Author: C.H. McCloy lecture  Title: ' Field of Dreams'   Dec. 2008

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COPYRIGHT 2008 American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD)

Key words: moral development, motivation, self-perceptions, social influence

Being asked to give the Charles H. McCloy research lecture is one of the highlights of my academic career. It is a distinct honor to be selected for this coveted lecture by my peers in kinesiology. Although McCloy's primary area of expertise was measurement and the analysis of motor skills, he also shared an avid interest in youth development through sport and physical activity (McCloy, 1930; McCloy & Hepp, 1957). He engaged in service activities at YMCAs in the United States and China for 25 years, and perhaps this social context inspired him to publish a manuscript in the first volume of The Research Quarterly (1930) titled, "Character Building Through Physical Education." In his essay, McCloy strongly advocated for carefully designed curricula and competent and caring instructors to ensure that values are learned in physical activity contexts. But more on that later.

I purposefully selected the title Field of Dreams. Those who know me are aware of my strong passion for baseball, and I found the title from this baseball movie to be appropriate on a number of levels. As a young girl, I dreamed of playing in Little League and then replacing Sandy Koufax as the ace of the Los Angeles Dodgers' pitching staff. That dream was dashed in short order when I showed up to try out for Little League in 1963 and was sent home because I was the "wrong" gender. So instead I pursued my own "field" of dreams--doing field research on youth development through sport and physical activity, a field for which I have exuded much passion and sustained programmatic research for 25+ years. But I do manage to integrate my two "fields of dreams" as much as possible by attending baseball games with my students during research-related trips!

Sport as a Context for Youth Development

Physical activity contexts primarily include organized sport, school physical education, recreational activities, motor skill development programs, dance, recess, and active transport (e.g., walking, biking). Of these contexts, organized sport is particularly salient for children and adolescents. This is evident by the estimated number of 35-40 million youth sport participants in the United States (Ewing & Seefeldt, 2002), which has increased markedly over the past decade (M. R. Weiss & Hayashi, 1996) and even more so for girls (LaVoi, 2007). Youth sport participation patterns and rates are important to study for their physical health benefits (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 1997; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS], 2000). Just as importantly, sport can have a positive effect on youths' social, psychological, and motor development and inspire a physically active lifestyle (Nichols, Pettee, & Ainsworth, 9007; M. R. Weiss, 9004a; Wiese-Bjornstal, 2007). For these reasons, youth sport should be considered an important social context of youth development.

Despite its potential to promote social, psychological, and physical development and health-related outcomes, the youth sport context is often neglected in the "physical activity" literature. This is surprising given the staggering number of participants involved and because physical activity guidelines for children and adolescents explicitly include school and community sports to meet activity guidelines (CDC, 1997; USDHHS, 2000). Thus, the purpose of my paper is to feature youth sport as a unique social context with the potential for developing youth psychologically, socially, and physically and, thus, should not be excluded when talking about youth physical activity and associated health and skill benefits.

To understand my worldview on youth development through sport, it is important to share the social contexts that have shaped my academic career. The most important experience was my 5-year stint as a youth sports coach for a parks and recreation department during my undergraduate and graduate years in California. This context was salient in blazing a path to my future as a scholar, because child development principles unfolded naturally through their play and competition behaviors. After a brief hiatus as a college basketball coach, I learned that my roots were in youth development, not college sports. So I returned to school to pursue a doctoral degree in sport psychology at Michigan State just when the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports was being established. The sport psychology program, with its focus on youth development, and the Institute's activities (education, outreach, and research) comprised an educational context well suited to my passion and helped launch my lines of research.

Following my student days at Michigan State, I was fortunate to secure a professorship at the University of Oregon, where I also served as director of the Children's Summer Sports Program, a developmental skills program focused on motor and psychosocial development. In this context, I integrated research, teaching, and service every summer with 300 youth ages 5-13 years old, 30 instructors, and 15 junior leaders. These contexts were critical to my work as an applied researcher of youth development through physical activity, first at the University of Oregon for 16 years, then at the University of Virginia for 10 years, and now at the University of Minnesota. The take-home message is that social context matters; that is why I believe youth sport offers unique contributions to youth development beyond the home and school environments. Although this statement is not surprising to those in the choir, the youth sport context eluded the interest of child and community psychologists until only recently.

