective, behavioral, and cognitive responses) operate at
three levels of generality, namely situational (or state), contex-
tual (or life domain), and global (or personality). In this study
we focused on contextual level motivation, which means mo-
tivation towards a particular context (e.g., sport).One key fac-
tor that can determine participation in sports is motivation.
Several researchers (e.g., Wang et al. 2009) have studied mo-
tivation in sport from the Self-Determination Theory (SDT;
Deci and Ryan 1985) perspective. SDT is a theory that is
concerned with supporting people’s natural or intrinsic ten-
dencies to behave in effective and healthy ways. SDT pro-
poses that all individuals are motivated to satisfy three basic
psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and related-
ness), which directs them to participate in certain activities.
Individuals’ motivational regulation can range from intrinsic
motivation to amotivation. Previous work in sports contexts
has often shown intrinsic motivation and identified regulation
(Identified regulation involves conscious acceptance of the
behavior as being important in order to achieve personally
valued outcomes) to predict positive behavioral, cognitive,
and affective outcomes (Ryan et al. 2009). In contrast, more
extrinsic forms of motivation i.e., external and introjected reg-
ulations (Introjected regulation involves the internalization of
external controls, which are then applied through self-imposed
pressure in order to maintain self-esteem) have been shown to
be positively related to less desirable outcomes, such as bore-
dom and burnout (Li et al. 2013). There are numerous social
factors in sports participation that can play an important role in
determining student motivation (Bhalla and Weiss 2010).
Many studies have shown that more self-determined motiva-
tion (intrinsic and identified regulations) predicts greater
sports participation (Boiché et al. 2008; Ghaderi and
Ghaderi 2012; Wang et al. 2011). This is because
self-determined motivation promotes satisfaction of the three
basic psychological needs, according to SDT (Ryan and Deci
2017). In more recent investigations, researchers have
analysed the relationship between different motivational pro-
files and sport (Boiché et al. 2008). Results showed that indi-
viduals with more self-determined profiles (with high scoring
on intrinsic motivation and self-determined extrinsic motiva-
tion) reported more sports participation than those with a me-
dium or non-self-determined profile.
Globalization has demanded a need for increasing aware-
ness of the differences and similarities across cultures.
Although much research has been done in western countries
examining factors that influence students’ motivation, self-es-
teem, and sports participation, not many similar studies have
been carried out in other countries. Much of the existing liter-
ature, mainly from studies conducted in Western countries,
indicates that parents are important role models for children’s
sports participation (Edwardson and Gorely 2010; Trost and
Loprinzi 2011). More active parents are likely to have more
active children. Moore et al. (1991) found that children of two
active parents were 5.8 times more likely to be active than
children of two inactive parents. The World Health
Organization has identified sport participation as important
to the health and development of children, including preven-
tion and maintenance of healthy weight (WHO 2010).
There is confirmation that children with physically active
parents got more social support from their parents (Edwardson
and Gorely 2010). Social support is positively linked with
physical activity (Pugliese and Tinsley 2007). Parents may
influence their children’s participation in sports and physical
activities by providing different types of social support (Beets
et al. 2006; Ryan and Deci 2017). Positive associations of a
medium effect size (Adkins et al. 2004; Sallis et al. 1999) have
been consistently reported between parental support and
leisure-time sports and physical activity through the provision
of both direct, tangible support (e.g., providing transport, en-
rolling children in sports clubs, watching children take part),
and intangible support (e.g., through verbal encouragement,
and attitudes towards physical activity) (Edwardson and
Gorely 2010). Recent systematic reviews also suggest that
the involvement of family may lead to greater efficacy of
school-based interventions (strategies designed to promote
students physical activity/sports participation at school)
(Vasques et al. 2014), suggesting that parents’ influence
reaches beyond the home environment, so it may be necessary
to consider them wherever interventions are based. All the
studies mentioned here related to parental support and sports
participation were conducted with samples in Western cul-
tures. However, in the current study, specifically, we aimed
to determine whether parental support mediates the effects of
students’ motivation and self-esteem on sports participation in
China, which is an Eastern culture in which values, beliefs,
and consequently behavior, are quite different.
The idea that sport participation is related to motivation and
self-esteem has long been studied (Kondrič et al. 2013;
310 Curr Psychol (2019) 38:308–319
Slutzky and Simpkins 2009), but in the current study we ex-
amined the role of parental support as a mediator of that rela-
tionship (Welk et al. 2003), based on a Chinese student sam-
ple. Parental support has been shown to affect sport participa-
tion in Western research (Beets et al. 2010; Edwardson and
Gorely 2010; Ryan and Deci 2017). Parental support refers to
parental support of adolescents in sports participation. Before
this study, research was conducted on children who live with
their parents (Biddle and Goudas 1996). We focused on uni-
versity students who are living in hostels away from their
parents. In China, this is a substantial proportion of the late
adolescent population. Many adolescents aged 16–18 years
are starting a new phase of life that involves living away from
their parents in communal university accommodation. We
suspected that these students are not well adapted to the new
environment, so they need their parental support during this
new phase of their lives. Earlier studies were conducted on
children, whereas the role of parental support for adolescents
is also of great worth. As there are very few studies conducted
on adolescents and their parental support, so the findings are
not very clear. There is a need to conduct research with
adolescents.
The present study, conducted in the cultural context of
China, examined factors that have been shown to be important
in Western students, namely motivation, self-esteem, and
sports participation. Most research compares the effects of
these different influences either individually or in parallel,
rarely considering how these factors may interact. A key dis-
tinction in the present study was the examination of the pos-
sible mediating role of tangible and intangible parental sup-
port. Tangible support can be instrumental or conditional.
Instrumental supports include purchasing or payment of fees
and transportation, whereas conditional support includes role
modelling, watching and supervision during sports participa-
tion. Intangible support can be motivational or informational.
Motivational support includes encouragement and praise,
whereas informational support includes parents discussing
the benefits of undertaking activity.
Hypothesis
We predicted that parental support would mediate the relation-
ship between self-esteem and motivation, and sports partici-
pation. We hypothesized that tangible and intangible support
from parents can affect the relationship between self-esteem,
motivation, and sports participation. Specifically, we hypoth-
esized that students with unsupportive parents would be less
active than students with supportive parents.
To control for additional factors known to influence stu-
dents’ physical activity levels and parental support, we includ-
ed gender, parental education, and financial status as covari-
ates (Vasques et al. 2014). Previous research has consistently
reported girls to be engage in less sports participation (Saelens
et al. 2012) and to receive less parental encouragement
(Markland and Tobin 2004) than boys. Students from high
socioeconomic status backgrounds, operationalized in terms
of parental education and income, have more opportunities
and resources to get social support for their social and cogni-
tive development than students from low socioeconomic sta-
tus backgrounds (Eime et al. 2013).
Method
Participants
We obtained ethics approval for the standardized data collec-
tion from a University institutional review board. We collected
data in the three universities of Hefei, China. Participants were
255 Chinese students (females = 184; males = 71) and either
of their parents (178 Mothers; 77 Fathers). The first step was
to inform teachers at the selected universities about our re-
search and its objective. We then asked teachers of different
classes to explain the research to students and their parents and
invite the students and parents to participate. We recruited the
sample of students aged 16 to 18 years from each university.
We approached 300 students from three universities (100 stu-
dents from each university) and their parents to participate in
this study. We received positive responses from 255 students
and their parents, so the response rate was 85%.We only in-
cluded students one of whose parents also volunteered. We
sampled similar numbers of students from each university.
Teachers provided us with a list of names and contact ad-
dresses of students and parents who agreed to participate in
the research. We sent an online survey link to each student’s
email address. The students completed their questionnaire and
asked their parents to complete the questionnaires about their
support for their child. After completing the questionnaires,
students sent them back online. Data collection took place
between February and August 2016.
Design
This was a cross-sectional, correlational study in which we
tested a model that parental support was a mediator of the
relationship between motivation, self-esteem, and sports
participation.
Measures
Measures Administered to Students
Students’ demographic information Students were asked
about their age and gender.
Curr Psychol (2019) 38:308–319 311
Self-esteem scale The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale
(Rosenberg 1965), consisting of ten items, was used to mea-
sure self-esteem of adolescents. We selected the five items for
this study to measure the self-esteem of adolescents.
Participants used a 5-point Likert scale to respond. For exam-
ple, Item 1 in the scale used was, BOn the whole, I am satisfied
with myself^. Item 2 used was, BI am able to do things as well
as most other people^. Item 3 was, BI feel that I have a number
of good qualities^. Item 4 used was, BI take a positive attitude
toward myself^. Item 5 used was, BI am able to do things as
well as most other people^. In the present study a Cronbach
alpha of 0.747 was obtained on this scale.
Motivation Revised Sports Motivation Scale (Mallett et al.
2007) comprising of 24 items measures six forms of motiva-
tion: amotivation, external regulation, introjected regulation,
identified regulation, intrinsic motivation and integrated reg-
ulation. Participants used a 5-point Likert scale to respond
e.g., 1.Does not correspond 2.Corresponds a little 3.
Corresponds moderately 4. Corresponds a lot 5.
Corresponds exactly. Motivation for sports participation was
assessed using 18 items taken from Revised Sports Motivation
Scale. Revised Sports Motivation Scale was reduced from a
24-item to an 18-item measure by selecting the item loading
most strongly onto each subscale. Estimate of an overall reli-
ability using Cronbach’s alpha for this scale was 0.75 in the
present study. The measurement model of motivation for
sports yielded a good fit, with an overall χ2 (68) value of
146.07, with CFI = 0.96, TLI = 0.95, and RMSEA = 0.05.
Physical activity/sports participation In this study we included
sport as a physical activity that has a sport governing body
and, is competitive by its nature and organization and is gen-
erally accepted as being a sport e.g., basketball, tennis, bad-
minton, cricket and football (http://www.ausport.gov.au/
supporting/nso/asc_recognition). We used an adapted
version of The Physical Activity Index (PAI) Scale (Sharkey
1979) in the present study. The PAI was developed to assess
the nature and level of sports participation in individuals. We
have adapted the PAI to measure the two categories of activity
on the PAI a 5-point Likert scales, namely; frequency (i.e.,
how many times during the week they participated? a. One
time, b. Two times, c. three times, d. Four times, more than
four times); and duration of participation (i.e., time spent on
sporting activities during the week? a. less than 30 min, b.
30 min, c. less than 60 min, d. 60 min, e. more than
60 min). Level of participation (a. local, b. university level,
c. national level, d. international, e. if any other please men-
tion) was also assessed. Higher scores indicated higher levels
of sports participation. Frequency and duration of participa-
tion were combined to calculate the Cronbach alpha.
Cronbach alpha of 0.74 was obtained on this scale in the
present study.
