Abstract
This community‐based study investigated whether (1) a novel sport psychology informed positive youth development program, My Strengths Training for Life™, improved resilience and well‐being and (2) young people differed in outcomes according to demographics (gender, ethnicity, social inclusion, and learning difficulty). A total of 246 young people (M age = 19.74, SD = 2.31) living in a large housing service completed questionnaires on demographics, mental skills, and pre and postprogram resilience and well‐being. Baseline differences in resilience and well‐being existed for ethnicity and learning difficulty status but did not influence MST4Life™ outcomes. There was a significant improvement in resilience and well‐being over time, which was associated with mental skills development. Implications apply for policy, program commissioners, and research: (1) novel sport psychology interventions can improve the well‐being of disadvantaged youth, and (2) demographics at baseline should be considered in intervention planning and evaluation with this population.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1296-1314 |
| Number of pages | 19 |
| Journal | Journal of Community Psychology |
| Volume | 49 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| Early online date | 23 Jan 2021 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 23 Jan 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Research data are not shared due to privacy and ethical restrictions. This study was funded by St. Basils (no grant number) but they had no involvement in data collection, analysis, and interpretation, report writing, or submitting the article for publication.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors. Journal of Community Psychology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC
Keywords
- community-based
- demographics
- disadvantaged youth
- mental skills training
- positive youth development
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Psychology