I organized this paper into sections that integrate youth development research with C. H. McCloy's contributions to this area, First, I discuss the importance of adopting a developmental theoretical perspective to studying children's experiences in sport, a pervasive view throughout my research. With this worldview, I then review our lines of research on positive youth development through sport--self-perceptions, motivation, character development, social relationships, and observational learning. I say "our" because establishing lines of research is a team sport, and my students and colleagues (notably Thelma Horn and Penny McCullagh) have been collaborators all along. Third, I share an important developmental transition in my career that led to using mixed methodologies for understanding youth development. This growth period allowed us to elevate the quality of our questions, methods, and analyses, and ultimately improve our ability to capture the essence of youth development through sport. Fourth, I share findings from our longitudinal research evaluating The First Tee, a youth development program using sport as a context to promote life skills and positive outcomes. I conclude that we can maximize the benefits of youth sport participation when we adopt an interdisciplinary perspective--integrating theory and research from developmental sport psychology, kinesiology, child and adolescent psychology, educational psychology, and public health, among other disciplines central to of this phenomenon. I believe Charles McCloy would agree with this perspective as well.

Developmental Sport Psychology: A Theoretical Perspective for Studying Youth in Sport

As a doctoral student at Michigan State, I adopted my theoretical lens for studying children and adolescents in sport. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, much of the research on social psychological factors related to youth sport participation was atheoretical. When theories were used, age-related differences in cognitions and perceptions were rarely considered in study designs, methodologies, and interpretation of findings. This did not make conceptual sense to me, so early on I coined the term developmental sport psychology to highlight the importance of adopting a developmental perspective toward understanding youth participants' experiences in sport (M. R. Weiss & Bredemeier, 1983; M. R. Weiss & Raedeke, 2004). Borrowing concepts from developmental psychology (Bahes, Reese, & Nesselroade, 1988), a developmental theoretical orientation is defined as one that seeks to describe and explain psychosocial and behavioral changes over time within individuals (intraindividual change) and differences and similarities in such changes among individuals (interindividual differences). In our 1983 article, we outlined how such a perspective could be applied to research on motivation, observational learning, and moral development and identified several appropriate developmental theories for such investigations.

I remain committed to a developmental theoretical orientation for understanding youths' experiences in sport and physical activity (see M. R. Weiss, 2004b). This perspective means using designs and methodologies that consider age-related differences in cognitions, perceptions, and behaviors (e.g., Horn & Weiss, 1991; M. R. Weiss, Ebbeck, & Rose, 1992; M. R. Weiss, Smith, & Theeboom, 1996). Findings from developmentally based studies provide accurate, useful, and effective teaching strategies to make a difference in children's lives--enhancing social, psychological, and physical skill development. In our advocacy for a developmental perspective, we (M. R. Weiss & Bredemeier, 1983; M. R. Weiss & Raedeke, 2004) outlined how to design such studies: (a) selecting ages of study participants based on cognitive or physical developmental criteria, (b) comparing age groups at key periods of development, and (c) following individuals longitudinally on constructs of interest. Over the last 25+ years, we have embraced a developmental perspective to studying self-perceptions, motivation, moral development, adult and peer relationships, and psychological modeling (see M. R. Weiss, 2004b). I highlight this perspective to inspire others to join in pushing the boundaries of knowledge forward. As kinesiologists, we must be the leading researchers whom others look to for theory-driven implications to enhance children's developmental experiences in sport and physical activity. As other disciplines are now discovering the value of the youth sport context, we need, more than ever, to remind people of the legacy of research in youth sport psychology over the past 30 years.

Lines of Research in Positive Youth Development Through Sport

Our lines of research have focused on youth development through sport and physical activity, with interests in self-perceptions, motivation, character development, social relationships, and psychological modeling (see McCullagh & Weiss, 2002; M. R. Weiss & Amorose, 2008; M. R. Weiss, Smith, & Stuntz, 2008; M. R. Weiss & Stuntz, 2004). These topics are essential for understanding why youth remain physically active as well as how to maximize opportunities for positive growth and development (e.g., motor, social, psychological) through sport participation. Following are summaries of our work in these areas of youth development over the years.