Measures Administered to Parents
Parents’ demographic information form Parents were asked
about their Education ranging from Bnot educated^ to
BUniversity degree^ and financial status ranging from
Bmonthly income less than 2000 yuan^ to Bmore than 8000
yuan^ on a 5-point Likert scale.
Parental support Parental support was assessed through the
four items of the ‘Friends and Family’ scale of the
Neighborhood Impact on Kids (NIK) study survey (Saelens
et al. 2012). In this study, we used the measure of parental
support for sports participation to assess the parental support
for students’ sports participation, which can be support given
at any time, not just during the previous week.
The four items, based on the stem Bhow often parents
had…^ were, 1) watched, 2) encouraged, 3) provided trans-
port for their child to play sport/engage in physical activity,
and 4) taken part with their child. Parents rated each item on a
scale of 1 (never) to 5 (every day). Systematic reviews of
parental social support have previously demonstrated that
such support can be differentiated into two types of support:
i) tangible, which can be further categorized as instrumental
(e.g., proving transport) or conditional (e.g., exercising togeth-
er) or ii) intangible, which can be further categorized as moti-
vational (e.g., encouragement) or informational (e.g.,
discussing benefits). These different types of support are not
conceptually equivalent, and may operate through theoretical-
ly distinct mechanisms (Beets et al. 2010). Because the four
items of the support measure used in the present study map to
different categories of support, in line with these arguments,
they were considered separately in the analysis. For this rea-
son, internal consistency for NIK as single scale was not cal-
culated but we calculated internal consistency using Cronbach
alpha for both scales separately, and obtained 0.71 and 0.73
for tangible and intangible support respectively.
Scales Translation into Chinese Language
We translated all the scales into Chinese, using the standard
back-translation procedure. After translation into Chinese by
two translators familiar with the concepts, two bilingual re-
viewers, who were naïve to the concepts and the measures
used the back-translation method to evaluate the Chinese ver-
sion of each measure by translating the new Chinese version
back into English. Then we compared the meaning of this
translation to the original English version of each scale. Any
discrepancies were addressed by making changes to the
Chinese version. We considered equivalence of meaning to
be more important than literal, verbatim translation. The num-
ber of discrepancies was small and modifications were quickly
and effectively implemented. Then, the questionnaires in
Chinese were sent to monolingual Chinese speaking
312 Curr Psychol (2019) 38:308–319
http://www.ausport.gov.au/supporting/nso/asc_recognition
http://www.ausport.gov.au/supporting/nso/asc_recognition
respondents for pretesting for comprehension and modified
according to feedback given by these individuals.
Analysis
We screened the data for univariate and multivariate normality
and outliers. Internal consistency reliability (Cronbach’s alpha
coefficient) was calculated for all study variables. Descriptive
statistics (i.e., means, standard deviations, and bivariate corre-
lations) were assessed to provide a sample description.
All statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS Version
21 and AMOS Version 21. In a preliminary analysis, all data
were tested for normal distribution and gender differences,
using independent t-tests. Correlation analyses were used to
investigate the bivariate relationships between all variables.
To test our hypothesis regarding the relationships between
self-esteem, motivation, sports participation, and parental sup-
port, we performed structural equation modeling (SEM) pro-
cedures, using full-information, maximum likelihood methods
for model estimation (Wang et al. 2015). To assess model-data
fit, standard indices were calculated and compared with the
criteria for acceptable fit: the chi-square statistic (Chi2/df, with
values <5.0 acceptable and < 2.0 reflecting a good fit);
Comparative Fit Index (CFI, with values higher than .95);
the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA,
which should be less than .08 for an acceptable fit and less
than .05 for an excellent fit); and the Standardized Root Mean
Square Residual (SRMR, less than .07 for an acceptable fit
and .05 for an excellent fit) (Hooper et al. 2008).
Results
Analyses of the socioeconomic status, ranging from monthly
income (1. less than 2000 yuan, 2. between 2000 and 3999
yuan, 3. between 4000 and 5999 yuan, 4. between 6000 and
7999 to 5. more than 8000 yuan) with percentage for option
1 = 4.1%, 2 = 18.7%, 3 = 29.5%, 4 = 27.6% and 5 = 20.1%
shows that the present sample was representative of a popula-
tion of same-aged students from different social classes. There
was no effect of gender on sports participation, parental sup-
port, and self-esteem because there was no significant differ-
ence in the mean value of all the variables for males and
females. To detect multivariate outliers, the Mahalanobis dis-
tance values were calculated. No multivariate outliers were
identified.
Before examining the mediating effect of parental support
on the relationships between self-esteem, motivation, and
sports participation, we conducted preliminary analyses relat-
ed to gender, parental education, and socioeconomic status.
Table 1 shows descriptive statistics of all the latent variables.
All variables were normally distributed with skewness values
of −1.02 to .99 and kurtosis values of −1.019 to 1.60.
An independent samples t-test showed there was no signif-
icant effect of gender on students’ sports participation (t =
−1.44, p > 0.05), motivation (t = −1.75, p > 0.05), parental
support: a) tangible support (t = −1.36, p > 0.05), b) intangible
support (t = 0.063, p > 0.05), and self-esteem development
(t = 0.981, p > 0.05). This indicates that male and female stu-
dents did not have significantly different levels of self-esteem,
motivation, parental support, or sports participation. Although
there were more females than males in the sample, the num-
bers of participants of each gender are more than adequate for
independent samples t-tests, so we consider that the gender
imbalance did not affect the t-test and had no meaningful
impact on the results. To examine the relationships between
parental support, sports participation, motivation, and self-es-
teem, correlation analyses were conducted for the whole sam-
ple, including males and females.
Bivariate correlation showed that financial status was pos-
itively correlated with tangible and intangible support, which
means that students with high financial status parents received
more tangible and intangible support from their parents.
Parental education was positively correlated with sports par-
ticipation and both types of parental support, which means
that children of educated parents were more likely to partici-
pate in sports and receive tangible and intangible support from
their parents. Socioeconomic status (parental education com-
bined with financial status) was not directly correlated with
other study variables (see Table 2).
To test our main study hypothesis, SEM procedures were
performed. The structural model is presented in Fig. 1. The
structural model yielded an overall chi-square (df = 175) of
237.40, with CFI = 0.985, RMSEA = 0.047, SRMR = 0.035
and 90% CI [.034–.085], satisfying the common critical
values. No significant modification indices emerged in this
structural model. Given the good fit of the model to the data
and the lack of modification indices, no further modification
was made to the structural model. All factor loadings and
covariances were significant. Thus, we examined our
hypothesis.
As shown in Fig. 1, motivation was directly, positively
associated with tangible support (β = 0.17, p < 0.001), as well
as with intangible support (β = 0.14, p < 0.01), from parents.
Self-esteem was directly, positively associated with tangible
support (β = 0.19, p < 0.001), as well as with intangible sup-
port (β = 0.16, p < 0.01) from parents. Sports participation
was directly, positively associated with tangible support (β =
0.44, p < 0.001), as well as intangible support (β = 0.29,
p < 0.001) from parents.
Our study supported the hypothesis that parental support
would mediate the relationship between self-esteem and mo-
tivation towards sports participation. Self-esteem (β = −0.03,
p > 0.05) and motivation (β = 0.07, p > 0.05) showed no direct
association with sports participation. Self-esteem and motiva-
tion were directly associated with parental support, but not
Curr Psychol (2019) 38:308–319 313
with sports participation, whereas parental support was
strongly related to students’ sports participation. Hence, pa-
rental support appears to be a mediator between self-esteem,
motivation, and sports participation.
Discussion
The findings from this study demonstrated that self-esteem
was not directly related with sports participation, but parental
support acts as a mediator of the relationship between self-
esteem and sports participation of Chinese adolescent stu-
dents. Previously, researchers have reported mixed results
for the association between self-esteem and sports participa-
tion. Orth et al. (2010) found significant associations between
self-esteem and sports participation, but to a small extent.
Slutzky and Simpkins (2009) found no direct association be-
tween self-esteem and sports participation. Slutzky and
Simpkins suggested the value of examining mediating pro-
cesses, to better explain the association between self-esteem
and sports participation.
Individuals’ motivation is associated with physical and so-
cial environment factors, including the influence of parents
(Trost et al. 2003). Motivation from parents has been identi-
fied as an especially important factor related to adolescents’
sports participation (Fredricks and Eccles 2004). Our results
showed that the relationship between motivation and sports
participation was mediated thorough parental support as mo-
tivation was directly associated with parental support, which
was also shown in previous research (e.g., Gonzalez et al.
2005).
In the present study, we found that parental support, includ-
ing tangible and intangible support, mediates between the pre-
dictors (self-esteem and motivation) and outcome (sports par-
ticipation). For example, parents can provide instrumental
support (e.g., organizing PAs, providing transportation, pay-
ing activity fees), emotional support (e.g., encouraging chil-
dren), informational support (e.g., giving instruction), com-
panionship support (e.g., playing with children), and valida-
tion support (e.g., serving as role models). Many researchers
have confirmed that due to these interactions with parents,
children shape their attitudes and values toward sports partic-
ipation (Bandura 1986; Harter 1982). Our results showed
stronger correlation between tangible parental support and
sports participation, with β = 0.44, than intangible support,
with β = 0.29. The correlation between parental support and
sports participation was stronger than the correlations between
parental support and self-esteem or motivation.
The effect of tangible and intangible support did not differ,
when we examined the association between parental support
and self-esteem or motivation (in both cases a difference of
β = 0.3 was observed), but the difference was greater (β =
0.15), when we examined the association between parental
support and sports participation. Research conducted in other
countries has also shown that parental support was positively
related with their children’s sports participation (Edwardson
and Gorely 2010). The findings from this study also support
the findings of previous research conducted in the USA and
Denmark that parental support is an essential element in initi-
ating measures to increase adolescent physical activity
(Fuemmeler et al. 2012; Yolanda and Oliver 2011).
