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Positive Youth Development through Sport and Physical Education: A Systematic Review of Empirical Research Conducted with Grade 5 to 12 Children and Youth

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Title: Positive Youth Development through Sport and Physical Education: A Systematic Review of Empirical Research Conducted with Grade 5 to 12 Children and Youth
Language: English
Authors: Luís Almeida (ORCID 0000-0003-3420-5824), Teresa Dias (ORCID 0000-0001-6146-4763), Nuno Corte-Real (ORCID 0000-0002-4725-1267), Isabel Menezes (ORCID 0000-0001-9063-3773), António Fonseca (ORCID 0000-0002-1272-1679)
Source: Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy. 2025 30(3):282-308.
Availability: Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 27
Publication Date: 2025
Intended Audience: Teachers; Policymakers
Document Type: Journal Articles
Information Analyses
Education Level: Elementary Education
Grade 5
Intermediate Grades
Middle Schools
Secondary Education
Descriptors: Elementary School Students, Grade 5, Secondary School Students, Athletics, Team Sports, Physical Recreation Programs, Drills (Practice), Physical Education, Student Development, Extracurricular Activities, Interpersonal Relationship, Interpersonal Competence, Decision Making Skills, Leadership Training, Context Effect, Learning Processes
DOI: 10.1080/17408989.2023.2230208
ISSN: 1740-8989
1742-5786
Abstract: Background: Over the two last decades, the interest in personal and psychosocial youth development has been growing due to its engagement in sport activities. Furthermore, participation in sport has been referenced as a favourable mechanism and context for positive youth development (PYD). However, some studies and researchers continue to question the linearity of this association. Considering the place and importance of the practice of sports in and out of school in young people's lives, it is necessary to systematically gather empirical evidence about the relationship between sports involvement and the development of children and young people attending school. This knowledge is important not only for teachers, coaches and professionals who work at schools, clubs and associations, but also for policymakers. Objective: to study the relationship between the practice of sport and the positive development of children and young people attending school. This purpose was guided by the following research question: What is the relation between the practice of sports and positive development of grade 5 to 12 children and youth attending school? Method: Conduct a systematic search in EBSCO, Scopus and Web of Science databases. Search for relevant studies with a quantitative, qualitative and mixed design that met previously established eligibility criteria. Quality was assessed and data were extracted from a previously elaborated template. Results: The systematic review followed the PRISMA protocol and included 30 studies with quantitative (n = 14), qualitative (n = 12) and mixed (n = 4) designs. A wide variety of sports and two fundamental settings -- physical education (PE) and extracurricular activities -- in and out of school -- were found, most of them framed in structured activities or intervention programmes. Results suggest that the practice of sports, especially when combining different sports and contexts, or including non-sport activities, seems to favour psychosocial development and the transfer of competences and values to other areas of life, 'outside' sports. This evidence appears to depend on several individual and contextual factors, such as psychological and physical security, presence and action of adults and mentors, positive social interactions, having a voice and participation in decision-making, leadership roles, opportunities for skills built in a meaningful activity and deliberately structured activities, but also on the interaction between individual and contextual factors. Conclusions: The results suggest the importance of sports practice as a mechanism and a favourable context for the developmental outcomes of children and young people attending school. That relationship, however, seems contingent. Developmental outcomes might be related to multiple individual and contextual factors and to the interaction among them. Different activities afford different opportunities for children and young people to engage in adaptive relations with their ecology and positive development. The combination of different types of sports, in or out of school, especially when combined with non-sport activities, seems to bring greater benefits. Several factors were referenced as beneficial to PYD promotion in sport programmes, in and out of school.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2025
Accession Number: EJ1467971
Database: ERIC
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  Value: <anid>AN0184519595;z3x01may.25;2025Apr18.03:18;v2.2.500</anid> <title id="AN0184519595-1">Positive youth development through sport and physical education: a systematic review of empirical research conducted with grade 5 to 12 children and youth </title> <p>Background: Over the two last decades, the interest in personal and psychosocial youth development has been growing due to its engagement in sport activities. Furthermore, participation in sport has been referenced as a favourable mechanism and context for positive youth development (PYD). However, some studies and researchers continue to question the linearity of this association. Considering the place and importance of the practice of sports in and out of school in young people's lives, it is necessary to systematically gather empirical evidence about the relationship between sports involvement and the development of children and young people attending school. This knowledge is important not only for teachers, coaches and professionals who work at schools, clubs and associations, but also for policymakers. Objective: to study the relationship between the practice of sport and the positive development of children and young people attending school. This purpose was guided by the following research question: What is the relation between the practice of sports and positive development of grade 5 to 12 children and youth attending school? Method: Conduct a systematic search in EBSCO, Scopus and Web of Science databases. Search for relevant studies with a quantitative, qualitative and mixed design that met previously established eligibility criteria. Quality was assessed and data were extracted from a previously elaborated template. Results: The systematic review followed the PRISMA protocol and included 30 studies with quantitative (n = 14), qualitative (n = 12) and mixed (n = 4) designs. A wide variety of sports and two fundamental settings – physical education (PE) and extracurricular activities – in and out of school – were found, most of them framed in structured activities or intervention programmes. Results suggest that the practice of sports, especially when combining different sports and contexts, or including non-sport activities, seems to favour psychosocial development and the transfer of competences and values to other areas of life, 'outside' sports. This evidence appears to depend on several individual and contextual factors, such as psychological and physical security, presence and action of adults and mentors, positive social interactions, having a voice and participation in decision-making, leadership roles, opportunities for skills built in a meaningful activity and deliberately structured activities, but also on the interaction between individual and contextual factors. Conclusions: The results suggest the importance of sports practice as a mechanism and a favourable context for the developmental outcomes of children and young people attending school. That relationship, however, seems contingent. Developmental outcomes might be related to multiple individual and contextual factors and to the interaction among them. Different activities afford different opportunities for children and young people to engage in adaptive relations with their ecology and positive development. The combination of different types of sports, in or out of school, especially when combined with non-sport activities, seems to bring greater benefits. Several factors were referenced as beneficial to PYD promotion in sport programmes, in and out of school.</p> <p>Keywords: Youth development; youth sport; school sports; physical education; students</p> <hd id="AN0184519595-2">Introduction</hd> <p>Over the two last decades, the interest in psychological youth development has been growing due to the engagement in physical activity and sports (Bruner et al. [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref1">10</reflink>]; Eime et al. [<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref2">17</reflink>]; Holt et al. [<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref3">30</reflink>]; Whitley et al. [<reflink idref="bib55" id="ref4">55</reflink>]). This engagement has been associated with a set of physical, psychosocial and educational benefits: physical well-being, self-discovery, self-esteem and self-confidence, communication skills, emotional regulation, problem-solving, goal attainment, initiative and identity development, teamwork, sense of empowerment, respect for self, for others and social norms, personal and social responsibility, civic engagement, better school results, higher rates of school engagement and college attendance (Eccles et al. [<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref5">16</reflink>]; Hansen, Larson, and Dworkin [<reflink idref="bib23" id="ref6">23</reflink>]; Hellison [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref7">25</reflink>]; Holt and Neely [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref8">29</reflink>]).</p> <p>After emerging in the early 1990s and gaining visibility during the current century, the PYD approach is based on the assumption that all children and young people have the potential for a bright future (Damon [<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref9">15</reflink>]). That potential results from the mutually influential relationships between the developing individual and his biological, psychological, ecological and historical niche (Lerner et al. [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref10">37</reflink>]). Based on ecological approaches to human development, the PYD framework assumes that the developing young person has a permanent relation (influencing and being influenced) with his or her ecology and with spaces and times which are continuously interconnected. The various activities in which young people engage can be seen as differing learning and experimental environments that provide different opportunities for developmental experiences and growth (Bronfenbrenner and Morris [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref11">8</reflink>]).</p> <p>Sports and physical activity are recognized as opportunities for social interaction, interpersonal communication, competition, conflict-solving, decision-making and consequently, moral and psychosocial development (Hellison [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref12">25</reflink>]). Because they consistently attract and retain younger children in a domain that is not only often challenging, but also usually safe, structured, and supervised, it also seem to be conducive spaces for intervention and positive changes (Bean and Forneris [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref13">7</reflink>]; Holt and Neely [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref14">29</reflink>]). Some authors refer to them as having potential as favourable contexts to transfer and deliver the acquired and developed values and skills to young people's other life domains (Lee and Martinek [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref15">36</reflink>]; Pierce, Gould, and Camiré [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref16">45</reflink>]).</p> <p>The way in which positive development relates to children and young people's sports practice is still unclear and needs reflection and discussion. Some researchers call attention to the risk of thinking that sports participation is always beneficial or promotes development (Coakley [<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref17">14</reflink>]; Holt and Neely [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref18">29</reflink>]). Others state that this is not a linear or inherent association, but rather depends on a huge diversity of factors (Bean and Forneris [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref19">7</reflink>]; Jones et al. [<reflink idref="bib32" id="ref20">32</reflink>]). Coakley ([<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref21">14</reflink>]) argues that this relationship is contingent. Sports practice alone seems not to show evidence of regularly noticeable development and the results among them are related to and depend on the combination of multiple individual and context factors: gender and age (Agans and Geldhof [<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref22">1</reflink>]; Raimundi, Schmidt, and Hernández-Mendo [<reflink idref="bib47" id="ref23">47</reflink>]), individual perceptions (Fuller et al. [<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref24">22</reflink>]), type of sport or activity played (Zarrett et al. [<reflink idref="bib58" id="ref25">58</reflink>]), coaching, teaching style and structure (Bean and Forneris [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref26">7</reflink>]), atmosphere, safety, relationship with peers and adults (Allen, Rhind, and Koshy [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref27">3</reflink>]; Holt et al. [<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref28">31</reflink>]), and the norms and culture associated with particular intervention programmes (Hellison [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref29">25</reflink>]), among others. Based on the best practices identified by youth development experts, Petitpas et al. ([<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref30">43</reflink>]) proposed that positive psychosocial development is more likely to occur when young people engage in activities they enjoy within an appropriate environment (context), are surrounded or supervised by caring adult mentors and a group or community (external assets), learn or develop skills (internal assets) that are important and useful for managing life situations, and benefit from the outcomes of an effective system of evaluation and research.