Self-Perceptions

We have primarily studied sources, correlates, and consequences of perceived competence--youths' beliefs about their capability or skill in sport and physical activity. Much of our work has been grounded in Harter's (1978) competence motivation theory, but perceived competence or ability is a central construct in all social-cognitive theories of motivation (see M. R. Weiss & Amorose, 2008; M. R. Weiss & Williams, 2004). We have found that consistent sources of perceived competence for children and adolescents include feedback from significant adults, such as parents, coaches, and spectators, as well as evaluation by and comparison to important peers such as teammates and friends (Amorose & Weiss, 1998; Halliburton &Weiss, 2002; Horn & Weiss, 1991; M. R. Weiss & Amorose, 2005; M. R. Weiss, Ebbeck, & Horn, 1997). These studies have also shown that self-referenced criteria, such as effort, enjoyment, and skill improvement, and norm-referenced criteria of social comparison, competitive outcomes, and speed/ease of learning contribute to youths' serf-appraisals of ability.

Consistent with our theoretical perspective, it is important to note that children's perceptions of competence show developmental trends. Younger children name parents as a source of competence information more frequently than older children and adolescents, who rely more often on peer comparison and evaluation and coach feedback (Halliburton &Weiss, 2002; Horn &Weiss, 1991; M. R. Weiss & Amorose, 2005; M. R. Weiss et al., 1997). Our work also demonstrates that perceptions of competence are strongly related to achievement-related cognitions, emotions, and behaviors, including attributions for performance, positive and negative affect, feelings of peer acceptance, and participation behaviors (Brustad & Weiss, 1987; Ebbeck & Weiss, 1998; Klint & Weiss, 1987; M. R. Weiss & Duncan, 1992; M. R. Weiss & Horn, 1990; M. R. Weiss, McAuley, Ebbeck, & Wiese, 1990). Thus, understanding age-related differences in sources of perceived competence is important to help educators design developmentally appropriate sport programs that may enhance perceived competence and associated outcomes in youth at all age levels (see Horn, 2004).

Motivation

Perceived competence is linked strongly with motivation to continue sport and physical activity involvement, but there is much to understand about motivation itself. Motivation can be conceived as "because" answers to "why" questions, such as why youth become involved in sport, why they continue participation, and why they discontinue (see M. R. Weiss & Ferrer-Caja, 2002; M. R. Weiss & Williams, 2004). Our studies revealed that reasons for sustaining participation consistently relate to wanting to learn and improve skills, having fun, and experiencing positive social interactions with peers and adults, although reasons may vary by age, gender, and culture (Brodkin & Weiss, 1990; Hayashi, 1996; Hayashi & Weiss, 1994; Klint & Weiss, 1986, 1987; M. R. Weiss & Frazer, 1995).

We have used social-cognitive theories to identify contextual and individual factors explaining youths' participation beliefs and behaviors. Social-contextual factors include coaching feedback, parent attitudes, peer influence, and motivational climate, while some individual differences include affective responses to participation, achievement goal orientations, perceived autonomy, and perceptions of control (Babkes & Weiss, 1999; Black & Weiss, 1992; Ferrer-Caja & Weiss, 2000, 2002; Smith, 1999; Theeboom, De Knop, & Weiss, 1995; M. R. Weiss, Bredemeier, & Shewchuk, 1986). We have also examined factors that explain variations in sport commitment or the desire and resolve to continue sport participation (Raedeke, 1997; M. R. Weiss, Kimmel, & Smith, 2001; M. R. Weiss & Smith, 2002; W. M. Weiss & Weiss, 2003, 2006, 2007). The degree to which youth enjoy their experiences, perceive benefits of involvement, feel supported by adults and peers, and perceive few costs to participation are consistently linked to greater psychological and behavioral commitment. Collectively, these studies reveal robust reasons for why youth continue participation, social-contextual and individual factors that predict motivated behaviors, and best practices for sustaining physical activity (see Smith & Biddle, 2008; Wiese-Bjornstal & LaVoi, 2007).

