Sports participation and juvenile delinquency: The role of the peer context among adolescent boys and girls with varied histories of problem behavior.

Abstract

In a study of 1,344 urban adolescents, the authors examined the relation between participation in organized sports and juvenile delinquency. They compared youth who participated in sports to those who only participated in nonathletic activities and to those who did not participate in any organized activities. They also examined the indirect relations between sports and delinquency via 2 peer-related constructs-deviant peer affiliations and unstructured socializing. Finally, they examined the extent to which gender and prior externalizing problems moderated the direct and indirect relations between sports participation and delinquency. The authors found that the odds of nonviolent delinquency were higher among boys who participated in sports when compared to boys who participated only in nonathletic activities but not when compared to boys who did not participate in any organized activities. Deviant peer affiliations and unstructured socializing mediated the relation between sports participation and boys' nonviolent delinquency. Moreover, prior externalizing problems moderated the mediated path through peer deviance. The authors did not, however, find direct, mediated, or moderated relations between sports and boys' violent delinquency nor between sports and girls' violent or nonviolent delinquency.

Evaluating youth development programs: Progress and promise

“…In another study of sports participation, the researchers found that the conclusions about the riskiness of participation in sports differed by referent group. That is, the odds of nonviolent delinquency were higher among boys who participated in sports compared to boys who participated only in nonathletic activities, but not when compared to boys who did not participate in any organized activity (Gardner, Roth, & Brooks-Gunn, 2009). …”

Participation in Organized Activities and Conduct Problems in Elementary School

“…However, studies PARTICIPATION, SOCIAL SKILLS, AND CONDUCT PROBLEMS 22 in adolescence suggest that friends' characteristics, such as their level of prosociality or deviancy, are likely to mediate the association between activity participation and adolescent adjustment (Fredricks & Eccles, 2005;Gardner, Roth, & Brooks-Gunn, 2009;Simpkins, Eccles, & Becnel, 2008). At a more micro-level, one of the underlying processes might involve the quality of friends' social skills.…”

Extra-curricular Activities in Spain: Sports-related Activities and their Personal and Academical Implications

“…As it has been previously pointed out, sports-related activities overwhelm and have also been more studied. A higher degree of well-being in students that practice sports has been observed by Dimech and Seiler (2011), alongside with some interesting benefits, like preventing delinquence (Gardner, Roth & Brooks-Gunn, 2011), having higher school marks (Cladellas et al, 2013;Cladellas et al, 2015) or having more opportunities for social interaction (Schafaer, Simpkins, Svest & Price, 2011), citing just some recent contributions.…”