However, in a review of more than 100 studies of children
and adolescents, Trost and Loprinzi (2011) did not find any
Table 1 Mean differences by
gender with level of significance
0.05
Variable Mean Differences by Gender
Girls (n = 184) Boys (n = 71) Total (n = 255) t p
SE 3.2319 3.3615 3.2967 0.981 0.328
Tang.Supp 3.2106 3.0423 3.1264 −1.36 0.175
Intang.Supp 3.3880 3.3944 3.3912 0.063 0.950
SP 3.1178 2.9061 3.0119 −1.44 0.150
Motivation 3.0144 3.1433 3.0785 −1.75 0.127
There is no significant difference in the mean value of all variables for girls and boys
SE Self-esteem, Tang.Supp Tangible support, Intang.Supp Intangible support and SP Sorts participation
Table 2 Correlation matrix among all variables
Variable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
SP 1 −0.22 0.51 0.59* 0.35 0.08 0.82*
SE 1 0.69* 0.68* 0.76* 0.35 −0.22
Tang.Supp 1 0.58** 0.60** 0.48* 0.61*
Intang.Supp 1 0.74* 0.88* 0.41**
Motivation 1 0.07 0.10
FS 1 0.33**
PE 1
SP Sports participation, SE Self-esteem, Tang.Supp Tangible support,
Intang.Supp Intangible support, FS Financial status, PE Parents educa-
tion. Single * shows positive correlation at 0.05 level of confidence while
** shows positive correlation at 0.01 level of confidence. Remaining
variable have no correlation with each other
314 Curr Psychol (2019) 38:308–319
consistent association between parental support and children’s
physical activity level. These differences could be related to a
number of factors, including parental support and sports par-
ticipation measures, statistical analysis, participants’ ages, and
cultural context. In the present study, in the context of adoles-
cents in China, we identified parental support as an important
factor influencing sports participation, as has also been shown
in a number of studies in western countries (Cleland et al.
2011). Therefore, the importance of parental support has to
be given consideration, for example, when designing sports-
related activities. Keeping in view the potential influence of
parental support should be useful when strategies are designed
to increase sports participation.
Bivariate correlation showed that financial status was posi-
tively correlated with tangible and intangible support, which
means that students with high financial status parents received
more tangible and intangible support from their parents. Parental
education has previously been positively correlated with sports
participation (Pan et al. 2009) and parental support. Thus, chil-
dren of educated parents were more likely to participate in sports
and receive support from their parents. In the present study, so-
cioeconomic status (parental education and financial status) was
not directly correlated with other study variables.
We also examined whether the pattern of correlations was
different for males and females. Results showed that male and
female students did not have significantly different levels of
self-esteem, motivation, and parental support, which is similar
to the results of previous studies (Eriksson et al. 2008; Wang
et al. 2016; Henriksen et al. 2015). Many previous studies
have provided evidence that self-esteem and sports participa-
tion was higher in males than females (Orth and Robins 2014).
A key, original aspect of our study was that it was conduct-
ed in China, where parental role is different from other coun-
tries (Xu et al. 2005). Many studies related to parental roles
have been conducted in western countries, but not in China.
Due to concern about declining sports participation in Chinese
adolescent students we focused on major personal factors that
can be related with students’ sports participation. This study
provides insight about the role of parental support for those
students who are not living with their parents, but parental
support plays an important role for them too as evidenced by
our findings. In addition, it should be noted that the current
behavior of older adolescents is not just affected by parents’
current level of support. Parents’ behavior to their children for
many years influences the children’s current behavior. In the
present study, we aimed to explore the relationship between
motivation and self-esteem as predictor variables, parental
support as a mediator variable, and sports participation as an
outcome variable. It was observed that students who received
greater parental support (tangible, intangible) were more high-
ly motivated and had more positive self-esteem. In this study
we explored the pivotal role of parents in providing tangible
and intangible support to participate in sports. Our results also
showed that students who received greater parental support
had higher levels of sports participation. Results of the present
study supported previous research (Edwardson and Gorely
2010) that also showed that parental support is positively re-
lated to sports participation of adolescents (Khan et al. 2017).
However, previous studies were conducted on samples from
western countries. Thus, it was important to examine whether
the mediating role of parental support also applies to Chinese
students.
Fig. 1 * shows that relationship is
significant at p < 0.001 and **
shows that relationship is
significant at p < 0.01
Curr Psychol (2019) 38:308–319 315
Schools and parents should share the responsibility of
physical education of their students and children. The
Bureau of Education in Haidian District, Beijing, decided to
assign physical homework to all primary school students from
January 1, 2014 (Yang and Shi 2014). They divided all the
athletic activities into five sections, and the students were
advised to finish five athletic activities from different sections.
Parents were requested to record their children’s performance
and upload their data to dedicated websites from which the
school could get the information at any time. The provincial
government also announced that the physical homework was
not obligatory, but a method to enhance the physical activity
of children with their parents (Yang and Shi 2014). Assigning
physical homework aims to extend school physical education
to extracurricular activities and daily life. Yang and Shi stated
that this helped to change parents’ perception and attitude
towards physical education.
Limitations of the Current Study
The study has several limitations. First, although the sample
was adequate, it was not large. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO)
and Bartletts test measure was used to test the sample adequa-
cy. Value obtained was 0.694, which is acceptable. More pow-
erful modeling analysis could be conducted with a larger sam-
ple. It would be possible to include variables that were exam-
ined here only in correlations and proved to be significant,
including parental financial status and parental education.
The sample came from three different universities, but they
were all based in one city. In such a large country as China,
with diverse cultures in different provinces and regions, it
would be interesting to compare parental support in different
cities and provinces, and to examine the impact of this vari-
able on the mediating role of parental support. We invited 300
students and their parents to participate in the study. But we
got data from 255 students and their parents. To some extent,
the sample was not large, and respondents may be those stu-
dents and parents who were more active in competitive sports,
so they were more likely to participate in the study, which may
lead to some bias. Given that the sample comprised university
students and their parents, it is not clear whether the present
results can be generalized to those sections of the population
who are not attending universities. We propose to conduct a
more extensive study in future, involving longitudinal re-
search with a large sample of different age groups and diverse
backgrounds to test the parental support hypothesis further.
Thus, we propose future research with a large sample involv-
ing cities and rural areas from the diverse regions of China to
examine more generalizable findings as well as differences
based on cultural variations within China. In this study, we
investigated only parental support, but other social factors,
including the influence of peers and teachers should also be
studied in future. A noteworthy limitation is that we used a
cross-sectional design. Studies with longitudinal designs
would permit stronger conclusions to be drawn about cause
and effect relationships between self-esteem, motivation, and
sports participation, and the mediating influence of parental
support. In addition to involvement in competitive sports, stu-
dents might benefit from doing a range of non-competitive
physical activities that could be instrumental, such as garden-
ing, walking the dog, or house cleaning, as with as leisure
related, such as bicycle riding in the countryside or swimming
for fun. Reflection on parental support for such activities
would be speculative, so we have not commented on this
issue. We recommend future studies should focus on the pa-
rental role in promoting physical activity in general, not just in
organized and competitive sports.
Conclusion
Our correlational analysis showed that parental education
had a positive relationship with parental support, but no
direct relationship with sports participation, self-esteem, or
motivation. Financial status had a positive relationship with
parental support, but no direct relationship with sports par-
ticipation, self-esteem, or motivation. In our primary SEM
analysis, the mediation model showed that self-esteem and
motivation indirectly influenced students’ levels of sports
participation mediated through parental support, and self-
esteem and motivation had direct relationships with parental
support. Associations between parental support and sports
participation were stronger in terms of the path coefficients
than associations between self-esteem, motivation, and pa-
rental support. This indicates that parental support enhances
the effects of self-esteem and motivation on sports participa-
tion. Thus, we recommend that there should be a greater
focus on the role of parents’ involvement in their adolescent
children’s sports participation, which in turn can produce
many positive outcomes in terms of the frequency, duration
and intensity of the children’s participation. Parents provide
a target for interventions to increase sports participation
through encouragement to promote the importance of sports
participation to their children either through their own be-
havior or supporting their child to be active.
It is assumed that parental support is needed by children not
the adolescents. But the current study results showed that ad-
olescents also get support from their parents, which results in
positive outcomes. Further studies are recommended to study
the influence of parental support on adolescents.
Acknowledgements I declare that manuscripts submitted to the Journal
have not been published elsewhere or are not being considered for pub-
lication elsewhere and that the research reported will not be submitted for
publication elsewhere until a final decision has been made as to its ac-
ceptability by the Journal.
316 Curr Psychol (2019) 38:308–319
Compliance with ethical standards
Conflict of Interest Authors Haroona Qurban, Jin Wang, Hassan
Siddique, Tony Morris and Zhi Qiao declare that they have no conflict
of interest.
Ethical approval Participation in the study was voluntary and anony-
mous, so it was stored with code numbers to identify questionnaires
completed by the same student and their parent. Respondents completed
the questionnaires using the online survey link and all data were saved
automatically without specific identity of the respondents. Some of the
study participants were under and some over 18 years old, so those who
were 18 and over gave their own written consent and those under 18
obtained written parental consent. Parents who completed questionnaires
gave written consent in advance. All data was stored in a secure folder on
the first author’s computer during the course of the study.
Informed consent Informed consent was obtained from all individual
participants included in the study.
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- The…
Abstract
Relationship Between Self-Esteem and Sports Participation
Relationship Between Motivation and Sports Participation
Hypothesis
Method
Participants
Design
Measures
Measures Administered to Students
Measures Administered to Parents
Scales Translation into Chinese Language
Analysis
Results
Discussion
Limitations of the Current Study
Conclusion
References
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Sport participation and its association with social and
psychological factors known to predict substance use and
abuse among youth: A scoping review of the literature
Heather J. Clarka,b, Martin Camiréc, Terrance J. Waded and John Cairneye
aDepartment of Psychology, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada; bCanadian Centre on Substance Abuse,
Ottawa, ON, Canada; cSchool of Human Kinetics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada; dDepartment of
Community Health Sciences, Brock University, ON, Canada; eDepartment of Family Medicine, McMaster
University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
ABSTRACT
This article presents the results of a scoping review of the sport
literature (2000–2014) on psychological and social outcomes
relevant to youth alcohol and illicit drug use. Prior reviews report
that sport is related to increased alcohol use and reduced illicit
drug use among youth, yet provide little guidance regarding the
mechanisms that can explain this relationship. We reviewed the
literature on sport participation and psychological and social
outcomes to identify factors that could help explain this link.
Psychological and social factors were selected as they play a
paramount role in understanding youth alcohol and drug use.
Fifty-nine articles were identified and included in the review. The
literature generally supported connections between sport and
positive psychological and social outcomes, including self-esteem,
self-regulation, general life skills, and pro-social behaviour. Yet
limitations in the methods and measures limit the ability to draw
conclusions from the literature. In addition, the diversity of youth
and sport was generally ignored in the literature. This article
suggests a number of directions for future research that might
improve our understanding of how sport impacts psychological
and social outcomes along with alcohol and illicit drug use.
ARTICLE HISTORY
Received 14 July 2014
Accepted 30 June 2015
KEYWORDS
Sport participation;
psychological factors; social
factors; alcohol use; drug use
Both researchers and the sport community have expressed interest in using sport to
promote positive youth development (Bailey, 2006; Coalter, 2013; Eime, Young, Harvey,
Charity, & Payne, 2013). However, when we look critically at the evidence linking sport
to positive development, the results are often mixed. For example, systematic reviews
assessing the relationship between sport participation and alcohol and illicit drug use
among youth show conflicting evidence: youth sport participation can protect against
the use of illicit drugs, but presents a higher risk of increased alcohol consumption
(Kwan, Bobko, Faulkner, Donnelly, & Cairney, 2014; Lisha & Sussman, 2010).