Character Development

Character or moral development is important, because it accentuates the potential for sport to use naturally occurring teachable moments to help youth adopt positive values, such as cooperation, respect, responsibility, and sportsmanship, and reject temptation to engage in physical and relational aggression and substance abuse. Although cliches abound in the sport world (i.e., "sport builds character"), individuals who embrace a developmental perspective know that outcomes of sport participation do not emerge automatically but must be nurtured through carefully designed curricula and teaching strategies and evaluated in terms of whether and how these factors effect change in moral functioning (M. R. Weiss et al., 2008). My students/colleagues and I have studied correlates of moral beliefs and prosocial and aggressive behaviors, finding that age, gender, sport type, competitive experience, moral reasoning, social approval, and social goal orientations are associated with youths' moral judgments, intentions, and behavioral tendencies (Bredemeier, Weiss, Shields, & Cooper, 1986, 1987; Stuntz, 2005; Stuntz & Weiss, 2003). For example, Stuntz and Weiss found that adolescent boys who defined sport competence and success in terms of social orientations (close friendships and peer acceptance) were more likely to believe aggressive behavior was legitimate and to express intention to engage in such behavior.

We conducted intervention studies in the school setting to promote moral reasoning and prosocial behaviors (Bredemeier, Weiss, Shields, & Shewchuk, 1986; Gibbons, Ebbeck, & Weiss, 1995; Romance, Weiss, & Bockoven, 1986). For example, in our evaluation of the Fair Play for Kids program in Canada (Gibbons et al., 1995), we found that fourth- to sixth-grade students who participated in an intervention that included role modeling, reinforcement for altruistic behaviors, and opportunities to discuss and resolve dilemmas showed significant and meaningful improvement in moral reasoning and prosocial behavior during the school year compared to youth who did not experience the intervention activities. In sum, studies have shown that character development is a function of specially designed curricula and influenced by significant adults and peers, and individual factors such as moral reasoning and cognitive developmental level.

Social Relationships

Children's experiences in sport are affected by the behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs of significant adults and peers, including family members (notably parents), coaches, teachers, and peers, such as classmates, teammates, and nonsport friends. Social relationships and interactions with adults and peers are critical information sources for forming self-perceptions, deriving motivation, and learning values in sport. Mechanisms of social influence include parent beliefs and behaviors, coach leadership and interpersonal styles, and peer acceptance and close friendship. We have explored various adult-child and peer relationships with youth participants' psychosocial and behavioral responses in sport and physical activity. Parents' beliefs about their child's competence, modeling of physical activity, and responses to performance attempts are linked strongly to youths' perceived competence, affect, and motivation (Babkes & Weiss, 1999; Bhalla & Weiss, 2008; M. R. Weiss & Barber, 1995; M. R. Weiss & Fretwell, 2005; M. R. Weiss & Hayashi, 1995). In addition, perceptions of greater support and lower pressure from parents are associated with attraction-based commitment to sport (W. M. Weiss & Weiss, 2003, 2006, 2007).

Coaching feedback, interpersonal behaviors, and leadership style connote important contributors to quality of youths' experiences in sport and physical activity. Positive and informational feedback following performance attempts, coupled with low punitive and nonreinforcing behaviors, relate to higher perceived competence, intrinsic motivation, and team cohesion (Amorose & Weiss, 1998; Black & Weiss, 1992; Price & Weiss, 2000; M. R. Weiss, Amorose, & Wilko, 2008; Westre & Weiss, 1991). In addition, an autonomy-supportive leadership style that gives participants choices and self-determined behaviors is related to greater feelings of autonomy, intrinsic motivation, and effort and persistence (Amorose & Anderson-Butcher, 2007; Ferrer-Caja & Weiss, 2000, 2002; Price & Weiss, 2000; Westre & Weiss, 1991). Finally, when coaches and teachers structure a learning climate that emphasizes self-referenced criteria for defining success--mastery, effort, improvement--youth participants express positive beliefs about their competence, greater feelings of autonomy, higher enjoyment levels, and an intrinsic motivational orientation and show greater skill improvement and higher intensity of effort (Ferrer-Caja & Weiss, 2000, 2002; Halliburton & Weiss, 2002; Theeboom, De Knop, & Weiss, 1995; M. R. Weiss, Amorose, et al., 2008).

