Behavioural resilience in sport : mediation of effects of socioeconomic risk on child and youth behaviours through sports participation

Abstract

This study links findings from previous literature on (a) effects of family income and socioeconomic status (SES) and related family and community influences on child and youth development and mental health (b) child and youth strength development and resilience behaviours in organized and unorganized sports participation, and (c) opportunities for child and youth sports participation based on family income and SES and related factors. Connections are made based on opportunities and strengths acting as mediators of the SES-behavioural health relationship. Drawing from Ungar’s (2012) expansion of Lewin’s (1951) model of behavioural resilience and cross-sectional data from cycles 1, 2, and 3 of the NLSCY parent and child/youth respondent survey, pathways of development of person strengths to positive behavioural functioning that arise through sports participation are identified. Children from low-income and lowsocioeconomic status (SES) families are of particular interest due to the high level of developmental risk attributable to poverty. An ecological approach is taken, such that statistical relationships are considered as dynamic, and endogenous, and the model is a very small snapshot of the process of resilience that occurs over time, and within a broader context. Cross-sectional data and endogeneity of key variables prevent causality or reliability of magnitude of coefficients. Strong associations between income/SES and organized sports participation are indicated. Positive peer associations and self-esteem also appear to be related to how often a child participates in sports, whether organized or unorganized. Girls in the 14 to 15 year old age group appear to gain the most from sport participation, compared to boys and younger age groups. Prosociality seems to act as a protective factor in other behavioural domains as well as indicating resilience in its own right.