School and Community Sports Participation and Positive Youth Development: A Multilevel Analysis

• In Event: Youth Development Through Sport in a K–12 Context

Abstract

The Positive Youth Development (PYD) framework highlights the strengths and competencies of youth and the supportive factors in surrounding environments that foster positive outcomes. For many youth across the USA, participation in sports provides a context for these strengths and competencies to develop, however, not all contexts are created equal. A multilevel framework was employed to look at differences between school-organized sports and community/intramural sports. Results indicate that participation rates are higher for school-organized sports as well as associations with developmental skills, supports, and self-reported grades.

Authors

• Kyle Nickodem, University of Minnesota

• Martin Van Boekel, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

• Youngsoon Kang, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

• Rik Lamm, University of Minnesota

• Michael C. Rodriguez, University of Minnesota