ABSTRACT

Despite the pervasive belief that sport can serve as a vital context for positive youth development (PYD), the associated empirical evidence to support these claims is less compelling. To advance the field, the purpose of this scoping review was to better understand how sport-based PYD researchers conceptualize PYD, and both operationally define and measure PYD outcomes. A final sample of 78 non-experimental, quantitative research articles involving 90,665 youth (M_age = 14.16 years) met inclusion criteria. Results revealed a wide and inconsistent array of (a) conceptual models and definitions for PYD, (b) constructs used to operationalize PYD, and (c) measures used to assess these PYD constructs. Only 38 of the studies (48%) explicitly conceptualized PYD using a formal definition and/or framework and there were a total of 243 unique operational definitions to represent PYD through sport (assessed a total of 632 times). In light of these findings, we offer a set of recommendations with the intent to strengthen future quantitative, sport-based PYD research. We believe that adherence to these guidelines carries the potential to enhance future theoretical and practical contributions, and help to better understand sport as a vehicle for positive development for youth.

摘要

尽管普遍认为体育可以作为积极青年发展 (PYD) 的重要背景，但支持这些主张的相关经验证据却不那么令人信服。为了推进该领域，本次范围审查的目的是更好地了解基于体育的 PYD 研究人员如何概念化 PYD，以及如何在操作上定义和衡量 PYD 结果。78 篇非实验性定量研究文章的最终样本，涉及 90,665 名青年（M_年龄 = 14.16 岁）符合纳入标准。结果揭示了一系列广泛且不一致的 (a) PYD 的概念模型和定义，(b) 用于实施 PYD 的结构，以及 (c) 用于评估这些 PYD 结构的措施。只有 38 项研究 (48%) 使用正式定义和/或框架明确概念化了 PYD，并且共有 243 个独特的操作定义通过体育来表示 PYD（总共评估了 632 次）。根据这些发现，我们提出了一系列建议，旨在加强未来基于运动的定量 PYD 研究。我们相信，遵守这些指导方针有可能增强未来的理论和实践贡献，并有助于更好地理解体育是促进青少年积极发展的工具。