A Structural Model of Middle School Power Sports, Sense of School Membership and Student Delinquency

• In Event: 435 - Section on Sociology of Education Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 10. School Context: Composition, Disruptions and Discipline

Abstract

This study examined the effects of middle school power sports on student delinquency, through the mediating factor of student sense of belongingness. Quantitative data were collected from 696 seventh and eighth grade students in one high socioeconomic (SES) suburban middle school and one diverse suburban middle school on Long Island, New York, using a modified version of the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), the PSSM scale (Goodenow, 1993), and author-developed items seeking information on student sports activities.. Structural Equation Modeling determined that participation in a power sport had a significant, moderate effect on increasing delinquent behavior, while student belongingness had a significant, moderate effect on reducing delinquency. Power sport participation had a small, but significant indirect negative effect on delinquency (it suppressed delinquency) through the mediating variable belongingness.

Authors

• Stephen Caldas, Manhattanville College

• Stephanie V Caldas, Johns Hopkins University

• Kevin Kurrus, North Shore High School