</p> <p>There are several empirical studies with quantitative, qualitative and mixed methodologies on the association between sports participation and young people's positive development at school (Allen, Rhind, and Koshy [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref31">3</reflink>]; Camiré, Trudel, and Forneris [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref32">11</reflink>]), including PE (Koh et al. [<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref33">33</reflink>]; Pozo, Perez-Ordas, and Grao-Cruces [<reflink idref="bib46" id="ref34">46</reflink>]), out of school (Reverdito et al. [<reflink idref="bib48" id="ref35">48</reflink>]; Zarrett et al. [<reflink idref="bib58" id="ref36">58</reflink>]), and in competition (Ettekal et al. [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref37">18</reflink>]; Raimundi, Schmidt, and Hernández-Mendo [<reflink idref="bib47" id="ref38">47</reflink>]). Other authors carried out both simultaneously (Agans and Geldhof [<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref39">1</reflink>]; Holt et al. [<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref40">31</reflink>]). With different purposes and approaches, several systematic reviews investigated the relationship between sport participation and the outcomes associated with the positive development of children and young people (Bruner et al. [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref41">10</reflink>]; Eime et al. [<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref42">17</reflink>]; Hermens et al. [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref43">27</reflink>]; Holt et al. [<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref44">30</reflink>]; Whitley et al. [<reflink idref="bib55" id="ref45">55</reflink>]). In general, the conclusions are aligned with the idea that youth sport participation is associated with positive developmental outcomes. However, this is not always the case for all children and young people nor in all situations.</p> <hd id="AN0184519595-3">Our study</hd> <p>Sport's potential to promote youth development is well known (Holt and Neely [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref46">29</reflink>]) and its place in school is recognized, especially through PE, a formal space where many children and young people have access, some for the first time, to the regular and supervised practice of sport. In some countries, PE is a mandatory curricular subject between the 5th and 12th grade and is thus a space that, as well as promoting and extending the practice of sports to all children and young people in educational process, provides access to this activity to those who have not yet had the opportunity to be involved in it in a structured, organized way.</p> <p>The growing involvement of the scientific community in research and discussion of developmental outcomes associated with youth sports practice is also recognized through some systematic reviews (Bruner et al. [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref47">10</reflink>]; Eime et al. [<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref48">17</reflink>]; Hermens et al. [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref49">27</reflink>]; Holt et al. [<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref50">30</reflink>]; Whitley et al. [<reflink idref="bib55" id="ref51">55</reflink>]). Sport holds an important place in young people's lives, in and out of school, and provides interaction and possible complementarity of sports practice and experiences in different contexts. However, no systematic report was found of the evidence which has emerged from the empirical research realized about the relationship between sports practice and positive development, specifically with children and youth who are attending school, that is, in a schooling process. On the other hand, remembering that scientific evidence about the relation between sports practice and youth development is still inconclusive (Bruner et al. [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref52">10</reflink>]; Coakley [<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref53">14</reflink>]; Eime et al. [<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref54">17</reflink>]; Ferreira, Azevedo, and Menezes [<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref55">19</reflink>]; Holt and Neely [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref56">29</reflink>]; Jones et al. [<reflink idref="bib32" id="ref57">32</reflink>]; Whitley et al. [<reflink idref="bib55" id="ref58">55</reflink>]) it is important to provide information to assist professionals in their interventions and to contribute to a more effective decisions by policymakers.</p> <p>The current work aims to systematically review the empirical evidence available to study the role and the importance of sports and PE as socio-educational contexts in PYD. Therefore, a question must be asked: Which is the relation between sports practice and positive development of 5 to 12 grade children and youth attending school? Considering the lack of reviews that study the advancement of non-English speaking literature within the thematic context of the present review, the objective of extending the research question to articles published in Portuguese and Spanish was also established.</p> <p>After this introduction, this paper will include the sections referring to the material and methods used, in which the search and selection strategies, the quality assessment process and the characteristics of the studies included in the synthesis are described. This will be followed by the presentation of the results of those steps, their discussion through the view of the theoretical framework presented in introduction and the main conclusions of the review. Finally, the limitations of the study and future research, intervention and action proposals for educational and policymakers and sport and educational professionals will be presented.</p> <hd id="AN0184519595-4">Materials and methods</hd> <p>The protocol was registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO; CRD42020223101) and developed based on Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P) 2015 Statement (Moher et al. [<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref59">41</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0184519595-5">Search strategy</hd> <p>The study research was conducted on the electronic databases Scopus, Web of Science and EBSCOhost. Keywords were used in three languages: 'Positive Youth Development' OR 'Positive Development' AND sport* OR 'physical activity' OR 'physical education' (for English), 'desenvolvimento positivo' AND desporto* OR 'atividade física' OR 'educação física' (for Portuguese), and 'desarrollo positivo' AND deporte* OR 'actividad física' OR 'educación física' (for Spanish). This research comprised titles and abstracts of studies published in peer-reviewed magazines, written in Portuguese, Spanish and English, until 31st December 2019.</p> <hd id="AN0184519595-6">Selection strategy</hd> <p>The selection process was carried out following the indications of the PRISMA declaration (Moher et al. [<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref60">41</reflink>]). The selected studies were exported to the EndNote software package. After removing the duplicates, the titles and abstracts were assessed and redundant studies were removed to meet the pre-defined criteria.</p> <p>Inclusion criteria: (<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref61">1</reflink>) empirical studies conducted within a PYD theoretical framework in the sports context, in and out of school and PE; (<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref62">2</reflink>) with quantitative, qualitative or mixed methodology; (<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref63">3</reflink>) published as a scientific article; (<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref64">4</reflink>) in full-text format; (<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref65">5</reflink>) children or young participants at school. Exclusion criteria: (<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref66">1</reflink>) studies without sports or PE as the main study context; (<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref67">2</reflink>) children or young people aged under nine or over 21 and at school but below the fifth grade and higher than the twelfth grade, including university students; (<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref68">3</reflink>) works published in theses and dissertations, literature review, conceptual frameworks, conference proceedings, books or book chapters, reports, governmental and non-governmental documents and reports of non-governmental organizations; (<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref69">4</reflink>) articles of adaptation and validation of instruments. According to the criteria, the full texts were assessed and the final decisions were made to select studies for data extraction. Most studies do not allow verification of the baseline condition that the participants are attending school through their titles and abstracts. Thus, a careful analysis was made of the methodology used, specifically to participant recruitment process, to ensure that criterion.</p> <p>Figure 1 presents a PRISMA flow diagram of our study review. Search and selection strategy, and quality assessment were conducted by two independent investigators (the first two authors, LA and TD). Disagreements were discussed and solved by consensus, with the help of a third researcher (NC), if necessary. Inter-judge reliability was calculated using Cohen's kappa.</p> <p>Graph: Figure 1. Flow diagram.</p> <hd id="AN0184519595-7">Quality assessment</hd> <p>The selected studies were submitted to quality assessment through an adapted version of the quality assessment tool for studies with diverse designs (QATSDD; Sirriyeh et al. [<reflink idref="bib52" id="ref70">52</reflink>]). This tool was developed to use with published papers which include qualitative and quantitative work. Following Smith and McGannon's ([<reflink idref="bib53" id="ref71">53</reflink>]) recommendations, inter-rater reliability measure of qualitative studies was not considered. Each article had to have a positive evaluation (at least 2 = moderately) in more than 50% of the items considered to be included. This process was recorded in a separate coding spreadsheet.</p> <hd id="AN0184519595-8">Data extraction and analyses</hd> <p>Data extraction to an Excel sheet and the study quality assessment were independently conducted by two reviewers (LA and TD). Disagreements were solved by consensus, with the involvement of a third researcher, when necessary (NC). Data extracted were: authors, year of publication, country, objectives, contexts, sports activities, study type, sample characterization, methodology and main findings. A narrative synthesis was conducted due to the heterogeneity of the population studied, and to the methodologies and contexts of the selected studies. The first author wrote this article, under the consulting of all authors and scientific supervision of the last two (IM and AF), who were also responsible for the final review.</p> <hd id="AN0184519595-9">Results</hd> <p>The electronic database search yielded 931 articles (Figure 1). After removal of duplicates, 534 articles remained. Based on title and abstract, 461 articles were excluded, which reduced the number to 73. After full-text screening, 42 articles were excluded due to age or schooling, sport not being the main context, it being a book chapter, not having any developmental outcomes or PYD not being the main theoretical reference. The remaining 31 articles met all inclusion criteria and were considered for quality assessment. At this stage, the degree of agreement between reviewers was 0.827 (<emph>p</emph> < 0.001), almost perfect agreement.</p> <p>After quality assessment, one study was eliminated because it did not reach the pre-defined cut-off point. Thus, 30 articles were included in the narrative synthesis (Figure 1).</p> <hd id="AN0184519595-10">Characteristics of the studies included in the synthesis</hd> <p>All the articles (Table 1) were published in the current century, the first in 2003, 86.7% (<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref72">26</reflink>) during the second decade (Figure 2), and 11 are from countries of three continents (Figure 3): America (<emph>n</emph> = 18; 60.0%), Europe (<emph>n</emph> = 7; 23.3%) and Asia (<emph>n</emph> = 5; 16.7%). Nine articles were published in the USA (30.0%) and six in Canada (20.0%). That is, 50.0% (<emph>n</emph> = 15) of the final selected studies were published only in North America. Only one article (3.3%) was published in a language other than English, specifically in Spanish. Fourteen (46.7%) were quantitative studies, 14 (46,7%) qualitative and two (6.7%) mixed. The majority 17 (56.7%) were cross-sectional, 12 (40.0%) longitudinal and one was classified as 'non-longitudinal' by the authors.</p> <p>Graph: Figure 2. Chronological evolution of number of publications.</p> <p>Graph: Figure 3. Geographic location of the studies.</p> <p>Table 1. Characteristics of the included studies.</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><thead valign="bottom"><tr><td>Authors</td><td>Aim</td><td>Main results</td><td>Context</td><td>Activities</td><td>Study type</td><td>Sample</td></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Agans and Geldhof (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr1">2012</xref>) USA</td><td>Investigate the association between developmental outcomes with types and patterns of sport participation throughout high school years.</td><td>Female sports participation and combined sports participation showed better developmental outcomes when compared to non-participation.</td><td>In/Out of school Community, diverse in and out of school</td><td>Individual, team and dance-type sports Dance, gymnastics, martial arts, skating, school sport teams and other sports.</td><td>Qt, Lg</td><td>710 (♀♂) ≤12 (8.73%), 13–15 (33.5%), 16 (16.5%), > 16 (7.4%) years* 10th–12th grades</td></tr><tr><td>Agans, Johnson, and Lerner (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr2">2017</xref>) USA</td><td>Assess associations between patterns of adolescent athletic participation with self-perceived athletic competence and young adult physical activity, and between changes in participation throughout adolescence and young adult outcomes.</td><td>– Higher sport participation was associated with best competence self-perceptions; – More active adolescents had higher rates of adult athletic activity and better health.</td><td>In/Out of school Community, diverse in and out of school</td><td>Dance, gymnastics, martial arts, skating, school sport teams and other sports.