Finally, one's peers (teammates, classmates, nonsport friends) are crucial to explaining in variations in self-perceptions, emotions, motivation, and participation behavior (see Smith, 2003; M. R. Weiss & Stuntz, 2004). Our research showed strong links between peer acceptance and close friendship and youths' perceived competence, affective responses, motivation, leadership behavior, and moral functioning (Moran & Weiss, 2006; Smith, 1999; Stuntz & Weiss, 2003, in press; M. R. Weiss & Duncan, 1992; M. R. Weiss & Smith, 1999, 2002; M. R. Weiss, Smith, & Theeboom, 1996). For example, M. R. Weiss and Smith (2002) found that adolescents who reported greater sport friendship quality enjoyed their experiences more and were determined to continue sport involvement. Moreover, teammate and best friend support distinguished young athletes who were committed out of attraction or entrapment reasons (W. M. Weiss & Weiss, 2003, 2006) and were important predictors of commitment level in younger and less-skilled gymnasts (W. M. Weiss & Weiss, 2007). In sum, parents, coaches/teachers, and peers are important sources of social influence on motivational and moral variables.

Observational Learning

Yogi Berra once said, "You can see a lot just by looking." Observational learning or modeling is a classic research area in social psychology of sport and physical activity. My first line of research, this area was compatible with my experiences as a youth sports coach (i.e., giving effective skill demonstrations) and my doctoral training. Modeling was also an area that triggered my interest in a developmental approach, because it made sense conceptually and experientially that age-related differences in attention, memory, and physical ability should have an impact on the modeling process. Yet Bandura's (1977) social learning theory of modeling, the prominent approach at the time, did not address developmental factors in observational learning. Instead I found solace in Yando, Seitz, and Zigler's (1978) developmental theory of imitation that considered the observer's cognitive-developmental level (attention span, memory capacity, coding capabilities, physical capabilities) and motivational orientation (intrinsic and extrinsic motives for reproducing observed behavior) as the two critical factors influencing children's modeling of skills (physical or social).

My dissertation study (M. R. Weiss, 1983) investigated modeling effects on motor performance of children 4-5 and 8-9 years old. Findings supported Yando et al.'s (1978) theory and the importance of considering developmental factors in modeling, specifically attention and retention abilities that affect motor skill performance after observing a visual or verbal model. Following this study, we conducted several investigations on children's observational learning with similar results--older children were able to successfully reproduce modeled actions by selectively attending to salient aspects of the demonstration and remembering what to do by engaging in active rehearsal strategies, while younger children were less successful (McCullagh, Stiehl, & Weiss, 1990; M. R. Weiss et al., 1992; M. R. Weiss & Klint, 1987; Wiese-Bjorustal & Weiss, 1992). When findings from our modeling studies were coupled with developmental research in children's cognitive strategies, verbal coding, and development of expertise (see French & McPherson, 2004), it was clear that cognitive-developmental factors must be taken into account in the modeling of motor skills. We synthesized this literature to write theory-to-practice papers on developmental and psychological factors relevant to children's observational learning of sport skills (McCullagh & Weiss, 2002; M. R. Weiss, Ebbeck, & Wiese-Bjornstal, 1993).

In conclusion, our research was informed by developmental theory and our experiences as coaches, teachers, and program directors in the unique context of youth sport. I believe our research has meaningfully contributed to developmental theory as well. Understanding age-related differences in perceived competence, motivation, moral reasoning, adult and peer relationships, and observational learning is critical for recommending best practices to guide educators in creating positive sport experiences for children and adolescents. In turn, enjoyable experiences translate to continued motivation to participate in all kinds of physical activities and, thus, opportunities to derive social, psychological, and physical health benefits. Our signature developmental perspective guiding our questions about youths' participation in sport and physical activity was sparked in my doctoral program and has continued to bridge theory, research, and practice in the years that followed.

A Developmental Transition: Using Mixed Methods to Study Youth Development

Most of the studies in our research areas followed the traditional paradigm in which I was trained, namely quantitative methods using experimental or correlational designs. These research designs and methods were also compatible with those in the child psychology literature and represented the most accepted "ways of knowing" in scholarly publications. In the early 1990s, I went through a developmental transition period, which marked a shift from more traditional to mixed methodologies to study youth development through physical activity. You might say I was a late bloomer to naturalistic or qualitative methods. Qualitative methods had been used in sport psychology, but given my academic training I was a skeptical at first about their scientific rigor.