© 2015 The Author(s). Published by Taylor & Francis.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any
medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.
CONTACT John Cairney cairnej@mcmaster.ca
INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF SPORT AND EXERCISE PSYCHOLOGY, 2015
VOL. 8, NO. 1, 224–250
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1750984X.2015.1068829
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
mailto:cairnej@mcmaster.ca
The positive association between sport and alcohol use is concerning as alcohol use is
related to negative developmental outcomes and harms among youth including poor
school performance and health-compromising behaviours (Bonomo, Bowes, Coffey,
Carlin, & Patton, 2004; Leichliter, Meilman, Presley, & Cashin, 1998; Thompson, Stockwell,
& Macdonald, 2012). Understanding the connections between sport participation and
youth alcohol and drug use could advance efforts to prevent alcohol and drug use
among youth, which is a topic of widespread interest (Catalano et al., 2012; Medina-
Mora, 2005). Furthermore, the link between sport participation and alcohol and drug
use is particularly important during adolescence as sport participation, alcohol use, and
drug use are at their peak during this developmental period (Ewing & Seefeldt, 2002;
Guèvremont, Findlay, & Kohen, 2008; Young et al., 2011). Yet, in the most recent systematic
review on the topic, Kwan et al. (2014) reported little research that included measures of
alcohol and drug use, examined sport as an intentional intervention to prevent alcohol
and drug use, or examined the mechanisms that might explain the connections
between sport participation and alcohol and drug use. This knowledge gap hinders
efforts to design effective interventions using sport as a model for pro-social and individ-
ual development. Indeed, a similar argument has been made in relation to sport for
international development (Coalter, 2013). We propose to address this gap by considering
the broader literature on sport and youth development and youth alcohol and drug use to
identify factors that could help elucidate the link between sport participation and youth
alcohol and drug use.
Current perspectives on youth development emphasize that behaviour is influenced by
multiple factors within the individual and their developmental and environmental context
(Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006; Masten, Faden, Zucker, & Spear, 2008). Similarly, research
on youth alcohol and drug use identifies a number of factors organized across the individ-
ual, social, and environmental contexts that influence alcohol and drug use (Hawkins, Cat-
alano, & Miller, 1992; Stone, Becker, Huber, & Catalano, 2012). From this perspective the
relationship between sport and alcohol and illicit drug use is likely impacted by psycho-
logical and social factors, and the sport context (i.e., the environment). Although we
have chosen to focus on youth alcohol and drug use, the psychological and social
factors related to alcohol and drug use are also likely relevant to a broad range of
health behaviours among youth (Fishbein, 2000; Wade, 2001).
We refer to youth alcohol and drug use as an umbrella term that includes the use, risky
patterns of use (use that presents increased risk of harms), and problematic use (use that
results in harms) of psychoactive substances including alcohol and illicit drugs. Much of
the research on sport participation and alcohol and drug use has measured substance
use (any use/frequency of use). Yet studies that measured risky use or problematic use (e.
g., heavy episodic drinking) have reported a similar pattern of results to studies that
measure use (Mays, DePadilla, Thompason, Kushner, & Windle, 2010; Sher & Rutledge, 2007).
Psychological and social factors
Both theory and a significant body of empirical research indicate that psychological and
social factors are critical in understanding health-related outcomes including alcohol
and illicit drug use among youth (Wade, 2001; Wade & Pevalin, 2005). We have chosen
to focus on a number of broad psychological and social constructs that have
INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF SPORT AND EXERCISE PSYCHOLOGY 225
demonstrated a relationship with youth alcohol and drug use, including self-concept, self-
regulation, life skills, pro-social attitudes, and pro-social behaviour.
Self-concept refers to the cognitive and emotional evaluations of the self and the perceived
evaluation of self by others. Self-concept captures the degree to which individuals feel loved,
respected, valued, and competent, both globally (e.g., Rosenberg, 1979), and in relation to
specific domains such as athletic or physical ability, physical appearance, or academic ability
(Harter, 1990). Research has reported that youth with a positive self-concept are less likely to
use alcohol and drugs (Taylor, Lloyd, & Warheit, 2005). Similar results have been reported for
specific aspects of self-concept including self-esteem (Tomaka, Morales-Monks, & Shamaley,
2013) and a sense of competence or mastery (Spoth, Redmond, Hockaday, & Yoo, 1996).
Additionally, the ability to regulate emotions and behaviours, referred to as self-regu-
lation, demonstrates a robust inverse relationship with alcohol and drug use among
youth (Pokhrel, Sussman, Rohrbach, & Sun, 2007; Sussman, McCuller, & Dent, 2003). One
important aspect of self-regulation – delayed gratification – is associated with a number
of positive social outcomes (Shoda, Mischel, & Peake, 1990), positive health outcomes
such as weight control (Schlam, Wilson, Shoda, Mischel, & Ayduk, 2013), and with
reduced risk of problem behaviours later in life including use of alcohol and illicit drugs
(Ayduk et al., 2000; Brody & Ge, 2001; Shoda et al., 1990).
Life skills such as time management, communication, coping, goal setting, and decision
making provide an important foundation for attaining successful developmental goals
(e.g., academic success). Prevention programmes that teach life skills have been shown
to reduce alcohol and drug use among youth (Botvin & Griffin, 2004). Furthermore, it is
a popular notion that training and competing in organized sport require the development
of many of these skills (time management, conflict resolution, goal setting), and that these
can be transferred from a sport context to other facets of life (Danish, Forneris, Hodge, &
Heke, 2004; Fraser-Thomas, Côté, & Deakin, 2005).
Taken together, these constructs include how youth subjectively think and feel about
themselves (self-concept), their ability to control their emotions and behaviour (self-regu-
lation), and the skills they have that contribute to their ability to attain positive develop-
mental goals. These constructs are key in understanding healthy development. From a
developmental psychopathology perspective, identifying difficulties in the factors
related to normative development can help us understand the emergence of problem
behaviours such as alcohol and drug use (Cicchetti & Rogosch, 1999).
Finally, social relationships such as positive relationships with adult mentors and pro-
social peers are associated with reduced alcohol and drug use (Fallu et al., 2010; Hurd, Stod-
dard, Bauermeister, & Zimmerman, 2014; Wormington, Anderson, Tomlinson, & Brown,
2013). Positive relationships with both adults and pro-social peers are believed to facilitate
the development of pro-social values and attitudes that decrease the likelihood of problem
behaviour such as alcohol and drug use (e.g., Hirschi, 1969). Pro-social values are character-
istics shared by members of a specific society that enable people to feel fulfilled and live
cooperatively with others (Arnold, 1999). Specific cultural examples in Western nations
include fairness, empathy, loyalty, respect, and honesty. Pro-social behaviour includes posi-
tive actions taken by youth as active leaders in the development of the self (e.g., pursuing
higher education), the family (e.g., caring for elderly relatives), the community (e.g., volun-
teering at a community centre), and civil society (Lerner, Lerner, Von Eye, Bowers, &
Lewin-Bizan, 2011). Research has reported that as youth endorse more pro-social values
226 H. J. CLARK ET AL.
and engage in more pro-social behaviours, the likelihood that they will use alcohol and illicit
drugs decreases (Carlo, Crockett, Wilkinson, & Beal, 2011).
Sport is a broad term that captures a range of organized activities that vary in their culture,
physicality, structure (community recreational programmes to school programmes to elite
sport programmes at the university and professional levels), availability and quality of
coaching, and the intensity to which winning is valued over participation. In recognition
of the diversity of sport, the sport community has shown an increasing interest in structur-
ing sport to provide a quality experience for youth that positively impacts broad health and
social outcomes. For example, the Long-Term Athlete Development Model (LTAD; Balyi,
Way, & Higgs, 2013) identifies several core components that should be targeted in youth
sport including: (1) skill development, appropriate to the developmental stage (maturation)
of the athlete; (2) presence of supportive, encouraging, and trained adult coaches; and (3) a
focus on both sport-specific skill development and individual development related to
acquisition of transferrable life skills (e.g. time management), and the regulation of behav-
iour and emotion. Both within the LTAD model and research on sport and youth develop-
ment, coaches play a central role in youths’ experience of sport (Balyi et al., 2013; Hogue, Fry,
Fry, & Pressman, 2013; MacDonald, Côté, Eys, & Deakin, 2011). Therefore, the relationship
between sport participation and psychological and social outcomes might depend on
the quality of the sport experience, which is influenced heavily by coaches.
We conducted a scoping review of the published literature from 2000 to 2014 on the relation-
ship between sport participation and psychological and social factors among youth to
answer the following research questions. First, is sport participation associated with psycho-
logical and social outcomes relevant to youth alcohol and drug use? This research question
can identify promising avenues for future research that will help elucidate the connections
between sport participation and youth alcohol and drug use. The second research question
is: Does the quality of the sport experience influence psychological and social outcomes
among youth? We sought to include literature that includes the notion of a quality sport
experience in relation to youth development and the perspective of coaches to address
this question. We chose to conduct a scoping review given that the literature in this area
is broad (e.g., multi-disciplinary, multi-method). Unlike a systematic review or meta-analysis,
a scoping review allows flexibility to include many different kinds of publications, allowing for
a comprehensive review of the area, focused on theory in addition to empirical findings.
Between December 2013 and February 2014, we conducted an online search of the litera-
ture exploring the relationship between sport participation and positive psychological and
social outcomes. We were only interested in articles that considered sport participation
among youth. Youth refers to the developmental period of transition from the dependence
of childhood to adulthood independence (UNESCO, 2013). For the purpose of this review,
INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF SPORT AND EXERCISE PSYCHOLOGY 227
we defined youth broadly and included ages 8–24. While many studies reported on
grades, these were converted to a corresponding age range. We were also interested in
identifying articles on organized youth sport. Organized youth sport is distinguished
from unorganized youth sport by the presence of direct adult supervision (e.g., coach) in
these structures. The main settings include school sport, community sport, and club sport.
Search procedures and criteria
We conducted a scoping review of studies published in peer-reviewed journals between 1
January 2000 and 31 December 2013 (in English only) that reported or reviewed the
association between sport participation and social and/or psychological outcomes.
