Examining Adolescent Sport Dropout and Prolonged Engagement from a Developmental Perspective

This study examined youth sport dropout and prolonged engagement from a developmental perspective focusing on physical and psychosocial factors. Twenty-five dropout and 25 engaged adolescent swimmers, matched on key demographic variables, participated in a retrospective interview. Results indicated that dropouts were involved in fewer extra-curricular activities, less unstructured swimming play, and received less one-on-one coaching throughout development. Dropouts reached several developmental milestones (i.e., started training camps, started dry land training, and were top in club) earlier than engaged athletes. Dropouts were more likely to have had parents who were high-level athletes in their youth, were more likely to be the youngest in their training group, and were less likely to have a best friend at swimming. Findings are discussed in relation to past research; future directions and implications for researchers, sport programmers, coaches, and parents are suggested.

Youth Sport Programs: An Avenue to Foster Positive Youth Development

Concern about the growth in adolescent problem behaviours (e.g. delinquency, drug use) has led to increased interest in positive youth development, and a surge in funding for ‘after school programs.’ We evaluate the potential of youth sport programs to foster positive development, while decreasing the risk of problem behaviours. Literature on the positive and negative outcomes of youth sport is presented. We propose that youth sport programs actively work to assure positive outcomes through developmentally appropriate designs and supportive child–adult (parent/coach) relationships. We also highlight the importance of sport programs built on developmental assets (Benson, 1997 ) and appropriate setting features (National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, 2002 ) in bringing about the five ‘C’s of positive development (competence, confidence, character, connections, and compassion/caring: Lerner et al., 2000 ). An applied sport-programming model, which highlights the important roles of policy-makers, sport organizations, coaches and parents in fostering positive youth development is presented as a starting point for further applied and theoretical research.

Understanding Dropout and Prolonged Engagement in Adolescent Competitive Sport

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to gain understanding of training patterns and roles of significant others (i.e. coaches, parents, peers, and siblings) in adolescent swimmers’ sport participation patterns. Design: The developmental model of sport participation [Côté, J., Baker, J., & Abernethy, B. (2003). From play to practice: A developmental framework for the acquisition of expertise in team sport. In J. Starkes, & K. A. Ericsson (Eds.), Recent advances in research on sport expertise (pp. 89–114). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics; Côté, J., & Fraser-Thomas, J. (2007). Youth involvement in sport. In P. R. E. Crocker (Ed.), Introduction to sport psychology: A Canadian perspective (pp. 266–294). Toronto: Pearson Prentice Hall] was used as a framework. Method: Ten dropout and 10 engaged swimmers, matched on key demographic variables participated in a semi-structured qualitative interview. Results: Groups had many similar experiences (e.g. early training, supportive and unsupportive coaches, involved parents). However, only dropouts spoke of early peak performances, limited one-on-one coaching, pressuring parents during adolescence, lack of swimming peers during adolescence, and sibling rivalries. In contrast, only engaged athletes spoke of clubs’ developmental philosophies, coaches’ and parents’ open communication, school friends’ support, and siblings’ general positive influences. Conclusions: Findings highlight the importance of appropriately structured programs and the fragility of athletes’ relationships with significant others during the adolescent years. Implications for sport programmers, coaches, and parents are discussed.

Developmental Activities That Lead to Dropout and Investment in Sport

Background: Studies suggest that expert performance in sport is the result of long-term engagement in a highly specialized form of training termed deliberate practice. The relationship between accumulated deliberate practice and performance predicts that those who begin deliberate practice at a young age accumulate more practice hours over time and would, therefore, have a significant performance advantage. However, qualitative studies have shown that a large amount of sport-specific practice at a young age may lead to negative consequences, such as dropout, and is not necessarily the only path to expert performance in sport. Studies have yet to investigate the activity context, such as the amount of early sport participation, deliberate play and deliberate practice within which dropout occurs. Purpose: To determine whether the nature and amount of childhood-organized sport, deliberate play and deliberate practice participation influence athletes' subsequent decisions to drop out or invest in organized sport. It was hypothesized that young athletes who drop out will have sampled fewer sports, spent less time in deliberate play activities and spent more time in deliberate practice activities during childhood sport involvement. Participants: The parents of eight current, high-level, male, minor ice hockey players formed an active group. The parents of four high-level, male, minor ice hockey players who had recently withdrawn from competitive hockey formed a dropout group. Data collection: Parents completed a structured retrospective survey designed to assess their sons' involvement in organized sport, deliberate play and deliberate practice activities from ages 6 to 13. Data analysis: A complete data-set was available for ages 6 through 13, resulting in a longitudinal data-set spanning eight years. This eight-year range was divided into three levels of development corresponding to the players' progress through the youth ice hockey system. Level one encompassed ages 6–9, level two included ages 10–11 and level three covered ages 12–13. Descriptive statistics were used to report the ages at which the active and dropout players first engaged in select hockey activities. ANOVA with repeated measures across the three levels of development was used to compare the number of sports the active and dropout players were involved in outside of hockey, the number of hours spent in these sports, and involvement in various hockey-related activities. Findings: Results indicated that both the active and dropout players enjoyed a diverse and playful introduction to sport. Furthermore, the active and dropout players invested similar amounts of time in organized hockey games, organized hockey practices, specialized hockey training activities (e.g. hockey camps) and hockey play. However, analysis revealed that the dropout players began off-ice training at a younger age and invested significantly more hours/year in off-ice training at ages 12–13, indicating that engaging in off-ice training activities at a younger age may have negative implications for long-term ice hockey participation. Conclusion: These results are consistent with previous research that has found that early diversification does not hinder sport-specific skill development and it may, in fact, be preferable to early specialization. The active and dropout players differed in one important aspect of deliberate practice: off-ice training activities. The dropout players began off-ice training at a younger age, and participated in more off-ice training at ages 12 and 13 than their active counterparts. This indicates a form of early specialization and supports the postulate that early involvement in practice activities that are not enjoyable may ultimately undermine the intrinsic motivation to continue in sport. Youth sport programs should not focus on developing athletic fitness through intense and routine training, but rather on sport-specific practice, games and play activities that foster fun and enjoyment.