</td><td>Qt, Lg</td><td>5961 (♀♂) 13.1–17.6 years 7th–12th grades</td></tr><tr><td>Allen, Rhind, and Koshy (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr3">2015</xref>) UK</td><td>Examine enablers and barriers to life skill transfer from sports hall to classroom.</td><td>– Support from peers, pride, opportunities, rewards and transfer experience are recognized as important enablers in promoting life skills transfer from sports hall to classroom and future life; – The lack of opportunities to use learned skills outside of sports hall, boring lessons and negative teacher attitudes were seen as barriers to the transfer.</td><td>In school Underachieving students Transfer-ability programme</td><td>Football, rock climbing, goalball, American football, martial arts,, rock climbing and sprint hurdling, frisbee, boxing.</td><td>Ql, T, CSt</td><td>18 (♂) 12–13 years 8th grade</td></tr><tr><td>Aoyagi et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr4">2016</xref>) Japan</td><td>Investigate impact of external coaches and teachers on students' experiences in school-based extracurricular sport activities.</td><td>Students perceived both overlapping benefits (general coaching, human network and improved atmosphere) and specifics (external coaches: support teacher and equipment supply; teachers: management and office work, participation and connection with school life).</td><td>In school (School-based) Extracurricular sports activities</td><td>Badminton, basketball, Japanese archery, football, swimming, table tennis, track and field and volleyball.</td><td>Ql, T</td><td>23 (♀♂) 12–17 (M = 15) years High schools</td></tr><tr><td>Armour and Sandford (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr5">2013</xref>) UK</td><td>Study physical activity, sport and PE on promoting positive development for disaffected youth.</td><td>– Sport participation promoted self-confidence, communication, teamwork, trust, willingness to try, empathy, social responsibility, overcoming fears, facing challenges, perseverance, leadership, problem-solving, transfer; – Longer participation showed more sustained improvements.</td><td>In/Out of school Disaffected youth Corporate-sponsored physical activities (programme)</td><td>Structured outdoor activities (rock climbing, gorge walking, high ropes courses, caving, sailing, hiking and rafting).</td><td>Ql, Lg</td><td>600 (♀♂) ≥13–14 years ≥9th grade</td></tr><tr><td>Armour, Sandford, and Duncombe (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr6">2013</xref>) UK</td><td>Identify sport/physical activity interventions key features to sustained positive impact on youth.</td><td>Key features: matching pupils' specific needs with programme objectives; activities outside 'normal' school context; working closely, setting targets and review progress; positive relationships; opportunity to work with and for other youth; available structured pathways to sustained involvement in further project or complementary activities.</td><td>In/Out school Disaffected youth Corporate-sponsored physical activities (programme)</td><td>Traditional sports (e.g. football, basketball, badminton, swimming and hockey), recreational activities less common in PE (e.g. yoga, ultimate frisbee, street dance, free running and skateboarding), and outdoor/adventurous activities (e.g. rock-climbing, orienteering, canoeing, sailing and rope courses).</td><td>Ql, Lg</td><td>5240 ≥13–14 years ≥9th grade</td></tr><tr><td>Bruner et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr9">2014</xref>) Canada</td><td>Study group cohesion and perceptions of PYD in team sport athletes.</td><td>– Individual level: higher perceptions of task and social cohesion predicted greater PYD (personal and social skills, goal setting, and less negative experiences); – Group level: team means predicted negative experiences. Higher perceptions of team task cohesion predicted less negative experiences, while higher perceptions of team social cohesion predicted more negative experiences. – Cohesion accounted for variance at both levels.</td><td>In school School sport teams</td><td>Basketball, volleyball, football, ice hockey, American football, rugby, lacrosse.</td><td>Qt, T</td><td>424 (♀♂) M = 15.74 years High school</td></tr><tr><td>Camiré and Trundel (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr12">2013</xref>) Canada</td><td>Explore coaches and students' perspectives on student development through high school football participation.</td><td>High school football promotes PYD, life skills, school connectedness, and academic engagement.</td><td>In school School football</td><td>Football.</td><td>Ql, Lg</td><td>18 (♂) 14<16 years (M = 15) 9 coaches High school</td></tr><tr><td>Camiré, Trudel, and Forneris (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr11">2009</xref>) Canada</td><td>Document high school athletes' perspectives on support, communication, negotiation and life skill development.</td><td>Athletes believed to be able to negotiate aspects of their sport participation with parents and coaches, received adequate support from parents and were able to communicate with coaches. Their school sport participation developed life skills transferable to other life domains.</td><td>In school School-based sport programmes</td><td>Basketball, volleyball, football and badminton.</td><td>Ql, T</td><td>20 (♀♂) 13–17 years (M = 15.05) High school</td></tr><tr><td>Carreres-Ponsoda et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr13">2012</xref>) Spain</td><td>Examine influences of participation in physical activity, sport programmes and other activities on self-efficacy, pro-social behaviour and responsibility.</td><td>Participating in out-of-school sport programmes promoted higher self-efficacy, prosocial behaviour and responsibility compared with the participation in other activities or non- participation in any kind of activity.</td><td>Out of school Sports and other activities (sport not included) (programme)</td><td>n/r</td><td>Qt, T, Qe</td><td>363 (♀♂) 12–19 years (M = 14.41) Public schools</td></tr><tr><td>Ettekal et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr18">2017</xref>) USA</td><td>Explore links among sport participation, cognitive orientations and PYD.</td><td>Athletes' mastery orientation grew across the season, although that tendency diminished after it ended. Some believed mastery focus was more important after being involved in programme. Positive experiences within programme increased beliefs about mastery focus, but did not matter for behaviour.</td><td>Out of school Sport-based youth development programme</td><td>Football, volleyball, football, basketball, indoor track, baseball, softball, tennis.</td><td>Mix, T</td><td>77 (♀♂) M = 16.38 years 9th–12th grades</td></tr><tr><td>Forneris, Camiré, and Williamson (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr20">2015</xref>) Canada</td><td>Examine how participation in a single activity or combination of extracurricular school (sport and non-sport) activities impacts on developmental outcomes and school engagement.</td><td>– Participation in various extracurricular activities, including sports, is perceived as associated with more positive outcomes compared to involvement in only one or not being involved in any: – Engagement in a variety of sport and non-sport activities was perceive as valued by adults, as they have useful roles in the community, and feel safe in school, at home and/or in their community.</td><td>In school Extracurricular activities</td><td>Sport (n/r) and non-sport activities.</td><td>Qt, T</td><td>239 (♀♂) 9th–12th grades</td></tr><tr><td>Fuller et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr22">2013</xref>) USA</td><td>Explore the reasons of minority boys' to participate in sport-based youth development programmes and their relation with developmental outcomes.</td><td>– Initial reasons: emphasis on sport and physical activity and peers participating in the activities; – Continued participation is related to perception of programme as a safe place, out of trouble and involvement in 'at-risk' behaviours, and experiences favourable to positive personal development; – Participation in the programme facilitated PYD ('6Cs').</td><td>Out of school Minority of boys Sport-based afterschool programme</td><td>Traditional sports (e.g. basketball and football), culturally non-traditional sports (e.g. floor hockey and football) and other physical activities (e.g. capture the flag).</td><td>Ql, Not Lg</td><td>8 (♂) 10–14 years 5th–8th grades Parents</td></tr><tr><td>Hellison and Wright (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr26">2003</xref>) USA</td><td>Examine the link between retention and youth development principles and process in two sequential urban extended day programmes.</td><td>– Withdrawal occurs when moving to another programme; – Coaching club contributes to technical development, attitude, responsibility, even outside gym, personal development and behaviour in classroom; – Leadership programme participation improves attitudes, behaviours, maturity, empathy and retribution to community, feelings of compassion and community; – The youngest reacted positively to leaders (older), respecting them, feeling gratitude and personal relationship towards them.</td><td>Out of school At-risk and underserved youth After-school programmes (mentorship, coaching club and apprentice teacher)</td><td>Basketball.</td><td>Mix, T</td><td>78 10–21 years</td></tr><tr><td>Ho et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr28">2017</xref>) Hong Kong, China</td><td>Assess effectiveness of a PYD-based sports mentorship programme on adolescents' well-being.</td><td>– Intervention improved significantly mental well-being, self-efficacy, resilience, physical fitness, and physical activity levels; – No significant improvements on physical well-being, family and school connectedness.</td><td>Out of school Community setting (after-school) PYD sports mentorship programme</td><td>Basketball, volleyball, kickboxing.</td><td>Qt, Lg</td><td>664 (♀♂) M = 12.3 years Secondary schools</td></tr><tr><td>Holt et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr31">2012</xref>) Canada</td><td>Explore school staff and pupils' perceptions about factors that influence PYD at PE, intramural sports and sport teams.</td><td>– In PE, existence of a specialist teacher and the set of clear boundaries, while providing children with perceptions of choice, when important; – Pupils enjoyed intramural sports; however few attempts to create an appropriate developmental atmosphere contributed to the association with negative student interactions; – Teams' coaches promoted social interactions and respect. – PYD outcomes were related to fostering empathy and social connections.</td><td>In school Inner-city school Low-income neighbourhoods PE and (extra-curricular) sport programmes</td><td>PE, intramural sports (indoor football, floor hockey, and basketball) and school sport teams (e.g. volleyball, basketball, football, badminton, softball and rugby).</td><td>Ql, T, CSt</td><td>59 (♀♂) M = 12.4 years 5th–9th grades Teachers, school principal, school nurse, coaches </td></tr><tr><td>Koh, Ong, and Camiré (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr34">2016</xref>) Singapore</td><td>Investigate the perspectives of PE teachers, sport coaches, students and athletes on the impact of a PE and sport-based values training programme and teaching strategies on youth development and transfer of values.</td><td>– Teachers and coaches believed that the training programme helped to acquire strategies and increased motivation of teaching values; – Students and athletes believed that they were able to apply values learnt in non-sport settings; – Purposefully designed activities facilitated transfer of values; – Time constraints hindered the learning and the transfer of values.</td><td>In school PE and sport (programme)</td><td>Floorball and football.</td><td>Ql, Lg</td><td>16 students, 16 athletes 10–12 years (M = 11.7) PE teachers, sport coaches Primary school</td></tr><tr><td>Koh et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr33">2017</xref>) Singapore</td><td>Follow-up assesses the impact of a PE and sport-based values training programme and teaching strategies on students and athlete's development and transfer of values.</td><td>– The most influential long-term outcome of the programme was collective (e.g. deliberate planning via the scheme of work) and individual (e.g. use of questioning, eliciting responses) – strategies teacher and coaches have implemented to teach values; – Students and athletes stated that they learned values by interacting with teachers and coaches and their ways of teaching resilience, commitment, and respect and that were able to apply these values in life and in other contexts.</td><td>In school PE and sport (programme)</td><td>Floorball and football.</td><td>Ql, T</td><td> 12 students / athletes (♀♂) 12 years 6th grade Parents, teacher, coaches </td></tr><tr><td>Lim, Koh, and Chan (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr38">2019</xref>) Singapore</td><td>Examine roles and contributions of supporting staff to PYD in high school sports.</td><td>Supporting staff, including school educators, complement coaches in promoting PYD and maybe in more advantageous positions to impact some areas of it.</td><td>In school School sports teams</td><td> Badminton, basketball, hockey netball, rugby.</td><td>Ql, T</td><td>48 (♀♂) M = 14.60 years Coaches, teachers High school</td></tr><tr><td>Marttinen et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr40">2019</xref>) USA</td><td>Explore influence of boys' experiences in a basketball-based after-school programme on their empowerment.</td><td>– Violence is a barrier to playing sports. – NBA dream (future plans) operated as a perceived pathway to a safer future and higher education. – Having and being role models helped youth to alleviate barriers to play sports. – Participation enabled engagement in interest-based physical activity and academic learning tasks, thus creating a peaceful space to develop positive associations among school, physical activity, and community.</td><td>Out of school Under-resourced urban communities After-school (PYD sport) programme</td><td>Basketball.</td><td>Ql, T, CSt</td><td>7 (♂) 10–14 years Coaches, teachers </td></tr><tr><td>Parise et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr42">2015</xref>) Italy</td><td>Examine the effectiveness of school-based rugby introductory training course in self-esteem, self-efficacy and prosocial behaviour of adolescent students.</td><td>Participation improved self-perception of perceived self-efficacy in dealing with negative emotions and in expressing positive emotions, social and empathic self-efficacy, and pro-social behaviour.