Adult Influence in Children's Sports

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer looks at the psychological effects that parents and coaches have upon youths participating in athletic pursuits. Specifically, the paper argues that positive parental role models can encourage young men and women to grow as people because of their sporting experiences and to become more active in sports. Further, the writer maintains that such influence can show that athletic activities are about more than simply winning and losing. The writer concludes that parents and coaches have an enormous impact upon the psychological development of youngsters participating in sports.

From the Paper:

"Similarly, coaches who genuinely care about their charges can boost the self-esteem levels of children and convince those under their care that there is something gratifying and meaningful about playing a team sport or an individual sport. In the end, young people who play sports - just like young people who involve themselves in any extra-curricular activity - are highly impressionable and psychologically vulnerable, and can easily be shaped for good or ill by the adults around them. Consequently, conscientious parents and coaches will never lose sight of the fact that sports are, at least for the very young, a means to an end and not an end in themselves.
"To begin with, parents can exert tremendous pressure upon young people involved in sports. Achievement-by-Proxy Disorder is a situation wherein parents who could never quite achieve sporting success for themselves transfer their yearnings and hopes upon their children. In the end, this unhealthy sort of parental pressure can lead to the abuse and/or exploitation of children or adolescents."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Baxter-Jones, A.D. (2003). Parental influence on sport participation in elite young athletes. The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, 43(2): 250-55.
• Davison, K.K., Cutting, T.M., and Birch, L.L. (2003). Parents' activity-related parenting practices predict girls' physical activity. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 35(9): 1589-95.
• Holt, Nicholas L., and Black, Danielle E. (2007). Parenting styles and specific parenting strategies in youth sport. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 29, S170.
• Smith, Ronald E., and Smoll, Frank L. (1990). Self-esteem and childrens' reactions to youth sport coaching behaviors: A field study of self-enhancement processes. Developmental Psychology, 26(6): 987-93.
• Smoll, Frank L., Smith, Ronald E., and Barnett, Nancy P. (1993). Enhancement of children's self-esteem through social support training for youth sport coaches. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78(4): 602-10.

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