The Relationship Between Coaching Behaviours and Sport Anxiety in Athletes

Previous research has identified the relationship between athlete sport anxiety and various sport outcomes (e.g., performance and dropout). For the majority of athletes involved in sport, the coach is an influential element of the competitive experience. Two hundred and twenty-eight athletes from 15 sports, completed the Sport Anxiety Scale (SAS) and the Coaching Behavior Scale for Sport (CBS-S). The predictive ability of athletes' perceived frequency of seven coaching behaviours (physical training, mental preparation, goal setting, technical skills, competition strategies, personal rapport and negative personal rapport) on four forms of sport anxiety (total anxiety, somatic anxiety, concentration disruption and worry) was examined. Results indicate that negative personal rapport was a significant predictor of all measured forms of sport anxiety while competition strategies was a significant predictor for total anxiety, concentration disruption, and worry. Other behaviours were not significant. The findings suggest that negative rapport between coach and athlete is an important contributor to athlete anxiety. In addition, behaviours that the coach demonstrates relative to competition can be influential in reducing athlete anxiety.

Community Size in Youth Sport Settings: Examining Developmental Assets and Sport Withdrawal

Despite the popularity of youth sport programs, little research has examined the psychosocial benefits assumed to stem from involvement. Some studies suggest birthplace influences the development of elite athletes, but little work has examined other influences of community contexts. The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between young athletes’ community size, developmental assets, and sport involvement. Current and recently withdrawn competitive swimmers (N = 181) completed the Developmental Assets Profile (Search Institute, 2004). Athletes from smaller cities had significantly higher developmental asset scores for support, commitment to learning, and boundaries/expectations. Further, community size was a significant predictor of withdrawal. Findings suggest community context should be given additional attention in youth sport literature.

ISSP Position Stand: Career Development and Transitions of Athletes

The ISSP Position Stand on Career Development and Transitions of Athletes draws attention to viewing athletes from the perspective of their career development and their broader historical and socio‐cultural contexts. The particular focus of this paper is on career transitions as turning phases in career development. Successfully coping with transitions both within and outside of sport allows greater opportunity for an athlete to live a long and successful life in sport as well as being able to adjust effectively to the post‐career. Alternatively, failure in coping with a transition is often followed by negative consequences (e.g., premature dropout from sport, neuroses, alcohol/drug abuse, etc.). Therefore, helping athletes prepare for and/or cope with career transitions should be of primary concern for coaches, managers, athletes’ parents, and sport psychology consultants. In this paper we emphasize the role of contextual factors in career development/transition research and practice. Based on the literature review, we propose six statements and related recommendations for athletes and their significant others, as well as for researchers and consultants

An Evaluation of Personal and Contextual Factors in Competitive Youth Sport

Because millions of youth are involved in sport, the sport context is important to consider in advancing the growth experiences of young people (Cˆot´e et al., 2007; Fraser-Thomas et al., 2005). Furthermore, research in developmental psychology has highlighted the value of structured programs, including sport, in helping to promote positive youth development (Fredricks & Eccles, 2006). Youth sport involvement has been linked to high levels of enjoyment (Scanlan et al., 1989), however, negative outcomes, such as burnout, have also been reported (Gould et al., 1996). In the present study, the Developmental Assets Profile (Search Institute, 2004) was used to explore personal (internal assets) and contextual (external assets) outcomes associated with youth sport. Results suggest that three particular assets (positive identity, empowerment, and support) are important to focus on in youth sport programs to decrease burnout symptoms and enhance enjoyment. Path analyses were also conducted to test a proposed model and exploratory results confirmed links of particular assets to sport outcomes. The results are discussed in terms of integration with Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory (1999) and recommendations are suggested for sport programmers to consider to develop these assets within youth sport.