An initial online search was undertaken using the broad keywords ‘youth’, ‘sport’,
‘development’, ‘athlete’ and ‘adolescent’. Databases searched included Google Scholar,
SPORTDiscus, Physical Education Index, and PsycINFO. The initial, exploratory searches
were conducted and yielded thousands of results. Revised search criteria were developed
based on the exploratory search. First, keywords were refined and used in different com-
binations (e.g., ‘youth, development, sport’; ‘sport, adolescent, development’; ‘athlete,
sport, development’). Second, the following filters included in the databases were used:
(1) available in full-text; (2) English language; (3) published in peer-reviewed journals;
and (4) published from 2000–2013.
For each search conducted, the relevance of the studies decreased dramatically after
approximately 100 results. Therefore, only the first 100 results in each search were screened.
For each article identified in the search, the abstract was reviewed to assess if the study
aligned with our review’s purpose (social and psychological outcomes). We chose to
focus on keywords related to sport and youth rather than specific social and psychological
outcomes to ensure breadth of coverage (scope). As our categories of social and psycho-
logical factors were quite broad, we felt it better to focus the search specifically on youth
sport to identify an initial set of articles, and then examine them further to see if any vari-
ables related to social and psychological outcomes were included in the analysis or review.
Additionally, we recorded if any studies included in the review also measured alcohol and
drug use. Two authors (M.C. and J.C.) reviewed and consulted on the papers for inclusion. An
initial list of 80 articles was identified that assessed sport and psychosocial variables, and
upon further review a final list of 59 were identified as relevant for the review.
It is important to note that this method does not include unpublished literature, litera-
ture published outside peer-reviewed journals, literature not available in full text, or pub-
lished prior to 2000. Despite these limitations the method does capture a broad
representation of the recent literature on the relationship between sport participation
and psychological and social factors.
General study characteristics
In total, we identified 59 articles that examined the relationship between sport partici-
pation and psychological and/or social outcomes, based on the broad definitions outlined
in the previous section for the review (see Table 1). The 59 articles included seven review
228 H. J. CLARK ET AL.
Table 1. Sport research with psychological and/or social outcomes.
Author Country Type of study Gender Age Sport Locale
Outcome
category Main findings
1 Babiss and Gangwisch
(2009)
United
States
Quantitative
-Survey
M&F 12–18 any any P; MH Sport can protect against depression and
suicidal ideation by boosting self-esteem and
increasing social support
2 Bailey (2006)
United
Kingdom
Lit Review n/a n/a n/a n/a P; S Physical education and sport in schools, when
appropriately presented, can lead to
development
-social behaviour, self-esteem, positive affect
3 Bailey et al. (2009) United
Kingdom
Lit Review n/a n/a n/a n/a P; S Physical education and school sport can lead
to physical, social, affective and cognitive
outcomes
-nonspecific
4 Barber, Eccles, and Stone
(2001)
United
States
Quantitative
-survey;
longitudinal
M&F 16; 18; 21; 24 ns ns P; S; MH Sports participation predicted positive
educational outcomes, lower social isolation
but higher drinking
-self-esteem; depression; anxiety; social
isolation; pro-social behaviour
5 Brown and Blanton
(2002)
United
States
Quantitative
-survey
M&F 18–24 ns ns MH Men not in sport were 2.5 times more likely to
report suicidal behavior than sports
participants. Women not in sport were 1.67
times the odds of reporting suicidal behavior
than sports participants
-suicidal ideation and behaviour
6 Bruner, Hall, and Côté
(2011)
Canada Quantitative
-survey
M 14–17 basketball, running CR P; S Team versus individual sports may provide
different learning environments, but the
development of youth is more influenced by
the people involved than the sport
– emotional regulation; positive relationships;
teamwork; social skills; social capital
7 Buford-May (2001) United
States
Qualitative
-interview
M ns basketball CR S Basketball players were exposed to
discrimination, racism, and a win-at-all-costs
attitude
-nonspecific social behaviour
(Continued)
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2
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Table 1. Continued.
Author Country Type of study Gender Age Sport Locale
Outcome
category Main findings
8 Camiré, Trudel, and
Forneris (2009)
Canada Qualitative
-interview
M&F 13–17 basketball;
volleyball; soccer;
badminton
S P; S Students believed high school sport helped
them develop leadership, time-management,
goal-setting
-self-efficacy; nonspecific life skills
9 Camiré and Trudel
(2010)
Canada Qualitative
-interview
M&F 13–17 basketball;
volleyball; soccer;
badminton
S S Students believe they can learn values through
high school sport but also gamesmanship
tactics
-prosocial behaviour
10 Camiré, Forneris, Trudel,
and Bernard (2011)
Canada Qualitative
-interview
M&F coaches n/a n/a S Presenting 5 strategies for helping coaches
facilitate positive youth development through
sport
-nonspecific social; transfer of social skills to
nonsport setting
11 Camiré, Trudel, and
Forneris (2012)
Canada Qualitative
-interview
M&F 13–18; coaches ns S S Coaches had strategies to foster student
development and students believed they
could transfer their skills
-nonspecific social; transfer of social skills
12 Camiré and Trudel
(2013)
Canada Qualitative
-interview
M;
M
14–16; coaches football S P; S Football can help students learn important life
skills and remain engaged academically
-nonspecific psychosocial; nonspecific social
behaviour
13 Camiré, Trudel, and
Bernard (2013)
Canada Qualitative
-interview
M 13–17; coach;
administrators
hockey CR S Case study demonstrating how sport can be
deliberately used to foster youth development
-nonspecific social; transfer of social skills
14 Carreres-Ponsoda,
Escarti, Cortell-Tormo,
Fuster-Lloret, and
Andreu-Cabrera (2012)
Spain Quantitative
-survey;
longitudinal
M&F 12–19 any CR P; S Youth in out-of-school sport have higher levels
of self-efficacy, prosocial behavior and
responsibility respect
15 Collins and Barber (2005) United
States
Quantitative
-survey
F 13–19 Field Hockey; elite CR MH Parental expectations can influence students’
confidence and level of anxiety
-anxiety due to competition
16 Coalter (2010) United
Kingdom
Position Paper n/a n/a n/a n/a S Explore how sport-for-development
organizations can contribute to certain types
of social capital
-social capital
2
3
0
H
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LA
R
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A
L.
17 Conroy and Coatsworth
(2006)
United
States
Position Paper n/a n/a n/a n/a S Effective coach training programs can enhance
youth social development
-nonspecific social
18 Danish et al. (2004) United
States
Position Paper n/a n/a n/a n/a P Sport can play a role in helping youth learn life
lessons but programs must be designed to do
so-nonspecific life skills
19 Durlak, Weissberg, and
Pachan (2010)
United
States
Meta-Analysis M&F 5–18 ns S P; S Compared to controls, participants
demonstrated significant increases in self-
perceptions, bonding to school, positive social
behaviors, school grades, reductions in
problem behaviors, the formation of cliques,
favoritism, and pressure
-self-esteem; self-efficacy; social skills; social
competence; self-control
20 Eccles, Barber, Stone,
and Hunt (2003)
United
States
Quantitative
-survey;
longitudinal
M&F 15–16; 17–18;
21–22; 25–26
ns ns S Participation on school sports teams predicted
better educational outcomes and higher rates
of drinking
-prosocial behaviour
21 Eley and Kirk (2002) United
Kingdom
Quantitative
-survey
M&F 16–19 ns ns S Study demonstrates the advantage of using
sport as a means for encouraging citizenship
among youth
-volunteerism; nonspecific social
22 Eime et al. (2013) n/a Lit Review
-systematic
M&F n/a n/a n/a P; S; MH -self-esteem, self-control; prosocial behaviour;
emotional regulation; depression; anxiety;
suicide ideation and behaviour; resilience
23 Fraser-Thomas et al.
(2005)
Canada Lit Review n/a n/a n/a n/a S Review of how youth sport programs foster
positive development, while decreasing
problem behaviors
-nonspecific social skills
24 Fraser-Thomas and Côté
(2009)
Canada Qualitative
-interview
M&F 14–18 swimming CR S Sport participation can lead to numerous
positive or negative outcomes for youth
-resiliency, social competence
25 Gore, Farrell, and Gordon
(2001)
United
States
Quantitative
-survey
M&F 13–17 ns-t any MH; S Team sports protected against depressed
mood
-mediated by peer and family social support
26 Gould, Chung, Smith,
and White (2006)
United
States
Quantitative
-survey
M&F Coaches ns S P; S Coaches ranked students’ physical,
psychological, and social development as their
main coaching focus.
-self-control; teamwork; citizenship
(Continued)
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Table 1. Continued.
Author Country Type of study Gender Age Sport Locale
Outcome
category Main findings
27 Gould and Carson (2011) United
States
Quantitative
-survey
M&F 13–18 ns S S Coaching behaviors are significant predictors
of developmental experiences
-unspecified social behaviour; perception of
coaching behaviour
28 Gould, Flett, and Lauer
(2012)
United
States
Quantitative
-survey
M&F 11–18 ns CR; S P; S The more coaches create mastery
environments, the more likely positive
developmental gains result
-social exclusion; mastery; social skills; social
capital
29 Gucciardi and Jones
(2012)
Australia Quantitative
-survey
M 10–18 cricket CR P; S; MH Cricketers with high mental toughness
reported more developmental assets and less
negative emotions compared those with
moderate mental toughness
-anxiety; depression; resilience; support; social
competence; social capital
30 Harrison and Narayan
(2003)
United
States
Quantitative
-survey
M&F 13–15 ns S P; S; MH Students involved in sports had, among other
things, a healthier self-image and lower
emotional distress
-self-esteem; emotional distress; risky
behaviours; suicidal thoughts and behaviour
31 Harrist and Witt (2012) United
States
Qualitative
-interview;
observation; FG
F;
M&F
12–16; coaches basketball S S Desired goals were identified in player
improvement, development of life skills and
enjoyment
-nonspecific life skills; self-reflection
32 Holt, Tink, Mandigo, and
Fox (2008)
Canada Qualitative
-ethnography;
interview
M 15–18 soccer S S In a case study of one high school soccer team,
athletes learned respect and initiative
-prosocial behaviour
33 Holt, Tamminen, Tink,
and Black (2009)
Canada Qualitative
-interviews;
retrospective
M&F university ns ns S Social interactions are central to how people
learn life skills, along with parental
reinforcement
-nonspecific social behaviour
34 Holt, Sehn, Spence,
Newton, and Ball (2012)
Canada Qualitative
-interviews;
observation
M&F 10–15; school
staff
ns S S Intramural sports associated with negative
student interactions. PYD outcomes =
empathy, social links
2
3
2
H
.J.C
LA
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A
L.
