TY - JOUR
T1 - The link between children's sport participation and self-esteem
T2 - Exploring the mediating role of sport self-concept
AU - Slutzky, Carly B.
AU - Simpkins, Sandra D.
N1 - Funding Information:
The CAB study was supported by Grant HD17553 from the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development to Jacquelynne Eccles, Allan Wigfield, Phyllis Blumenfeld, and Rena Harold. We would like to thank the principals, teachers, students, and parents of the cooperating school districts for their participation in this project. We would also like to thank the following people for their work on the CAB project: Amy Arbreton, Phyllis Blumenfeld, Carol Freedman-Doan, Rena Harold, Janis Jacobs, Toby Jayaratne, Mina Vida, Allan Wigfield, and Kwang Suk Yoon.
Copyright:
Copyright 2009 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2009/5
Y1 - 2009/5
N2 - Background and Purpose: Sport participation is positively associated with indices of adjustment, such as self-esteem, among adolescent participants. Less is known about the processes through which younger children benefit from their sport participation. The purpose of this investigation was to test whether children's sport self-concept mediated the longitudinal associations between time spent in individual- and team-oriented organized sport activities and later self-esteem. Methods: We used four waves of data from the Childhood and Beyond Study collected from three cohorts of elementary school-aged children (N = 987), their parents, and their teachers. Results: Findings indicated that children who spent more time in team sports, but not time in individual sports, reported higher sport self-concept, which, in turn, was associated with higher self-esteem than their peers. Multi-group analyses suggested that these relations did not vary across gender, sport ability, sport importance beliefs, or peer acceptance. Conclusions: Study results suggested that the relations between time spent in sports and children's sport self-concept depends, in part, on whether the time was spent in team or individual sports. This investigation highlighted the value of examining mediating processes so as to better explicate the association between time in sports and self-esteem.
AB - Background and Purpose: Sport participation is positively associated with indices of adjustment, such as self-esteem, among adolescent participants. Less is known about the processes through which younger children benefit from their sport participation. The purpose of this investigation was to test whether children's sport self-concept mediated the longitudinal associations between time spent in individual- and team-oriented organized sport activities and later self-esteem. Methods: We used four waves of data from the Childhood and Beyond Study collected from three cohorts of elementary school-aged children (N = 987), their parents, and their teachers. Results: Findings indicated that children who spent more time in team sports, but not time in individual sports, reported higher sport self-concept, which, in turn, was associated with higher self-esteem than their peers. Multi-group analyses suggested that these relations did not vary across gender, sport ability, sport importance beliefs, or peer acceptance. Conclusions: Study results suggested that the relations between time spent in sports and children's sport self-concept depends, in part, on whether the time was spent in team or individual sports. This investigation highlighted the value of examining mediating processes so as to better explicate the association between time in sports and self-esteem.
KW - Elementary school-aged children
KW - Self-esteem
KW - Sport participation
KW - Sport self-concept
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=68649083979&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=68649083979&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.psychsport.2008.09.006
DO - 10.1016/j.psychsport.2008.09.006
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:68649083979
SN - 1469-0292
VL - 10
SP - 381
EP - 389
JO - Psychology of Sport and Exercise
JF - Psychology of Sport and Exercise
IS - 3
ER -