My transformation in thinking came about in 1991, when the Public Broadcasting System was doing a feature on the value of sports for kids, and they visited my children's sport program at the University of Oregon with its focus on developing sport skill and self-confidence. Several youth in my program and their parents were interviewed about how they viewed their (and their children's) experiences relative to benefits derived from sport participation. Naturally, I was thrilled we were identified as an exemplary program and that the majority of youth who appeared in the documentary came from my program. On viewing the final edited video, I was moved by what these youth and their parents said about their experiences. Their voices lent texture and meaning to understanding the role of sport in promoting positive outcomes. They conveyed what sport meant to them in highly descriptive, personal terms; the information they shared was something that could not be captured by using traditional modes of quantitative inquiry. Rather, alternative methods were needed to give participants a voice in expressing their thoughts and feelings. So my developmental transition inspired me to step outside my traditional paradigm box and expand the types of methodologies used to gain an optimal understanding of youth development through sport.

In several subsequent studies, the best methods to answer our research questions were qualitative or mixed-methods approaches. For example, around the time of my epiphany about methodologies, I became interested in how peer interactions and relationships influence children's sport participation experiences. This interest stemmed largely from my observations of real-life interactions in my children's sport program in my role as director. Specifically, it became clear that acceptance from one's peer group and having a best friend influenced youths' feelings of competence, enjoyment, and participation motivation. There was a body of knowledge in the child psychology literature on peer relationships in school contexts but little empirical research on peer relationships in physical activity contexts. Thus, the best method to answer our questions about children's conceptions of peer relationships in sport was a qualitative approach, because we needed to start from the beginning to determine what was salient in this unique context. We could not assume that relationships in one context (i.e., school) necessarily generalized to relationships in another (i.e., sport).

In the first of a series of studies on youths' perceptions of peer relationships in physical activity, we (M. R. Weiss et al., 1996) used in-depth interviews with girls and boys, ages 8 to 16 years old, asking them questions about their best friendships in sport--what do best friends say or do that is different from those who are not best friends? Rather than a traditional deductive approach, we used inductive content analysis to identify sport friendship dimensions that emerged from the data. We uncovered 12 positive and 4 negative dimensions, some similar to those in school contexts (e.g., companionship, loyalty, intimacy) but several (especially higher order themes) unique to the sport context (e.g., motivates me in sports, help each other to learn sport skills, negative competitiveness). The take-home message is that social context matters! As a result of this initial study, we were able to develop and validate a quantitative measure of sport friendship quality (M. R. Weiss & Smith, 1999), which we used to gather information from large youth populations in follow-up studies of peer influence and psychosocial and behavioral outcomes (Moran & Weiss, 2006; Smith, Ullrich-French, Walker, & Hurley, 2006; Ullrich-French & Smith, 2006; M. R. Weiss & Smith, 2002).

Another study that evolved from my developmental transition was a peer modeling intervention to alleviate children's fear of the water (M. R. Weiss, McCullagh, Smith, & Berlant, 1998). This idea emanated from my research of observational learning effects on motor skill performance and from watching children in my sport program avoid swimming. My personal experience of almost drowning as a 12-year-old was also a motivator--I wondered how to help children by finding effective instructional strategies. We first identified children who had minimal swim experience, fear of the water, and low swimming confidence. These 5-8-year-olds were assigned to one of three intervention conditions--peer-coping model plus instruction, peer-mastery model plus instruction, or neutral model plus instruction (control). In addition to a careful and detailed experimental protocol conducted in a field setting, assessments were taken at pre-intervention, postintervention, and follow-up. These included swim skill ratings based on videotaped performances, children's self-efficacy ratings obtained from one-on-one interactions with a researcher, teacher ratings of each child's fear of the water, researchers' field notes during the children's swim lessons, and postexperimental questions (e.g., how interesting were the videotapes and why?). Collectively, results using various qualitative and quantitative methods indicated that peer models made a significant and meaningful difference in children's swim skill improvement, swimming self-efficacy, and fear reduction. In fact, field notes documented teaching strategies (i.e., effective skill instruction and informational feedback) and children's behaviors (i.e., informal modeling of skills: "Look at me, watch this!") that helped explain why the two peer modeling groups did not differ from one another, although they were superior to the control group.