35 Johnston, Harwood, and
Minniti (2013)
United
Kingdom
Qualitative
-interviews
ns coaches swimming CR P; S Practitioners believe athletes should learn self-
perceptions, behavioral skills, social skills,
approach characteristics, and emotional
competence
-self-esteem; emotional self-regulation;
empathy; resilience; social interaction
36 Jonker, Elferink-Genser,
and Visscher (2011)
Netherlands Quantitative
-survey
M&F 12–16 ns; elite S; CR S Self-regulation may help elite youth athletes to
combine a sport career with education
37 Kavussanu and Spray
(2006)
United
Kingdom
Quantitative
-survey
M 12–17 Soccer CR S Perceived performance climate corresponded
to low levels of moral functioning in football
-moral functioning
38 Kavussanu (2008) United
Kingdom
Lit Review n/a n/a n/a n/a S Morally-relevant sport behaviors are significant
because of their consequences on well-being
-prosocial behaviour; aggression
39 Kay and Bradbury (2009) United
Kingdom
Mixed Methods
-survey;
interview
M&F Youth
volunteers;
adults
ns CR P; S Strong benefits (social capital) from
involvement, increased social connectedness
in a range of contexts
-nonspecific personal development; volunteer
40 Lesyk and Kornspan
(2000)
United
States
Quantitative
-survey
M&F coaches ns ns S Coaches believed having fun, learning life
skills, and being part of a team are benefits of
high school sports.
-nonspecific social skills
41 Ley and Barrio (2010) Spain Position Paper n/a n/a n/a n/a P In psychosocial intervention, sport is powerful
when combined with other movement or
education methods
-nonspecific psychosocial
42 MacDonald, Côté, and
Deakin (2010)
Canada Quantitative
-retrospective
cohort; survey
M&F administrators;
9–17
basketball; dance;
hockey; ringette;
soccer; softball;
volleyball
CR P; S Athletes who played for trained coaches
reported higher rates of personal and social
skills than athletes who played for untrained
coaches
-nonspecific personal skills; nonspecific social
skills
43 MacDonald et al. (2011) Canada Quantitative
-survey
M&F 9–19 ns S; CR S Environments that encourage peer affiliation
and personal achievement results in
development of youth
-nonspecific social skills
44 Marsh and Kleitman
(2003)
United
States
Quantitative
-survey;
longitudinal
M&F 12–14 to 18–20 ns S; CR P Participation in high school sports had positive
effect on many academic outcomes
-self-esteem; mastery;
-outcome – Total Athletic Participation (TAP)
(Continued)
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Table 1. Continued.
Author Country Type of study Gender Age Sport Locale
Outcome
category Main findings
45 McCarthy, Jones, and
Clark-Carter (2008)
United
Kingdom
Quantitative
-survey
M&F 8–15 ns CR; S S Team sport reported greater competency, peer
affiliations, excitement, parental involvement
and enjoyment compared with individual
sport. Task orientation predicted enjoyment
-nonspecific social
46 Merkel (2013) United
States
Lit Review n/a n/a n/a n/a P; S; MH Emphasis on fun, physical fitness,
psychological well-being, and life lessons are
paramount for success
-suicidal ideation; depression; pro-social
behaviour; self-worth
47 Papacharisis, Goudas,
Danish, and Theodorakis
(2005)
Greece Quantitative
-intervention
M&F 10–12 volleyball (F); soccer
(M)
CR P Experimental group had higher self-beliefs,
problem solving, and positive thinking than
the control group
-nonspecific life skills
48 Petitpas, Cornelius, Van
Raalte, and Jones (2005)
United
States
Position Paper n/a n/a n/a n/a P The components of a framework are outlined
and suggestions for research and evaluation
are offered
-nonspecific psychosocial development
49 Rose-Krasnor, Busseri,
Willoughby, and
Chalmers (2006)
Canada Quantitative M&F 10–18 ns S; CR P; S; MH Breadth and intensity were related to
indicators of development. Explained major
variance involvement
-wellbeing (depression, self-esteem, anxiety,
optimism) and social/interpersonal
involvement
50 Rutten et al. (2007) Netherlands Quantitative M&F 12–18 soccer; swimming ns S Coaches maintain relationships with athletes
reduce antisocial behavior, exposure to
sociomoral reasoning in sport promotes pro-
social behavior
51 Steiner, McQuivey,
Pavelski, Pitts, and
Kraemer (2000)
United
States
Quantitative
-survey
M&F 13–18 ns S MH; S Sports participation is associated with mental
and physical benefits but also an increased risk
of injury
nonspecific mental health problems; pro-
social behaviour (deception); general risk
taking (nonspecified)
2
3
4
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52 Strachan, Côté, and
Deakin (2011)
Canada Qualitative
-interviews;
observation
M&F coaches swimming;
gymnastics; diving;
elite
CR S PYD for elite youth athletes needs appropriate
training environment, opportunities for skill
development, and supportive interactions
– nonspecific social skills; values, leadership,
values, responsibility,
53 Taliaferro, Rienzo, and
Donovan (2010)
United
States
Quantitative
-survey
M&F 14–18 ns CR S; MH White students, sport participation related to
multiple positive behaviors. African American,
Hispanic showed few positive behaviors,
negative behaviors
-suicidal ideation and behaviour; pro-social
behaviour
54 Vella, Oades, and Crowe
(2011)
Australia Qualitative
-interview
M&F coaches ns CR S Coaches see themselves as responsible for
facilitating many positive youth development
outcomes
-positive affect, self-control; self-esteem; pro-
social behaviour;
55 Vella, Oades, and Crowe
(2013)
Australia Quantitative
-survey
M&F 11–18 soccer CR S Best predictor of development is a
combination of transformational leadership
and quality relationships
-YES-S questionnaire – nonspecific social skills
56 Voelker, Gould, and
Crawford (2011)
United
States
Qualitative
-interview
M&F 18 ns S S Being a high school captain helps the learning
of responsibility, accountability, and conflict
resolution
-nonspecific social skills
57 Weiss, Stuntz, Bhalla,
Bolter, and Price (2013)
United
States
Qualitative
-FG; interviews
M&F 11–17; coaches;
parents
golf CR; S P; S The First Tee is having a positive impact on
youth development and in the transfer of life
skills
-emotional control; pro-social behaviour
58 Wilkes and Côté (2010) Canada Mixed Methods
-survey;
interviews
F 14–15;
administrators
basketball CR; S S School basketball participants developed
initiative and social norms but also faced
higher stress levels
-emotional self-regulation; pro-social
behaviour;
59 Yang et al. (2010) Finland Quantitative
-survey;
longitudinal;
cohort
M&F 9, 12, 15, 18; 36,
39, 42, 45
ns ns P Sustained involvement in sport (at least 3
years) is associated with reduced chronic job
strain in adulthood
-job strain
Note: Type of sport – specific or general (any-any sport; ns-non specific; t-team); Locale – CR-community/recreational, S-school (any-any locale; ns-non specific); Outcome category: P-Psychological/
Psychosocial; S-Social; MH-Mental Health (note mental health is considered under the umbrella of psychological factors)
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papers (five narrative literature reviews, one systematic analysis, and one meta-analysis),
five position/opinion papers, and 47 primary studies.
Research methodologies
Of the 47 primary research articles, 28 (59.6%) used quantitative designs and 19 (40.4%)
used qualitative methods (interviews, field research). Of the quantitative empirical
papers, only five (8.5%) were longitudinal and 23 were based on cross-sectional survey
methods.
Target population (or sample)
Of the 47 research articles, 33 involved athletes only (ranged from 8 to 24 years), six
involved coaches only, and eight involved both athletes and coaches. When examining
empirical papers, systematic reviews and meta-analyses papers, most (n = 38; 79.2%)
included both sexes; eight papers (16.6%) dealt exclusively with male youth and only
two papers (4.2%) focused on sport participation in females.
Across all articles, contributions came from several different countries: the United
Kingdom (n = 9); the United States (n = 23); Canada (n = 17); and other (e.g., Australia;
Greece; n = 9).
Included sports
When looking specifically at sport type, the empirical papers covered a wide range of team
and individual competition sports (e.g., basketball, football, cricket, swimming, gymnas-
tics). Very few papers (n = 3) examined participation across a broad range of sports.
Outcomes
With regard to outcomes, across all papers reviewed (empirical, position papers and litera-
ture and systematic reviews), 22 (37.3%) included both psychological and social outcomes,
28 (47.5%) focused on social outcomes only, and nine (15.3%) had only psychological
outcomes.
Psychological outcomes – Positive self-concept (self-esteem; self-worth; mastery;
sense of personal control)
Studies included in our review showed consistent relationships between sport partici-
pation and both self-esteem (Babiss & Gangwisch, 2009; Barber et al., 2001; Carreres-
Ponsoda et al., 2012; Harrison & Narayan, 2003; Marsh & Kleitman, 2003; Papacharisis
et al., 2005) and sense of personal control or mastery (Durlak et al., 2010; Gould et al.,
2012; Marsh & Kleitman, 2003). All of these studies used survey-based designs to
examine the association between sport participation and self-esteem, mastery, or sense
of personal control. Evidence for these associations also comes from narrative literature
reviews (Bailey, 2006; Bailey et al., 2009; Merkel, 2013), a systematic review (Eime et al.,
2013), and one meta-analysis (Durlak et al., 2010).
Our review also found several, mostly qualitative studies indicating that coaches and
other adult leaders in sport (e.g., physical education teachers) believe that part of their
role is to promote the development of self-esteem and positive self-development in ath-
letes (Johnston et al., 2013; Vella et al., 2011).
236 H. J. CLARK ET AL.
Psychological outcomes – Life skills
We found evidence in the review from a number of studies that participation in specific
sports (e.g., football, hockey), and in specific contexts (e.g., high school sport), was posi-
tively associated with life skills. Most of the studies in this area were qualitative (Camiré
et al., 2009, 2012, 2013; Harrist & Witt, 2012; Holt et al., 2009; Strachan et al., 2011; Vella
et al., 2011; Weiss et al., 2013), with only a small number of survey-based studies contribut-
ing to this area (Bruner et al., 2011; MacDonald et al., 2010; MacDonald et al., 2011; Papa-
charisis et al., 2005). Moreover, most studies defined life skills (e.g., Camiré et al., 2009;
Harrist & Witt, 2012) and social skills (e.g., Bruner et al., 2011; MacDonald et al., 2011) as
a broad concept, rather than focusing on specific life skills such as time management or
leadership.
As with the studies that focused on positive self-concept, there is both qualitative
(Camiré et al., 2011, 2012) and quantitative (Lesyk & Kornspan, 2000) evidence demonstrat-
ing how coaches see themselves as responsible for the development of life skills in ath-
letes under their guidance. Moreover, qualitative studies showed how youth athletes
themselves believe that sport can teach them important life skills that can be applied
to non-sport-related pursuits (e.g., Camiré et al., 2009). However, we also found evidence,
albeit limited, of the potentially negative impact of coaching philosophy (win at all costs)
on young athletes (Buford-May, 2001).