</td><td>In school School-based rugby introductory training course (programme)</td><td>Rugby.</td><td>Qt, Lg, Qe</td><td>103 (♀♂) 11–15 years (M = 13.50) Secondary schools</td></tr><tr><td>Pozo, Perez-Ordas, and Grao-Cruces (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr46">2019</xref>) Spain</td><td>Investigate the effects of a teaching programme within PE on personal and social responsibility and on PYD values in schools of different socioeconomic contexts.</td><td>– Positive effect on values; – Improvements in personal and social responsibility and PYD values in lower-middle socioeconomic group.</td><td>In school PE (based-TPSR) programme</td><td>n/r</td><td>Qt, Lg, Qe</td><td>210 (♀♂) 10–12 years (M = 11.04) Primary schools</td></tr><tr><td>Raimundi, Schmidt, and Hernández-Mendo (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr47">2018</xref>) Argentina</td><td>Study the influence of elite sport participation in promoting adolescents character strengthens development.</td><td>Differences as a function of sex (higher in girls), age (youngest), sport type (team or individual sports), and competitive level (elite or non-practitioners).</td><td>Out of school Elite and extracurricular recreational sports</td><td>Team or individual sports (basketball, handball, volleyball, taekwondo, artistic gymnastics, athletics, wrestling, judo, rhythmic gymnastics, boxing and shooting).</td><td>Qt, T, Qe</td><td>721 (♀♂) 11–19 years (M = 15.27) Secondary schools</td></tr><tr><td>Reverdito et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr48">2017a</xref>) Brazil</td><td>Examine the relationship between extracurricular sport participation and developmental context with adolescents' perceived self-efficacy.</td><td>– Positive experience alone and in interaction with length of participation fostered perceived self-efficacy; – Longer remaining improvement in human development indicators.</td><td>Out of school Underserved adolescents Extracurricular sport programmes (municipalities)</td><td>n/r</td><td>Qt, T</td><td>821 students (♀♂) M = 13.6 years</td></tr><tr><td>Reverdito et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr49">2017b</xref>) Brazil</td><td>Study the effects of participation in extracurricular sport programmes on adolescents' developmental assets.</td><td>– Duration and quality of programme exposure had positive effects; – Support network quality and duration participation positively influenced sport participation, which was associated with willingness to learn; – Strong association between sport participation and development; – Sport participation of female adolescents from a lower HDI context seems conducive to positive identity development.</td><td>Out of school Socially disadvantaged youth Extracurricular sport programmes (municipalities)</td><td>One individual and two collective sports.</td><td>Qt, T</td><td>614 (♀♂) 12–15 years (M = 13.1)</td></tr><tr><td>Shaikh, Bean, and Forneris (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr50">2019</xref>) Canada</td><td>Understand youth leaders' developmental experiences in a physical-activity-based PYD programme.</td><td>– Developmental experiences reported: awareness of the potentiality of learning and develop leadership skills through role models, interaction and mastery; – Not all had positive developmental experiences because of individual, process and contextual aspects.</td><td>Out of school Physical-activity-based PYD programme</td><td>Running.</td><td>Ql, T, CSt</td><td>16 (♀♂) 12–17 years (M = 13.37) 7th–12th grades</td></tr><tr><td>Super et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr54">2017</xref>) Netherlands</td><td>Study the role of sport in improving life prospects of socially vulnerable youth.</td><td>– Reference to diverse motives for sport participation (e.g. having fun) and three positive and negative experiences types, interconnected (seeing own skills, being confident in one's sport, sport as a nice challenge), but each weakly balanced– Coach often identified as key player in tipping the balance towards positive sports experiences.</td><td>Out of school Socially vulnerable youth Local sports clubs or fitness clubs</td><td>Hockey, gymnastics, horse riding, dancing, hockey, mountain biking, fitness, football, taekwondo, American football, basketball, badminton, walking and Thai boxing.</td><td>Ql, T</td><td>22 (♀♂) 11–17 years Secondary special education schools</td></tr><tr><td>Wilson et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr56">2010</xref>) USA</td><td>Examine relationship among individual characteristics, participation in sport and non-sport activity, developmental experiences and outcomes.</td><td>Participation in basketball and football is associated with worse experiences and results than other sports or non-sports activities, but differences reflect the selection of youth at greatest risk for these activities.</td><td>Out of school After-school leisure (sport and non-sport) activities (programme)</td><td>Basketball and football, other sports (swimming, football, track, wrestling, volleyball, gymnastics, golf, exercising, weightlifting, bike riding, other sports) and non-sports activities (e.g. boys/girls clubs, scouts, student government, dance, art club, and others).</td><td>Qt, Lg, Exp.</td><td>314 (♀♂) M = 12.14 years Middle school (45.5% in 6th grade)</td></tr><tr><td>Wright and Li (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr57">2009</xref>) USA</td><td>Examine relationships between youth development outcomes and perceived effort, enjoyment, and usefulness in urban physical education context.</td><td>Positive correlations among effort, youth as resources, teachers support, belonging, usefulness, enjoyment, and affective context.</td><td>In school PE Inner-city neighbourhood Urban youth (programme)</td><td>Physical fitness (calisthenics, resistance training and running/ jogging).</td><td>Qt, T</td><td>87 (♀♂) M = 14.8 years High school</td></tr><tr><td>Zarrett et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr58">2009</xref>) USA</td><td>Assess relations among sports participation, other out-of-school-time activities, and youth development indicators.</td><td>– Combination of sports and youth development programmes was related to PYD and contribution. – Perceived effort, enjoyment, and usefulness were predicted by diverse combinations of the youth development scales.</td><td>Out-of-school-time (extracurricular sport and non-sport) activities and programmes</td><td>Team sports (e.g. football), individual sports (e.g. martial arts) and non-sport activities (performing arts like dance, arts and crafts, school clubs, volunteering, religious activities, paid work)</td><td>Qt, Lg, Qe</td><td>1357 (♀♂) M = 11.00 years (wave 1) 5th–7th grades</td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p>1 Legends: * Reported ages; n/r – Not referred; PE – Physical Education; M – Mean age (years); PYD – Positive Youth Development; TPSR – Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility; Qt – Quantitative, Ql – Qualitative, Mix – Mixed; Lg – Longitudinal, Cs – Cross-sectional; Exp. – Experimental, Qe – Quasi-experimental; CSt – Case study; ♀ – Female; ♂ – Male.</p> <p>Regarding sports, a large variety was found. However, in 12 of the 30 studies (40.0%), some type, classification, differentiation or grouping was assumed (e.g. individual, team, dance-type, traditional, recreational activities less common in PE, school sports, outdoor/adventurous activities, culturally non-traditional sports and others), including 'non-sport activities' (e.g. boys/girls clubs, scouts, student government, performing arts, school clubs, volunteering, religious activities, paid work and others). Using Agans and Geldhof ([<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref73">1</reflink>]) typology, 'team sport' was found to be the most frequent type of sport in all papers (76.6%). Four studies do not refer to any sport.</p> <p>Research contexts encompassed 13 studies (43.3%) in school, 13 (43.3%) out of school and four (13.3%) comprised both. In school, besides PE and 'school sport', denominations like 'extracurricular' and 'programmes' were found. These also appeared outside school, as well as expressions like 'after-school', 'community', 'local' and others. It is important to note that almost all these designations were used without any specific or additional explanation or conceptualization about the reason for using them. In 21 studies (70.0%), in and out of school activities were conducted through 'programmes'. This denomination ('programme') was used when there was an intervention supervised and organized by someone (individual or organization) during a certain period of time for a specific purpose, context (e.g. inner city school) or population (e.g. at-risk and underserved youth).</p> <p>Eleven (36.7%) were carried out in communities, specific populations or geographical and social contexts and some were corporate-sponsored or supported by non-profit organizations or municipalities. Sports programmes are varied in nature (e.g. leisure, competition), context (in and out of school, sometimes in the community, during PE classes or in extracurricular activities), and mostly directed to the promotion of psychosocial development, life skills, values, transfer of this competences to other life contexts, e.g. classroom, community, and social inclusion. Some common aspects were found which were pointed out as being beneficial for more sustained PYD (Table 2).</p> <p>Table 2. Aspects pointed out as beneficial for more sustained PYD.</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><thead valign="bottom"><tr><td>Characteristics and factors</td><td>References</td></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Matching pupils' specific needs with programme objectives</td><td>Armour, Sandford, and Duncombe (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr6">2013</xref>)</td></tr><tr><td>Clear boundaries</td><td>Holt et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr31">2012</xref>)</td></tr><tr><td>Presence or support of peers and adults</td><td>Allen, Rhind, and Koshy (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr3">2015</xref>), Camiré, Trudel, and Forneris (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr11">2009</xref>), Holt et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr31">2012</xref>), Reverdito et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr49">2017b</xref>)</td></tr><tr><td>Promotion of social interaction and positive relationships</td><td>Armour, Sandford, and Duncombe (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr6">2013</xref>), Holt et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr31">2012</xref>)</td></tr><tr><td>Opportunities for negotiation and teamwork with adults and peers to choose activities, set targets and review progress;</td><td>Armour, Sandford, and Duncombe (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr6">2013</xref>), Camiré, Trudel, and Forneris (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr11">2009</xref>), Holt et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr31">2012</xref>)</td></tr><tr><td>Opportunities to work with and for other young people</td><td>Armour, Sandford, and Duncombe (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr6">2013</xref>)</td></tr><tr><td>Leadership, mentorship, coaching and teaching roles</td><td>Armour and Sandford (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr5">2013</xref>), Hellison and Wright (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr26">2003</xref>), Ho et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr28">2017</xref>), Marttinen et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr40">2019</xref>), Shaikh, Bean, and Forneris (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr50">2019</xref>)</td></tr><tr><td>Locating project activities outside of the 'normal' school context</td><td>Armour, Sandford, and Duncombe (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr6">2013</xref>), Carreres-Ponsoda et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr13">2012</xref>)</td></tr><tr><td>Transfer experiences</td><td>Allen, Rhind, and Koshy (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr3">2015</xref>), Armour and Sandford (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr5">2013</xref>), Camiré, Trudel, and Forneris (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr11">2009</xref>), Hellison and Wright (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr26">2003</xref>), Koh, Ong, and Camiré (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr34">2016</xref>), Koh et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr33">2017</xref>)</td></tr><tr><td>Deliberate planning and purposefully designed and structured strategies and activities</td><td>Armour, Sandford, and Duncombe (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr6">2013</xref>), Fuller et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr22">2013</xref>), Koh, Ong, and Camiré (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr34">2016</xref>), Koh et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr33">2017</xref>)</td></tr><tr><td>Combination of activities</td><td>Armour, Sandford, and Duncombe (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr6">2013</xref>), Zarrett et al. (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr58">2009</xref>)</td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p>Diverse associations were found among sports practice, type of experiences (negative, positive and both) and developmental outcomes. Some individual (personal characteristics of the person such as gender, age, skills, experience, motivation, self-perceptions, needs), contextual (characteristics or variables of the environment, e.g. family, school, sport teams, sport activities or programmes, structured activities) and process factors (interaction between the individual and elements of his or her environment, e.g. playing sports, relation with peers and adults, leadership or mentoring roles, learning new skills or values, transfer of experiences) were associated with those relations. The importance of feeling physically and psychologically safe was also referenced by the students, in and out of programmes, as important for promoting PYD.</p> <p>Sport was recognized as a mechanism and context which is favourable to processes of transferring acquired skills to other contexts of young people's lives (e.g. classroom, family, community and future). However, both facilitating factors (e.g. interaction with and support from peers and adults, pride, opportunities, rewards, transfer of experience, participation and combination of sports and non-sport activities, programme designs, leadership and mentoring roles, safe spaces and atmospheres, integration into school or community) and barriers (e.g. lack of opportunities to use skills learned outside of the sports hall, boring lessons and negative teacher attitudes, time constraints, violence) to transfer were identified. Because of the significant amount of intramural time spent and the access to safe, structured and supervised sport activities, school was indicated as a particularly favourable context for the transfer process through sport.