The positive development of young people in sports through life skills and their transfer to other contexts

• Grant number: 23/05211-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: November 01, 2023
• End date: February 28, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Fundamentals and Assessments in Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Evandro Morais Peixoto
• Grantee: Amanda Rizzieri Romano
• Host Institution: Universidade São Francisco (USF). Campus Campinas. Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Sports activities promote the development of skills that are referred to as life skills in the literature, which are developed in a specific domain and can be generalized to various environments such as school, community, and family. Studies have suggested the potential of sports practice for positive youth development and life skills transfer (LST). However, studies that measure the perception of life skills transfer among young athletes still need to be available. Therefore, the present study aims to construct an instrument to assess the life skills transfer in sports. The research was divided into three studies: 1) instrument construction, 2) search for evidence of validity based on internal structure, precision, and relationship with other variables (namely, 5C's, optimal functioning in society, and satisfaction and frustration of basic psychological needs in exercise), and 3) search for evidence of validity based on the response process. It is understood that by constructing a measure, it is possible to enable researchers and sports agents to quantitatively evaluate whether young people are life skills transferring from sports to other domains of life. (AU)