Psychological outcomes – Self-regulation and self-control
Several papers, including a meta-analysis (Durlak et al., 2010) and a systematic review
(Eime et al., 2013), supported a positive association between sport participation and
general self-control (Durlak et al., 2010; Gould et al., 2006), and emotional regulation
specifically (Bruner et al., 2011; Johnston et al., 2013). One quantitative survey-based
study (Gould et al., 2006) and a qualitative study (Vella et al., 2011) reported that
coaches believed it is their responsibility to teach self-control to young athletes.
Other psychological outcomes
Although the majority of studies focused on self-concept, life skills, and to a lesser extent
self-regulation and control, a number of other psychological outcomes were identified in
this review. Several large survey-based studies reported a relationship between sport par-
ticipation and self-esteem, mastery, and sense of personal control, but also positive mental
health outcomes such as reduced depression and suicidal ideation in both cross-sectional
studies (Babiss & Gangwisch, 2009; Harrison & Narayan, 2003) and a longitudinal study
(Barber et al., 2001).
Our review also found quantitative papers demonstrating a link between sport partici-
pation and feelings of general optimism (Rose-Krasnor et al., 2006) and mental toughness
(Gucciardi & Jones, 2012). Both qualitative (Fraser-Thomas & Côté, 2009; Johnston et al.,
2013) and quantitative (Eime et al., 2013; Yang et al., 2010) papers showed associations
between sport participation and greater resilience towards life stresses and challenges.
In relation to resilience, for example, a longitudinal study conducted in Finland found
that sustained participation (a minimum of three years) in sport during late childhood
INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF SPORT AND EXERCISE PSYCHOLOGY 237
and early adolescence was associated with reduced chronic job strain years later in adult-
hood (Yang et al., 2010).
Although most studies reported positive effects, some research reported negative
psychological effects. For example, Steiner et al., (2000) surveyed 1769 high school stu-
dents and found that while sport participation was associated with positive mental and
physical health benefits, youth athletes also reported increased risk of injury associated
with sport, higher levels of anxiety, and increased general risk taking. Another quantitative
study conducted with 416 field hockey players reported that heightened parental expec-
tations related to sport outcomes increased feelings of anxiety in youth athletes, and nega-
tively affect perceptions of competence (Collins & Barber, 2005).
Social outcomes – Pro-social behaviours
The potential for sport participation to promote positive social behaviours, including pro-
social behaviour, empathy, social (community) connectedness, social capital, positive
peer relationships, and positive ethical and moral behaviour, is commonly discussed in
the sport for youth development literature (Coalter, 2010). Not surprisingly, given this
interest, the majority of studies we identified focused on many of these specific aspects
of positive social behaviour. For example, many of the studies (both qualitative and quan-
titative) and reviews included in the current review found that sport was associated with
pro-social behaviours (e.g., teamwork, perseverance, loyalty; Barber et al., 2001; Camiré &
Trudel, 2010; Carreres-Ponsoda et al., 2012; Eccles et al., 2003; Eley & Kirk, 2002; Holt
et al., 2008; Kavussanu, 2008; Merkel, 2013; Taliaferro et al., 2010; Weiss et al., 2013;
Wilkes & Côté, 2010). Qualitative studies have also shown a specific positive relationship
between sport participation and empathy towards others (Holt et al., 2009; Johnston
et al., 2013), while a quantitative study showed increases in positive peer relationships
and teamwork (Bruner et al., 2011). There was also one study (quantitative, survey based)
that reported increased volunteerism and citizenship behaviours in youth athletes relative
to peers (Eley & Kirk, 2002). As with the other outcomes included in this review, quantitative
survey-based papers that included both coaches and youth (Gould et al., 2006; Rutten et al.,
2007) and a qualitative interview with coaches (Vella et al., 2011) noted the important role
that coaches play in the development of pro-social behaviours, especially in relation to
citizenship.
Psychological and social outcomes
In general, we found evidence across different methods (i.e., qualitative studies, quantitative
studies, literature reviews, and meta-analyses) supporting the general proposition that
sport participation is associated with a variety of positive psychological and social out-
comes relevant to youth alcohol and drug use. The most consistent finding in our
review concerned evidence of a positive impact of sport on self-concept and sense of
personal control or mastery. This was supported by several papers (Babiss & Gangwisch,
2009; Carreres-Ponsoda et al., 2012; Harrison & Narayan, 2003) and by a recent systematic
review of the literature (Eime et al., 2013).
238 H. J. CLARK ET AL.
While it is plausible that sport participation (particularly quality sport experience) is
associated with positive self-concept and increased sense of personal control, it is
unclear from the studies included in our review whether sport has a truly causal
impact on self-concept and agency. These results could arise from a selection effect,
whereby children and youth with already well-developed perceptions of self-worth and
personal agency are simply more likely to participate in organized sport. Alternatively, it
could be that both are simply concomitant outcomes of other, antecedent factors
further upstream such as socio-economic position and familial functioning that might
impact positive self-concept, self-control, and sport participation. Moreover, it may be
the case that these are not competing explanations but in fact represent mutually reinfor-
cing (or reciprocal) processes over time. For example, it may be the case that children
with higher levels of self-esteem and mastery may gravitate towards organized activities
such as sport, and their participation in sport serves to further promote these positive
self-perceptions.
Importantly, several studies also found that coaches believe part of their role is to foster
the development of positive self-concept and self-control in their athletes (Camiré et al.,
2012; Gould et al., 2012; Johnston et al., 2013). However, not all coaches engage in behav-
iour that enhances youth development. We found evidence that a win-at-all-costs coach-
ing philosophy can have a negative impact on athletes (e.g., Buford-May, 2001). We also
found some evidence that racial discrimination (e.g., Taliaferro et al., 2010) and negative
parental involvement can be sources of distress for young athletes (Collins & Barber,
2005). All of these experiences could negatively impact self-concept.
Critical appraisal of the literature
While this review has provided some support connecting sport participation to psycho-
logical and social factors, we must contextualize our findings here in the broader set of
concerns that scholars have raised regarding the impact of sport on youth development
(e.g., Coalter, 2013). In doing so, a number of criticisms are evident.
First, there may be a positive finding bias in this research area. Only a handful of studies
in the review specifically documented negative experiences and outcomes, such as
increased exposure to racism (Buford-May, 2001), negative peer interactions (Holt et al.,
2012), the potential negative impact of parental over-involvement in sport (Collins &
Barber, 2005), increased engagement in risk-taking activities (Steiner et al., 2000), and
increased drinking (Barber et al., 2001; Eccles et al., 2003). As a reviewer, one has the
sense that many authors begin with the premise that sport is good for youth development,
and do not seek to find disconfirming evidence. As Coakley (2011) has noted, the field has
no shortage of sport evangelists who seem to be more interested in demonstrating that
sport is beneficial, rather than engaging in critical, empirical analysis. Therefore, a closer
empirical examination of the potential negative outcomes that can emerge from sport par-
ticipation is warranted in order to gain a more complete picture of the impact of sport par-
ticipation on youth.
Second, much of the literature reviewed in this article does not explore how character-
istics of both the youth and the sport experience might impact psychological and social
outcomes. Only a few studies specifically explored the impact of race and its moderating
impact on sport participation and psychosocial outcomes (Buford-May, 2001; Taliaferro
INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF SPORT AND EXERCISE PSYCHOLOGY 239
et al., 2010). For example, one US survey study found that the positive impact of sport on
pro-social behaviours varied across race, with African American and Hispanic American
youth reporting more negative behaviours than Caucasian youth (Taliaferro et al., 2010).
It is likely that characteristics of youth such as race, gender, and socioeconomic status
will impact both the likelihood of sport participation and the experience of sport. Similarly,
the characteristics that coaches bring to the sport (e.g., formal coach training, years of
coaching experience) also shape the experience in relation to positive youth development.
One example from this research was the negative impact of a win-at-all-costs coaching
philosophy (e.g., Buford-May, 2001). While many papers included in the review noted
the important role that coaches play in shaping the overall sport experience (e.g.,
Camiré et al., 2011; Gould et al., 2012; Lesyk & Kornspan, 2000; MacDonald et al., 2010;
Rutten et al., 2007), less research examined the characteristics of coaches that shape
youths’ experience in sport.
The heterogeneity of sport was also evidenced throughout our review, which included
a diverse array of sport experiences, including contact (e.g., Camiré & Trudel, 2013; Camiré
et al., 2013) and non-contact sports (e.g., Papacharisis et al., 2005), team sports (e.g., Bruner
et al., 2011; Harrist & Witt, 2012), and more individual sports such as swimming or track and
field (e.g., Johnston et al., 2013; Fraser-Thomas & Côté, 2009). Despite recognition in the
literature regarding the importance of the structural elements of sport that influence
the quality of the sport experience and positive youth development (Balyi et al., 2013;
Coalter, 2013), most studies in our review lack sufficient detail or specific measures to
gauge how this variability shapes individual and social development. For example,
several survey-based studies simply examined the correlation between participation
(yes/no), the number of sport activities the participant engaged in, or both in relation to
outcomes such as self-esteem or pro-social behaviour (Carreres-Ponsoda et al., 2012;
Eccles et al., 2003; Eley & Kirk, 2002; Gore et al., 2001; Gould et al., 2006; Gucciardi &
Jones, 2012; Harrison & Narayan, 2003; Jonker et al., 2011; McCarthy et al., 2008; Steiner
et al., 2000). Only one survey actually examined specific, sport-related components – trans-
formational leadership and quality relationships – and their association with positive social
skill development (Vella et al., 2011). In terms of quantitative research at least, the absence
of any direct measure that assesses the quality of youths’ sport experience is a significant
gap providing an important target for future research. This gap is perhaps not surprising,
given the lack of any clear definition or theory for the construct. As we noted in the intro-
duction, while quality sport experience refers to the structure of sport programmes, ones
that target both age-appropriate skill development and personal and social development,
this definition lacks the specificity required for developing specific measures. There are of
course several scales that measure aspects of the sport experience, including coaching
behaviour (Côté, Yardley, Hay, Sedwick, & Baker, 1999; Smith, Cumming, & Smoll, 2008)
and social climate (Newton et al., 2007). Yet we have been unable to find a single
measure that captures the multi-dimensional nature of the sport experience. Moreover,
there are aspects related to quality experience that are not captured in existing measures.
For example, few existing measures assess parental behaviours (e.g., aggression, yelling).
Several qualitative studies, however, were clearly focused on understanding from the par-
ticipants’ perspectives, the experience of sport, and how it can be used to enhance youth
development (Camiré et al., 2009; Camiré & Trudel, 2010; Fraser-Thomas, & Côté, 2009; Holt
et al., 2008, 2009, 2012).