</p> <p>Peers, PE teachers and coaches were referred to regarding the relations between their key roles and interventions and the quality of pupils' sports experiences and developmental outcomes (positive and negative). Benefits were also perceived from teamwork between external coaches and PE teachers in the school sport context. The supporting staff, including school educators, was seen as a complement to the coaches' action.</p> <p>Individual factors, like gender and age, competence self-perceptions, motivational processes and perceptions of social cohesion and sport practice patterns were referenced as predictors or determinants of perceptions of sport experiences and developmental outcomes (PYD and contribution).</p> <p>The majority of the selected articles studied a wide variety of sports, some comparing different typologies and sometimes including non-sport activities. It was seen that different patterns and types of activities and combinations of different activity types were found associated with different outcomes (positive, negative and both).</p> <hd id="AN0184519595-11">Discussion</hd> <p>The current systematic review aimed to systematically collect empirical evidence that enabled the importance and role of sports and PE as socio-educative contexts in PYD to be studied. A question was asked: Which is the relation between sports practice and positive development of 5 to 12 grade children and youth attending school? – to be debated after some considerations.</p> <p>The findings underline the growth of research into the psychosocial development of young people as a result of their involvement in sporting activities since the beginning of the twenty-first century (Holt and Neely [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref74">29</reflink>]), and especially over the course of the 2010s. The empirical evidence that emerged from that phenomenon and highlighted the role of sports and PE in promoting PYD has been adopted by many researchers (Lee and Martinek [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref75">36</reflink>]; Pierce, Gould, and Camiré [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref76">45</reflink>]) and professionals who deal or work directly with youth (Eccles et al. [<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref77">16</reflink>]; Fredricks and Eccles [<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref78">21</reflink>]). The fact that PYD emerged in the 1990s in the USA may have contributed to the dominance of North America, specifically USA and Canada, in scientific production of this field. However, promotion of PYD through sports has been investigated in other countries, like the United Kingdom, Singapore, Brazil and Spain (Figure 3). This suggests a growing interest in promoting PYD by these means.</p> <hd id="AN0184519595-12">PYD: contexts and practice</hd> <p>Selected studies show the main contexts where children and young people undertake the practice of sports. In school, PE is a curricular subject and a formal place where the practice of sport is structured and supervised by adults. In some countries, it is compulsory during the school years preceding university attendance, thus giving some children and young people access to regular sports practice, some for the first time. In other countries, PE is not a required subject or its compulsory attendance changes depending on the grade. However, regardless of this variability, possibly reflecting the sociocultural realities and sports and education policies of each country, PE undoubtedly has an important and recognized formal place within school, and as such, a place in young people's lives and development.</p> <p>Sports participation in PE classes provides the experience of challenging situations, teamwork, leadership and problem-solving, promoting the overcoming of fears and building self-confidence, communication skills, empathy, personal and social responsibility and perseverance (Armour and Sandford [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref79">5</reflink>]; Pozo, Perez-Ordas, and Grao-Cruces [<reflink idref="bib46" id="ref80">46</reflink>]). Furthermore, given the ecology of the different sport contexts of young people's experiences and lives, it is conducive to the transfer of skills to other settings (Koh et al. [<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref81">33</reflink>]; Koh, Ong, and Camiré [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref82">34</reflink>]). Having a formal place at school, and consequently allowing regular and prolonged participation over time, PE also seems to contribute to more sustained developmental outcomes (Armour and Sandford [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref83">5</reflink>]). As it is conducted in a safe environment, where activities take place which are structured and supervised by adults, including specialist teachers (Holt et al. [<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref84">31</reflink>]), it is a favourable context to purposefully and deliberately promote PYD (Koh et al. [<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref85">33</reflink>]; Koh, Ong, and Camiré [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref86">34</reflink>]), as Bean and Forneris ([<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref87">7</reflink>]), Holt et al. ([<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref88">30</reflink>]) and Jones et al. ([<reflink idref="bib32" id="ref89">32</reflink>]) also argue. All this structuring, supervision and framing allows the relationship to be tailored between the specific needs of young students and the objectives of the subject programme, as well as facilitating the analysis of individual progress and the promotion of structured pathways for sustained engagement in further projects or complementary activities (Armour, Sandford, and Duncombe [<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref90">6</reflink>]).</p> <p>Intramurally, 'school sport', an extracurricular activity, plays an important role and 'team sports' prevail. Also structured and supervised by adults, this is a context that facilitates competitive intramural and interscholastic experiences, which are attractive and challenging. School sport implies interaction between individual (e.g. motivation, skills repertoire) and contextual factors (e.g. support from peers, coaches and parents, rewards, PE and sport programmes) under public exposure (competition), sometimes in different geographical or school spaces. It promotes developmental experiences (e.g. sports participation, cooperation and opposition, interaction and negotiation with coaches, teachers and parents, leadership roles) that sometimes can be not only favourable to youth development but also for the transfer of life skills acquired in the sporting context (e.g. goal setting, emotional control, self-efficacy, self-esteem, teamwork, time management, leadership, problem-solving, negotiation and communication) (Allen, Rhind, and Koshy [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref91">3</reflink>]; Armour and Sandford [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref92">5</reflink>]; Camiré, Trudel, and Forneris [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref93">11</reflink>]; Koh, Ong, and Camiré [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref94">34</reflink>]).</p> <p>Life skills are internal personal assets, characteristics and skills such as those mentioned in the previous paragraph, and that can be facilitated or developed in a particular context (e.g. sport) and transferred for use in other environments (non-sport settings, e.g. family, school and community) (Pierce, Gould, and Camiré [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref95">45</reflink>]). Involvement in sports allows life experiences to be widened to other practices and domains, like classroom and school life, home, community and future life (Allen, Rhind, and Koshy [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref96">3</reflink>]; Armour and Sandford [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref97">5</reflink>]; Armour, Sandford, and Duncombe [<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref98">6</reflink>]; Camiré and Trundel [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref99">12</reflink>]; Forneris, Camiré, and Williamson [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref100">20</reflink>]; Marttinen et al. [<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref101">40</reflink>]). The transfer process can occur when young students develop or learn and internalize personal assets in sport and then experience personal change through its application in a meaningful way for them in other contexts of their life (Pierce, Gould, and Camiré [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref102">45</reflink>]). However, beyond sport, other activities, like art and drama clubs, music, yearbooks, Amnesty International, student councils, community fundraising clubs, book or reading clubs and outdoor education clubs were also mentioned as favourable for transferring experiences (Forneris, Camiré, and Williamson [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref103">20</reflink>]). These results reinforce the importance of the ecological approach (Bronfenbrenner and Morris [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref104">8</reflink>]; Lerner et al. [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref105">37</reflink>]) in PYD research, as young students participate in sports and non-sports activities in and outside school walls, thus interacting socially in dynamic and interconnected contexts.</p> <p>Out-of-school studies highlight the diversity of formal names or frameworks (e.g. individual, team and dance-type sports, outdoor activities, traditional and non-traditional sports, sport and non-sport activities), mainly under the 'umbrella' of 'extracurricular' and 'afterschool'. However, there is some variability and a lack of standardization in the naming and classification of the activities, which may limit the psychosocial analysis of the contexts which they are part of and consequently the individual–environment interaction. For example, dance is referred to as sport (Agans and Geldhof [<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref106">1</reflink>]) and a non-sport activity (Wilson et al. [<reflink idref="bib56" id="ref107">56</reflink>]; Zarrett et al. [<reflink idref="bib58" id="ref108">58</reflink>]), as well as a recreational activity in PE classes (Armour, Sandford, and Duncombe [<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref109">6</reflink>]). In addition to this contextualization, it is important to mention that extracurricular sport activities, besides depending on voluntary participation, and therefore encompassing intrinsic motivational processes, concentrated effort and engagement (Hellison [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref110">25</reflink>]; Shernoff and Vandell [<reflink idref="bib51" id="ref111">51</reflink>]), allow interaction with peers and friends and the satisfaction of desires of social acceptance, peer social approval and sense of belonging to a group (Fuller et al. [<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref112">22</reflink>]; Hansen, Larson, and Dworkin [<reflink idref="bib23" id="ref113">23</reflink>]; Hellison and Wright [<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref114">26</reflink>]; Petitpas et al. [<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref115">43</reflink>]; Zarrett et al. [<reflink idref="bib58" id="ref116">58</reflink>]).</p> <p>A significant number of studies with sports programmes (in and out of school) was highlighted. These 'programmes' suggest activities organized and supervised by adults and promoted in a safe environment. When intentionally structured and accessible, sports settings provide activities with pre-defined goals. In this context and due to its social nature, participation in sport has psychological benefits beyond those of physical activity: meaningful access to physical activity, opportunities for self-discovery, building of personal, psychosocial and life skills, positive interactions with adults and peers, and the transfer of learned skills to other settings (Holt et al. [<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref117">30</reflink>]; Holt and Neely [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref118">29</reflink>]; Lee and Martinek [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref119">36</reflink>]; Whitley et al. [<reflink idref="bib55" id="ref120">55</reflink>]). At social and community levels, youth sport programmes can contribute to buffer social risks and provide settings that help to build protective factors and promote inclusion (Hellison [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref121">25</reflink>]; Hermens et al. [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref122">27</reflink>]).</p> <p>A great variety of sports activities was found, but also other types of classification, including 'non-sport'. Some authors (Hansen, Skorupski, and Arrington [<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref123">24</reflink>]; Larson, Hansen, and Moneta [<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref124">35</reflink>]) argue that the practice of different sports seems to be related to different developmental results. However, few of the selected studies conducted a comparative approach. On the other hand, except for the differences based on the team structure ('team' and 'individual' sports), the characteristics most often referred to in the literature (Larson, Hansen, and Moneta [<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref125">35</reflink>]), have not shown another standard approach concerning the classification or categorization of sports, not even a concern with marking this difference. Hansen, Skorupski, and Arrington ([<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref126">24</reflink>]) defended that the nature or particular dynamic properties of different youth activity settings could account for the observed patterns of young people's reported learning experiences.</p> <hd id="AN0184519595-13">Relationship between the practice of sports and the positive development of school children a...</hd> <p>The majority of the selected studies associated students' sport practice to positive developmental outcomes, namely personal and psychosocial development, life skills, prosocial behaviour, empathy, increments in values, self-perceptions of competence and self-efficacy, transfer of skills and values to other settings, engagement and contribution to community and school. These results are consistent with former research, which highlighted sport as a favourable vehicle to promote PYD (Bruner et al. [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref127">10</reflink>]; Eime et al. [<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref128">17</reflink>]; Holt et al. [<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref129">30</reflink>]; Jones et al. [<reflink idref="bib32" id="ref130">32</reflink>]; Whitley et al. [<reflink idref="bib55" id="ref131">55</reflink>]) and transfer learned competences and values out of the sports hall (Lee and Martinek [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref132">36</reflink>]; Pierce, Erickson, and Dinu [<reflink idref="bib44" id="ref133">44</reflink>]; Pierce, Gould, and Camiré [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref134">45</reflink>]).</p> <p>Some common aspects were found in the sports programmes in the selected studies (Table 2), which are in line with the proposals of other researchers (Bean and Forneris [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref135">7</reflink>]; Holt and Neely [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref136">29</reflink>]; Petitpas et al. [<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref137">43</reflink>]), specifically with regard to strategies and pedagogical, teaching and coaching processes, which were pointed out as being beneficial for more sustained PYD. Bean and Forneris ([<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref138">7</reflink>]) argue that a clearly and deliberately structured design of the activities and dynamics, conducted and supervised by expert adults who act in line with the goals of pre-defined programmes or interventions is a favourable context for the intentional promotion of PYD.</p> <p>A number of aspects are worthy of mention, which together suggest the emergence of an innovative strategy for recognizing and giving a central role to pupils not only in the dynamics of the programmes in which they participate, but also in their decision-making processes: attention to their specific needs, leadership roles (mentorship, coaching and apprentice teaching), and mostly, the significance given to their opinion ('voice') in decision-making (Armour, Sandford, and Duncombe [<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref139">6</reflink>]; Hellison and Wright [<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref140">26</reflink>]; Holt et al. [<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref141">31</reflink>]; Marttinen et al. [<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref142">40</reflink>]). This strategy implies interaction with peers and adults, which is an opportunity to develop psychosocial and life skills (Petitpas et al. [<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref143">43</reflink>]). On the other hand, opportunities to create or control the own destiny and influence the decisions that affect own lives are youth empowering experiences (Hellison [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref144">25</reflink>]).</p> <p>Individual aspects (e.g. perceptions of task and social cohesion, the development phase of cognitive capacities, feelings of enjoyment and fun, confidence in one's own sport skills, sport as a challenge), contextual (e, g., opportunities to develop skills and to use them out of the sports hall, type of sport activity, group cohesion, boring lessons, teachers and coaches' attitudes, developmental atmosphere) and some procedural aspects (e.g. time in practice, participants' social origin) were flagged (Allen, Rhind, and Koshy [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref145">3</reflink>]; Bruner et al. [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref146">9</reflink>]; Holt et al. [<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref147">31</reflink>]; Shaikh, Bean, and Forneris [<reflink idref="bib50" id="ref148">50</reflink>]; Super et al. [<reflink idref="bib54" id="ref149">54</reflink>]; Wilson et al. [<reflink idref="bib56" id="ref150">56</reflink>]) as important for sport experiences and their relation to PYD. For example, general coaching, human network and improved atmosphere and the specific action of teachers (management and office work, participation and connection with school life) and external coaches (teacher support and equipment supply; teachers: management and office work, participation and connection with school life) were perceived by students as enriching their own sports experiences (Aoyagi et al. [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref151">4</reflink>]). The perception of sport-based youth development programmes as safe places, out of trouble and involvement in 'at-risk' behaviours was associated with continued participation and experiences favourable to positive personal development (Fuller et al. [<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref152">22</reflink>]). Having fun, seeing one's skills grow, being confident in one's sport, facing it as a positive challenge and the support action of coaches were also related to positive sports experiences (Super et al. [<reflink idref="bib54" id="ref153">54</reflink>]). In some cases, positive experiences within sport programmes increased student' beliefs about the importance of mastering focus (Ettekal et al. [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref154">18</reflink>]), an aspect that is beneficial to developmental experiences (Shaikh, Bean, and Forneris [<reflink idref="bib50" id="ref155">50</reflink>]).</p> <p>Other investigations found innovative outcomes as a result of interactions between positive and negative experiences. It is relevant to highlight that some negative experiences became developmental ones because they provided opportunities for young people to flourish. For example, by trying to overcome negative experiences because of barriers to the practice of sport (e.g. violence), some young people had positive and empowering developmental experiences by not abandoning the sport and having and being role models for their youngers (Marttinen et al. [<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref156">40</reflink>]). That is, they have gained decision power over an issue that concerns them in the opportunity to play sport. Other barriers to developmental experiences were also found: the lack of opportunities to use skills learned outside the sports hall, boring lessons and negative teacher attitudes were seen as barriers to life skill transfer from sports hall to classroom (Allen, Rhind, and Koshy [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref157">3</reflink>]). In sum, the large range of results presented reinforce the idea (Coakley [<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref158">14</reflink>]) that participation in sport is not always associated with positive developmental outcomes. These seem to depend on the interaction between multiple individual and contextual factors, in an appropriate context (Bronfenbrenner and Morris [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref159">8</reflink>]; Lerner et al. [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref160">37</reflink>]; Petitpas et al. [<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref161">43</reflink>]). Sport-based PYD programmes can lead young people to empowerment. These programmes can provide a space where empowerment can be achieved by youth through positive experiences and interactions. Opportunities are promoted for young people to create or control their own lives and to influence decisions that affect their future.</p> <p>One other important aspect, also defended by some authors (Bean and Forneris [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref162">7</reflink>]; Hellison [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref163">25</reflink>]; Petitpas et al. [<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref164">43</reflink>]), is the need of young people to feel that the activities (in and out of school, and programmes) are safe physical and psychological domains for participation (Forneris, Camiré, and Williamson [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref165">20</reflink>]; Fuller et al. [<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref166">22</reflink>]). Within a school context, an inappropriate atmosphere (negative behaviours during games, e.g. not coping well with losing, damaging equipment, not listening to the referee, swearing at the referee and at each other, pushing, and occasional aggressive behaviour) was associated with negative interactions among students (Holt et al. [<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref167">31</reflink>]). Outside school walls, peaceful spaces (safe spaces where youth can learn and be physically active without fear of violence that surrounds them in communities and have positive and empathetic relationships with supportive adults and peers) seem to contribute to developing positive associations between school, sporting activity and community (Marttinen et al. [<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref168">40</reflink>]). This need and the referred relations between sports practice, experiences lived in it and PYD outcomes lead us to suggest that it is the quality of the sport experiences, more than other singular or quantitative factors, that determines youth development.</p> <p>Sport activities were highlighted (Allen, Rhind, and Koshy [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref169">3</reflink>]; Armour and Sandford [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref170">5</reflink>]; Camiré, Trudel, and Forneris [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref171">11</reflink>]; Forneris, Camiré, and Williamson [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref172">20</reflink>]; Hellison and Wright [<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref173">26</reflink>]; Koh et al. [<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref174">33</reflink>]; Koh, Ong, and Camiré [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref175">34</reflink>]) as a favourable mechanism and context for the transfer of the skills and values learned to other areas of young people's lives (e.g. classroom, family, community and future). Some factors (support and interaction with peers, parents and coaches; purposefully designed activities and deliberate planning; teachers' and coaches' attitudes and strategies; pride, opportunities, rewards and transfer of experiences; leadership opportunities) emerged as promoters or facilitators of that process (Allen, Rhind, and Koshy [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref176">3</reflink>]; Camiré, Trudel, and Forneris [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref177">11</reflink>]; Hellison and Wright [<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref178">26</reflink>]; Koh et al. [<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref179">33</reflink>]; Koh, Ong, and Camiré [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref180">34</reflink>]). For example, leadership roles (coaching, teaching and peer-mentoring) provide opportunities to build and use transferable skills and also to learn about themselves (Hellison and Wright [<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref181">26</reflink>]). However, others (lack of sport participation opportunities, boring lessons, negative teacher attitudes, time constraints) limit this (Allen, Rhind, and Koshy [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref182">3</reflink>]; Koh, Ong, and Camiré [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref183">34</reflink>]). Depending on the interaction between individual and context, in sport activities young people can learn to interact with peers and adults and gain confidence in their own abilities to be successful outside the sport environment (Petitpas et al. [<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref184">43</reflink>]).</p> <p>From the confluence of results of some of the reviewed studies (Allen, Rhind, and Koshy [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref185">3</reflink>]; Armour and Sandford [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref186">5</reflink>]; Camiré, Trudel, and Forneris [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref187">11</reflink>]; Forneris, Camiré, and Williamson [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref188">20</reflink>]; Koh et al. [<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref189">33</reflink>]; Koh, Ong, and Camiré [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref190">34</reflink>]) the idea emerged of the school as a context conducive to the transfer process. In fact, in addition to the recognized enormous amount of intramural time spent, formal and informal organized and safe dynamics and spaces are available, where students can participate in sport activities (PE, school sport). In fact, school is a common interactive social space which allows young people to apply the skills learned in sports (PE and sports in and out-of-school) outside sports halls, but still inside school walls, particularly in classroom and other school non-sport situations, dynamics and activities (e.g. common spaces, clubs, extracurricular activities, interactions with peers and adults). Camiré and Trundel ([<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref191">12</reflink>]) found that school football can contribute to school connectedness. It seems that teacher-coaches' action in school football, by the very nature of their role – accumulation of teaching and coaching activities – can place them in an advantageous position to positively influence and evaluate pupils' development, promoting a 'bridge' between school football and school. Similar results were obtained by the cooperation network between external coaches and teachers (Aoyagi et al. [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref192">4</reflink>]). Using external coaches seems to be an effective solution not only to reduce teachers' workload, but also to improve teachers' and students' knowledge, skills and interaction between both (Aoyagi et al. [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref193">4</reflink>]). The work of Forneris, Camiré, and Williamson ([<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref194">20</reflink>]) reinforces this conclusion that school sport appears to contribute to integration, engagement and connectedness of young students with school and they argue that the school environment provides opportunities for sports participation. Beyond that, structured activities seem potentially favourable to transfer when the process is intentionally designed in that direction (Bean and Forneris [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref195">7</reflink>]). Transfer is an ongoing process that does not happen in a void. Individuals are continuously influencing and being influenced by multiple ecological systems (Bronfenbrenner and Morris [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref196">8</reflink>]; Lee and Martinek [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref197">36</reflink>]; Pierce, Gould, and Camiré [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref198">45</reflink>]).