240 H. J. CLARK ET AL.
Several studies in our review show a positive association between sport participation
and general life and social skill development (e.g., Bruner et al., 2011; Harrist & Witt,
2012). Additionally, many coaches (Camiré et al., 2012; Gould et al., 2006) and young ath-
letes (e.g., Camiré et al., 2009) perceived these to be important outcomes that can be
derived from sport participation. However, there are several concerns regarding the litera-
ture in this area. First, most of the studies were small qualitative studies in specific settings.
It is not clear whether the results from these studies can generalize to larger sport partici-
pation given that different sports have distinct subcultures and promote different types of
motivational and developmental climates. Secondly, there is a lack of specificity about
what is actually included under the broad terms of life skills and social skills. Most of
the studies we reviewed are best characterized as reporting on ‘non-specific’ life and
social skills. As such, it is difficult to know exactly what specific skills are being developed
in relation to sport. In other words, whether skills acquired and developed in relation to
sport (e.g., time management) directly influence other domains (e.g., school work) can
at best only be inferred from this body of work; the linkages are not made directly. We
recognize, however, that it is difficult to pinpoint with precision when a skill learned in
a sport context (e.g., time management) has generalized to other areas of life. Weiss
et al.’s (2013) study of a golf-based sport programme, The First Tee, is one notable excep-
tion where the authors tested whether skills such as emotional control and pro-social
behaviour transferred to other domains of life (e.g., school). Overall, however, it is not poss-
ible to conclude from these studies that sport participation is a causal factor in the devel-
opment of life and social skills.
Finally, it is also largely unknown whether the potential positive benefits of sport par-
ticipation can last into adulthood. We could locate only one study that explored the long-
term health impact of youth sport participation (Yang et al., 2010). Further work will need
to explore whether sport participation earlier in life leads to enhanced well-being across
the life course, presumably through the positive impact it can have on social and psycho-
logical development, or whether the impact is more proximal to the early developmental
period.
Psychological and social factors connecting sport and alcohol and drug use
One of the goals of the review was to address the knowledge gap regarding psychological
and social pathways that connect sport participation to alcohol and drug use among
youth. Results from this review reported that sport was related to increased self-control
and self-regulation (Bruner et al., 2011; Durlak et al., 2010; Gould et al., 2006; Johnston
et al., 2013), factors that other research has found to be robust predictors of reduced
alcohol and drug use, including heavy alcohol use (Brody & Ge, 2001; Koning, Van den,
& Vollebergh, 2014; Quinn & Fromme, 2010). In addition, quantitative studies within the
review found that sport was related to increased self-esteem and mastery along with
other indicators of well-being such as decreased depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation
(Babiss & Gangwisch, 2009; Barber et al., 2001; Harrison & Narayan, 2003). These results
suggest that self-regulation, self-esteem, and mastery may mediate the relationship
between sport participation and positive well-being. Moreover, as depression, anxiety,
and alcohol and drug use tend to cluster together (Bukstein, Brent, & Kaminer, 1989; Cost-
ello, Erkanli, Federman, & Angold, 1999; Wade, 2001), these factors might be particularly
INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF SPORT AND EXERCISE PSYCHOLOGY 241
relevant for understanding the links between sport participation and alcohol and drug use.
Therefore, one potential pathway connecting sport to alcohol and drug use is a protective
path where sport enhances psychological and social outcomes, and this association in turn
impacts positive psychological well-being and decreased alcohol and drug use.
However, Barber and colleagues (2001) and Eccles and colleagues (2003) reported that
sport was associated with increased drinking alongside positive psychological and social
outcomes including pro-social behaviour, increased self-esteem, and reduced depression
in a sample of Michigan youth. This pattern of results is unexpected considering the links
between alcohol use and negative developmental outcomes (Bonomo et al., 2004; Cham-
pion et al., 2004; Kodjo, Auinge, & Ryan, 2004; Leichliter et al., 1998; Thompson et al., 2012).
The limited research on sport and alcohol use substantially impedes our understanding of
this relationship. For example, it is not known whether increased alcohol use alongside
positive psychological and social factors would be found across age groups (e.g., early ado-
lescence) or whether these results can be sustained over time. Despite these limitations,
the increased use of alcohol alongside positive psychological and social factors highlights
the complexity of the relationship and suggests that additional mechanisms (e.g., cultural
context) should be explored to fully understand the relationship.
Researchers have speculated that the drinking culture observed in many sports, charac-
terized by heavy drinking and the advertising of alcohol around sporting events, might
result in normative perceptions of alcohol use among young athletes and contribute to
increased alcohol use (Holt & Jones, 2008; Martens, Dams-O’Connor, & Beck, 2006). We
did not find any research assessing alcohol norms in the review, although one study
found that youth who participated in sport were more likely to have peers who used
alcohol (Eccles et al., 2003). Both normative beliefs regarding alcohol use and peer
alcohol use are significant predictors of youth alcohol use (Fallu et al., 2010; Shamblen,
Ringwalt, Clark, & Hanley, 2014; Voogt, Larsen, Poelen, Kleinjan, & Engels, 2013). Therefore,
even if the sport experience is positive in terms of psychological and social factors, norma-
tive beliefs and peer alcohol use could result in increased alcohol use. Again, however, it is
unclear whether alcohol use will co-occur with positive developmental outcomes, and if
so, whether the relationship can be sustained over time as alcohol use is likely to have reci-
procal effects on the sport experience.
It is probable that the connections between sport and alcohol and drug use among
youth involve multiple pathways including others not identified in the review. Further-
more, the exact pathways and mechanisms will likely vary depending on the character-
istics of youth who participate in sports, the quality of the sport experience, and the
type of substance used. For example, a negative sport experience including parental
over-involvement or over-emphasis on winning by the coach may result in negative
affect and distress that can increase the risk of alcohol and drug use. Alternately, a
sport experience that is otherwise positive (e.g., positive relationships with the coach
and teammates) within a context where alcohol use is perceived as normative can also
pose a risk of increased alcohol use. If sport has a positive impact on psychological and
social mechanisms related to alcohol and drug use generally, while at the same time pre-
senting risks specific to alcohol use, this might help explain why sport is related to reduced
illicit drug use and increased alcohol use (Kwan et al., 2014; Lisha & Sussman, 2010). Future
research is needed to test each of these potential pathways.
242 H. J. CLARK ET AL.
Directions for future research
Following from this review, it is clear that future studies will need to move beyond obser-
vational and cross-sectional analyses, be it qualitative or quantitative, to the design of
interventions and longitudinal studies to test the hypothesis that structured, quality
sport experiences can lead to positive social and psychological outcomes. These studies
will need to be rigorous in their design (e.g., randomization) and employ reliable and
valid measures to negate the alternative explanations of selection and spuriousness.
Furthermore, there is a need for further investigation of the assets and challenges that
young athletes and their families bring to the sport experience. A comprehensive set of
both positive and negative outcomes associated with sport participation must also be con-
sidered, for only then will we be able to conclude whether the positive impacts of sport
participation outweigh the negative ones. In addition, this research can help identify
areas to target in order to improve the quality of the sport experience. For example, if
sport has a positive impact on constructs such as self-concept and self-regulation, yet is
also associated with increased alcohol use, there may be areas to address within the
sport structure or culture to enhance the benefits of sport and reduce the risks.
Finally, while this scoping review generally supports (with noted limitations considered)
a positive link between sport participation and positive self-concept, self-control, and pro-
social outcomes like teamwork and loyalty, it remains to be seen whether these factors
actually mediate the association between sport participation and alcohol and drug use.
More focused work testing these pathways is required. Indeed, the inter-relationships
among these factors are likely to be complex.
The goal of the scoping review was to assess whether sport participation is related to
psychological and social factors relevant to youth alcohol and drug use. A related goal
was to assess whether this relationship varied based on the quality of youths’ sport experi-
ence. Results indicated that sport participation is related to self-esteem, self-regulation, life
skills, and pro-social behaviour. The heterogeneity across studies suggests a convergence
in results supporting the general hypothesis that sport is associated with positive psycho-
logical and social development. At the same time, we think caution is warranted in
drawing conclusions from the body of literature, as it is difficult to make definitive state-
ments about replication of results across time, context, and outcome. Furthermore, only a
few studies appear to consider possible negative social and psychological outcomes
associated with sport, suggesting a potential positive reporting bias. Although there
was an indication in the literature that the sport context influenced youth outcomes, no
research provided a clear definition of a quality sport experience.
The psychological and social factors identified in this review might mediate the
relationship between sport participation and alcohol and drug use among youth. Yet
these factors also appear to be insufficient to fully understand the likely multiple connec-
tions between sport participation and alcohol and drug use. Future research examining
the impact of the sport context on youth developmental outcomes, including alcohol
use, other drug use, and psychological and social factors, is needed. The connections
INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF SPORT AND EXERCISE PSYCHOLOGY 243
among these factors in specific relation to alcohol and other drug use remain a critical
focus for future research.
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
This work was supported by the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse.
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- Abstract
Introduction
Psychological and social factors
The sport context
Current study
Methods
Search procedures and criteria
Results
General study characteristics
Research methodologies
Target population (or sample)
Included sports
Outcomes
Psychological outcomes – Positive self-concept (self-esteem; self-worth; mastery; sense of personal control)
Psychological outcomes – Life skills
Psychological outcomes – Self-regulation and self-control
Other psychological outcomes
Social outcomes – Pro-social behaviours
Discussion
Psychological and social outcomes
Critical appraisal of the literature
Psychological and social factors connecting sport and alcohol and drug use
Directions for future research
Conclusions
Disclosure statement
Funding
References
Sport Participation and Self Esteem
Sport Participation and Self Esteem
I. Introduction
A. Topic: Relation between sports participation and self-esteem level in adolescence
B. Issue: Sedentary lifestyle damages the self-esteem of teenagers.
C. Thesis: Sports participation improves the self-perception and well-being of adolescents, developing their levels of self-esteem.
II. Effect of sports training on the well-being of adolescents.
A. Impact of physical activity on self-perception
B. Physiological effects and self-esteem
C. Psychological and social factors and self-esteem
III. Psychological effects of sport on the level of self-esteem.
A. Positive self-concept
B. Social perception and sport
C. Sport enjoyment and self-esteem
D. Relationship between weight and sport
IV. Effect of sport as a protective factor during adolescence.
A. Sport and happiness
B. Healthy behaviors
C. Sport and peer acceptance
V. Adolescence and sports participation.
A. Sport and gender
a. Male
b. Female
B. Influence of sports participation and identity
VI. Conclusion: Adolescence is one of the most sensitive stages in human development because identity and self-esteem are consolidated. Sports participation has a positive relationship with self-esteem because it strengthens individual and social self-perception, improving self-esteem levels.