</p> <p>Some active elements were referred to for their roles or actions. Peers were indicated as the initial reasons for the adherence to participation in sports and as the supporting enablers to promote life skills transfer from the sports hall to contexts outside the gym (Allen, Rhind, and Koshy [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref199">3</reflink>]; Fuller et al. [<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref200">22</reflink>]). It was also concluded that young people's experiences of acting as leaders, mentors and apprentice teachers of youngsters or as role models seem to contribute to better personal relationships and atmosphere, and promote empowerment and values, such as respect (Hellison and Wright [<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref201">26</reflink>]; Marttinen et al. [<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref202">40</reflink>]; Shaikh, Bean, and Forneris [<reflink idref="bib50" id="ref203">50</reflink>]).</p> <p>Concerning PE teachers, their interaction with students and teaching strategies are referenced as important in learning values and their transfer to life and other contexts (Allen, Rhind, and Koshy [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref204">3</reflink>]; Koh et al. [<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref205">33</reflink>]; Koh, Ong, and Camiré [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref206">34</reflink>]). Pupils who felt supported by teachers, as well as treating them as resources, were more likely to exert effort, experience more enjoyment and value physical activity (Wright and Li [<reflink idref="bib57" id="ref207">57</reflink>]). However, some works highlighted teachers' negative attitudes and boring lessons as barriers to that process (Allen, Rhind, and Koshy [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref208">3</reflink>]). Coaches were identified as key players in promoting positive sports experiences (Super et al. [<reflink idref="bib54" id="ref209">54</reflink>]). They are recognized as important elements not only in supporting but also promoting the development of communication, negotiation and life skills, social interactions, empathy and respect, resilience, commitment, values and their transfer to life and other contexts (Camiré, Trudel, and Forneris [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref210">11</reflink>]; Holt et al. [<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref211">31</reflink>]; Koh et al. [<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref212">33</reflink>]; Koh, Ong, and Camiré [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref213">34</reflink>]).</p> <p>In some extracurricular school sports, students perceived benefits in their own experiences, general coaching, human network, atmosphere, participation and connection with school life because of the teamwork between external coaches and PE teachers (Aoyagi et al. [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref214">4</reflink>]). The supporting staff, including school educators, was seen as a complement to the coaches' actions, possibly due to their more favourable position to impact in some school areas (Lim, Koh, and Chan [<reflink idref="bib38" id="ref215">38</reflink>]). Finally, parents have been key elements in promoting PYD through sport, not only for their support, but also as elements that provide opportunities for negotiation and communication, important life skills for the development of young people and transfer process (Camiré, Trudel, and Forneris [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref216">11</reflink>]). These results, in general, point to the critical importance of an appropriate social environment (based primarily on relationships with peers and adults, including teachers, coaches and parents) in sport activities for promoting PYD, as Petitpas et al. ([<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref217">43</reflink>]), Holt and Neely ([<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref218">29</reflink>]) and Holt et al. ([<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref219">30</reflink>]) argue.</p> <p>There are results that support the hypothesis that the differences in the association between sports practice and developmental outcomes (PYD, contribution) might be determined by individual factors (e.g. gender, age, motivational processes associated with practice, perceptions and personal experiences, practice patterns). For example, girls seem to gain higher benefits in PYD and contribution (Agans and Geldhof [<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref220">1</reflink>]). It is possible that these findings could be justified by the traditionally sex-segregated environment of organized sports which offer different opportunities due to a wide range of factors (e.g. team culture, coaching style). Age also seems an important variable because it is positively correlated with developmental outcomes (Raimundi, Schmidt, and Hernández-Mendo [<reflink idref="bib47" id="ref221">47</reflink>]). The youngest tend to react positively to (older) leaders, respecting them, feeling gratitude and developing a personal relationship with them (Hellison and Wright [<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref222">26</reflink>]).</p> <p>Longer or continued youth sport participation, in and out of school, was associated with more sustainable and positive developmental outcomes, higher levels and continuity of sport participation, including in adulthood. Time constraints were identified as the key challenge and the main constraint for learning and generating positive results, and also a longer duration would have allowed for more effective value transfer. It seems to be a case of the longer the better. More exposure and practice time usually mean more opportunities. But this may not always be the case for all individuals in all circumstances, as stated by Zarrett et al. ([<reflink idref="bib58" id="ref223">58</reflink>]). Benefits can also be associated with issues of participation time or increased opportunities for positive movement experiences across contexts for young people who participate in a wider variety of athletic activities (Agans and Geldhof [<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref224">1</reflink>]). This leads us to point again to the hypothesis that it may be above all the quality of developmental experiences that most determine PYD.</p> <p>Most of the selected studies carried out their work encompassing several different sports, with some including non-sport activities. There were studies suggesting that sport participation promoted higher PYD outcomes compared to participation in non-sport activities and non-participation in any kind of activity (Carreres-Ponsoda et al. [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref225">13</reflink>]). Also, the young people that participated simultaneously in individual and team sports had the most favourable developmental outcomes compared to non-participation (Agans and Geldhof [<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref226">1</reflink>]). Others hold that sports participation is a positive and a substantive experience to promote PYD contribution, but especially effective when combined with non-sport programmes, particularly with the inclusion of performing arts (e.g. school band, drama, dance, music), arts and crafts (e.g. drawing), school clubs (academic clubs, e.g. maths club; school government; school newspaper), volunteering, religious activities (religious education, religious youth group) and paid work (Zarrett et al. [<reflink idref="bib58" id="ref227">58</reflink>]). Additionally, those who participated in various extracurricular activities, including sports, scored higher on developmental outcomes when compared to those engaging in only one sport or not involved at all (Forneris, Camiré, and Williamson [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref228">20</reflink>]). But it seems that youth participation in some specific sports (e.g. basketball and football) was related to lower results than other sports or non-sports activities, although that trend could be influenced by the selection process (Wilson et al. [<reflink idref="bib56" id="ref229">56</reflink>]). Other authors (Raimundi, Schmidt, and Hernández-Mendo [<reflink idref="bib47" id="ref230">47</reflink>]) highlight that team sports and individual sports promote different developmental outcomes. In general, in line with prior proposals (Fredricks and Eccles [<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref231">21</reflink>]), the results suggest that different types of sports (e.g. team and individual) or activities (sport and non-sport) and combinations of them promote different opportunities for young people to get involved in adaptive relations with their ecology and boost positive development. From this contextualization emerges the idea that different sporting experiences are associated with different developmental outcomes.</p> <p>Some of the sports programme features identified in the selected studies that are recognized (Bean and Forneris [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref232">7</reflink>]; Holt and Neely [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref233">29</reflink>]) as beneficial for PYD include safe spaces and environments, appropriate structures and goals, supportive and caring adults and mentors, integration in a positive group, positive social norms, opportunities to build skills in a desired and meaningfully activity and integration in school and community efforts. However, although the majority of the selected studies of this systematic review showed that sport participation is beneficial to youth development, research was also found indicating that PYD may not be facilitated through mere participation in sport. Some factors or variables were found: lack of opportunities to use the skills learned outside the sports hall, boring lessons and negative teacher attitudes (Allen, Rhind, and Koshy [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref234">3</reflink>]), due to poor attempts by staff (teachers, school principal, school nurse, coaches) to create an appropriate atmosphere for development (Holt et al. [<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref235">31</reflink>]), time constraints (Koh, Ong, and Camiré [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref236">34</reflink>]), barriers to playing sports (e.g. violence) (Marttinen et al. [<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref237">40</reflink>]), negative sports experiences (perceived lack of perseverance of teammates, group pressure for better performance, perceptions of incompetence and feelings of rejection and isolation, criticism or negative attitudes of the coach) (Super et al. [<reflink idref="bib54" id="ref238">54</reflink>]) and other individual, process and contextual aspects (see Shaikh, Bean, and Forneris [<reflink idref="bib50" id="ref239">50</reflink>]). Within this frame, it is possible to point out some elements and factors that were beneficial to youth development in some studies and in others did not contribute to PYD at all, particularly the actions and attitudes of teachers, coaches and peers. This seems to be related to the quality of social interaction and the consequent impact on the environment and the emergence of opportunities for acquisition and development of skills. As some authors argue (Bronfenbrenner and Morris [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref240">8</reflink>]; Lerner et al. [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref241">37</reflink>]; Petitpas et al. [<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref242">43</reflink>]), the developmental experiences of young people depend on and can be influenced by the interaction between multiple individual and contextual factors in a certain context. That is, more than just participation, it seems above all that it is the quality of sport participation and the developmental experiences that are inherent to it that determine young people's development (Ferreira, Azevedo, and Menezes [<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref243">19</reflink>]; Shernoff and Vandell [<reflink idref="bib51" id="ref244">51</reflink>]).</p> <p>In short, more than the sports or activities themselves, it seems to be the way they are organized, conducted and supervised that determines the way they are experienced and perceived by young people and, consequently, the developmental outcomes of programmes and interventions. In other words, it is their structure, not mere participation or chance, which promotes the positive and harmonious development of young people. As Mahoney and Stattin ([<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref245">39</reflink>]) found, rather than the type of activity, is the structure that determines whether developmental outcomes from sport participation are positive or negative. Moreover, when we talk about programmes targeted to specific populations and objectives, as is the case with most of the selected studies, in addition to necessarily talking about structured activities, it is also necessary to talk about decisions and strategies which are deliberately directed to create opportunities that maximize the results of the programmes and interventions. That is, an intentionality that supports their philosophy, action, and reflection. Bean and Forneris ([<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref246">7</reflink>]) argue that youth participation in intentionally structured sport programmes, in addition to the higher benefits compared to those non-intentionally structured, provide more opportunities for a supportive environment (e.g. active engagement, skill building), interaction (e.g. collaboration, leadership), engagement (e.g. planning, reflection) and better PYD outcomes. This framework and contextualization should be considered by both education and sport professionals and policymakers in structuring, planning and delivering intervention programmes through sport.</p> <hd id="AN0184519595-14">Conclusions</hd> <p>The following conclusions can be drawn:</p> <p></p> <ulist> <item> The practice of sports seems to contribute to PYD and to the transfer of learned skills and values to other areas and spaces of life, in and out of school. However, this relationship does not seem linear. By itself, participating in sport does not lead to positive developmental outcomes.</item> <p></p> <item> Developmental outcomes appear to be related to multiple individual (gender, age, perceptions, specific needs and sport experience) and contextual factors (safe dynamics and environment, deliberately structured activities, the cross of boundaries and clear norms, supportive and caring adults and mentors, integration in a positive group, having voice and possibility of participation in decision-making processes, leadership roles, opportunities for building skills in a desired and meaningful activity and the integration of the community or school on sport programmes) and to the interaction between them.</item> <p></p> <item> Participation in different activities affords different opportunities for children and young people to engage in adaptive relations with their ecology and positive development. The combination of different types of sports, in or out of school, especially when combined with non-sport activities, seems to bring greater benefits.</item> </ulist> <p>These conclusions lead us to recognize and highlight the role and importance of sport and physical education as contexts (in and out of school) in the positive development of children and young people attending school. However, the results also allow us to continue questioning the rhetoric that 'sport participation is always good' (Ferreira, Azevedo, and Menezes [<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref247">19</reflink>]). In face of the evidence found, supported by relational developmental system theories (Lerner et al. [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref248">37</reflink>]) and the ecological approach (Bronfenbrenner and Morris [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref249">8</reflink>]), which emphasize the role of mutually influential relations among individuals and context in an appropriate environment, it is argued that it is above all the quality of sport experiences that determines PYD outcomes (Figure 4). In fact, as in other areas of youth development, everyday sport experiences can provide 'the elements of challenge and support, of action and reflection' (Ferreira, Azevedo, and Menezes [<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref250">19</reflink>], 601) that have a higher transformative potential.</p> <p>Graph: Figure 4. Ecological approach of PYD – the quality of sport experiences.</p> <p>From this review also emerges the idea of intentionality. This needs to be associated with the decisions and strategies which are deliberately used not only in the planning, structuring and dynamics that support programmes but also in the philosophy that guides teachers' and coaches' interventions. These are part of the structure of the programmes and work on them, aiming to create and maximize the developmental opportunities that allow the pre-established objectives to be reached in each programme, intervention or activity.</p> <hd id="AN0184519595-15">Limitations and proposals for the future</hd> <p>The present systematic review has the innovative particularity of being carried out from a baseline criterion, specifically studies carried out with participants who were children and young people attending school. However, the results did not allow that objective to be reached given the absence of comparative studies of the developmental outcomes of the practice of sports inside and outside school. Considering the ecological view that supports the PYD approach, an investigation is proposed of the relation between the development of young people and their sports practices inside and outside the school walls. A lack of uniformity in the terminology used in the naming and classification of some activities or contexts of practice was also found. Still, the high quality of the selected studies and the fact that 86.7% are very recent (published during the last decade) are strengths of this work.</p> <p>A thematic analysis of the results of the selected studies is suggested in order to explore developmental differences between in-school, including PE, and out-of-school participation in sports. It is important to remember the specific status of PE as curricular space in school and the mandatory frequency that is inherent to it in some countries. 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Items – Name: Title
  Label: Title
  Group: Ti
  Data: Positive Youth Development through Sport and Physical Education: A Systematic Review of Empirical Research Conducted with Grade 5 to 12 Children and Youth
– Name: Language
  Label: Language
  Group: Lang
  Data: English
– Name: Author
  Label: Authors
  Group: Au
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Luís+Almeida%22">Luís Almeida</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3420-5824">0000-0003-3420-5824</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Teresa+Dias%22">Teresa Dias</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6146-4763">0000-0001-6146-4763</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Nuno+Corte-Real%22">Nuno Corte-Real</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4725-1267">0000-0002-4725-1267</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Isabel+Menezes%22">Isabel Menezes</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9063-3773">0000-0001-9063-3773</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22António+Fonseca%22">António Fonseca</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1272-1679">0000-0002-1272-1679</externalLink>)
– Name: TitleSource
  Label: Source
  Group: Src
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22Physical+Education+and+Sport+Pedagogy%22"><i>Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy</i></searchLink>. 2025 30(3):282-308.
– Name: Avail
  Label: Availability
  Group: Avail
  Data: Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
– Name: PeerReviewed
  Label: Peer Reviewed
  Group: SrcInfo
  Data: Y
– Name: Pages
  Label: Page Count
  Group: Src
  Data: 27
– Name: DatePubCY
  Label: Publication Date
  Group: Date
  Data: 2025
– Name: Audience
  Label: Intended Audience
  Group: Audnce
  Data: Teachers; Policymakers
– Name: TypeDocument
  Label: Document Type
  Group: TypDoc
  Data: Journal Articles<br />Information Analyses
– Name: Audience
  Label: Education Level
  Group: Audnce
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Elementary+Education%22">Elementary Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Grade+5%22">Grade 5</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Intermediate+Grades%22">Intermediate Grades</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Middle+Schools%22">Middle Schools</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Secondary+Education%22">Secondary Education</searchLink>
– Name: Subject
  Label: Descriptors
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Elementary+School+Students%22">Elementary School Students</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Grade+5%22">Grade 5</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Secondary+School+Students%22">Secondary School Students</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Athletics%22">Athletics</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Team+Sports%22">Team Sports</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Physical+Recreation+Programs%22">Physical Recreation Programs</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Drills+%28Practice%29%22">Drills (Practice)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Physical+Education%22">Physical Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Student+Development%22">Student Development</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Extracurricular+Activities%22">Extracurricular Activities</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Interpersonal+Relationship%22">Interpersonal Relationship</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Interpersonal+Competence%22">Interpersonal Competence</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Decision+Making+Skills%22">Decision Making Skills</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Leadership+Training%22">Leadership Training</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Context+Effect%22">Context Effect</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Learning+Processes%22">Learning Processes</searchLink>
– Name: DOI
  Label: DOI
  Group: ID
  Data: 10.1080/17408989.2023.2230208
– Name: ISSN
  Label: ISSN
  Group: ISSN
  Data: 1740-8989<br />1742-5786
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: Background: Over the two last decades, the interest in personal and psychosocial youth development has been growing due to its engagement in sport activities. Furthermore, participation in sport has been referenced as a favourable mechanism and context for positive youth development (PYD). However, some studies and researchers continue to question the linearity of this association. Considering the place and importance of the practice of sports in and out of school in young people's lives, it is necessary to systematically gather empirical evidence about the relationship between sports involvement and the development of children and young people attending school. This knowledge is important not only for teachers, coaches and professionals who work at schools, clubs and associations, but also for policymakers. Objective: to study the relationship between the practice of sport and the positive development of children and young people attending school. This purpose was guided by the following research question: What is the relation between the practice of sports and positive development of grade 5 to 12 children and youth attending school? Method: Conduct a systematic search in EBSCO, Scopus and Web of Science databases. Search for relevant studies with a quantitative, qualitative and mixed design that met previously established eligibility criteria. Quality was assessed and data were extracted from a previously elaborated template. Results: The systematic review followed the PRISMA protocol and included 30 studies with quantitative (n = 14), qualitative (n = 12) and mixed (n = 4) designs. A wide variety of sports and two fundamental settings -- physical education (PE) and extracurricular activities -- in and out of school -- were found, most of them framed in structured activities or intervention programmes. Results suggest that the practice of sports, especially when combining different sports and contexts, or including non-sport activities, seems to favour psychosocial development and the transfer of competences and values to other areas of life, 'outside' sports. This evidence appears to depend on several individual and contextual factors, such as psychological and physical security, presence and action of adults and mentors, positive social interactions, having a voice and participation in decision-making, leadership roles, opportunities for skills built in a meaningful activity and deliberately structured activities, but also on the interaction between individual and contextual factors. Conclusions: The results suggest the importance of sports practice as a mechanism and a favourable context for the developmental outcomes of children and young people attending school. That relationship, however, seems contingent. Developmental outcomes might be related to multiple individual and contextual factors and to the interaction among them. Different activities afford different opportunities for children and young people to engage in adaptive relations with their ecology and positive development. The combination of different types of sports, in or out of school, especially when combined with non-sport activities, seems to bring greater benefits. Several factors were referenced as beneficial to PYD promotion in sport programmes, in and out of school.
– Name: AbstractInfo
  Label: Abstractor
  Group: Ab
  Data: As Provided
– Name: DateEntry
  Label: Entry Date
  Group: Date
  Data: 2025
– Name: AN
  Label: Accession Number
  Group: ID
  Data: EJ1467971
PLink https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=eric&AN=EJ1467971
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      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1080/17408989.2023.2230208
    Languages:
      – Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 27
        StartPage: 282
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Elementary School Students
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Grade 5
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Secondary School Students
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Athletics
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Team Sports
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      – SubjectFull: Physical Recreation Programs
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      – SubjectFull: Drills (Practice)
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      – SubjectFull: Physical Education
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      – SubjectFull: Student Development
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      – SubjectFull: Extracurricular Activities
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Interpersonal Relationship
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Interpersonal Competence
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Decision Making Skills
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Leadership Training
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Context Effect
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Learning Processes
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: Positive Youth Development through Sport and Physical Education: A Systematic Review of Empirical Research Conducted with Grade 5 to 12 Children and Youth
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            NameFull: Teresa Dias
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            NameFull: Nuno Corte-Real
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            NameFull: António Fonseca
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