Our study of the parent-coach phenomenon in youth sport (M. R. Weiss & Fretwell, 2005) is another example of qualitative methods being the most appropriate approach to answer a research question. The roles of coach and parent are often synonymous in youth sport, suggesting a dual rather than independent relationship with the child. However, mostly anecdotal rather than data-based research had been conducted on the parent-coach/child-athlete relationship in organized sport. Based on developmental theory and a pilot study using a focus group of college-age students who had been coached by a parent, we derived interview questions for youth soccer participants, their father-coaches, and two of their teammates. By asking parallel questions to three different but interrelated parties, we were able to triangulate responses to arrive at the most important themes regarding parents coaching their children. These perspectives converged to reveal cordial (i.e., positive interactions and behaviors) and contentious (i.e., negative interactions and behaviors) aspects of the relationship. Moreover, all three groups reported that father-coaches often had difficulty separating the parent-child from coach-player role reflected in their behaviors on the field.

My shift in worldview during the 1990s emanated from a rather serendipitous experience--the documentary using children from my summer sports program. The efficacy of using multiple methodologies for a comprehensive understanding of youth development is illustrated in these three studies. Using a mixed-methods approach strengthened many other studies, including our ongoing evaluation research of the effectiveness of a sport-based youth development program.

Impact of a Sport-Based Life Skills Education Program on Positive Youth Development

Our research in youth development, combined with other researchers' work, show a sustained body of knowledge in the sport psychology literature. Recently, a new wave in positive youth development emerged in the child psychology literature (e.g., Damon, 2004; Dworkin, Larson, & Hansen, 2003; Larson, 2000; Mahoney, Larson, & Eccles, 2005). Positive youth development refers to skill acquisition in one domain (e.g., sport) that is beneficial in other domains (e.g., school, home/family) and leads to healthy and adaptive outcomes. Approaches to positive youth development acknowledge a set of best practices or social-contextual factors that translate to desirable youth assets and outcomes (Catalano, Berglund, Ryan, Lonczak, & Hawkins, 2002; Eccles & Gootman, 2002; Roth & Brooks-Gunn, 2003). Targeted outcomes include character (e.g., respect, sportsmanship), social competencies (e.g., cooperation, leadership), emotional regulation (e.g., self-control, empathy), and behavioral skills (e.g., initiative, perseverance). Social-contextual features include psychologically and physically safe environments, appropriate structure, supportive relationships, opportunities for belonging, positive social norms, support for autonomy and choice, opportunities for skill building, and opportunities to integrate experiences across family, school, and community. These outcomes and mechanisms for promoting youth development are compatible with programmatic research in youth sport psychology over the past 30+ years.

The positive youth development movement is highly relevant to youth sport-based programming. Petitpas, Cornelius, Van Raalte, and Jones (2005) identified the conditions for maximizing positive social and psychological outcomes through sport participation: (a) a context in which activities are optimally challenging and intrinsically interesting, participants feel accepted by their peers, and there is emphasis on personal mastery and group cooperation; (b) external assets characterized by close relationships with caring adult mentors, parental monitoring, positive peer relationships, and community involvement; and, (c) internal assets consisting of learned skills transferable to domains outside of sport (e.g., interpersonal, self-management, resistance skills). Many of these principles could be applied to other physical activity contexts and not just organized sport (e.g., outdoor recreation, physical education). Petitpas et al. contended that evaluating sport programs claiming to target youth development is essential to document whether they are successful in achieving their goals. Evaluation research lends data-based evidence of effectiveness and identifies program components that make an impact. Organizations can then allocate resources effectively to achieve their goal of positive youth development.

About 4 years ago, we began a longitudinal evaluation research with The First Tee, a sport-based youth development program designed to teach life skills and promote positive personal and interpersonal qualities. Among the targeted psychosocial outcomes are character development, specifically respect, responsibility, honesty, integrity, courtesy, and sportsmanship. In McCloy's 1930 article, Character Building Through Physical Education, in The Research Quarterly, he stated:

Physical educators have for years claimed to be builders of character ... the evidence has not been impressive ... When one examines the methodology proposed to produce character education through physical education one usually finds such processes based upon faulty psychology and upon methods of education long since abandoned by the leading educational philosophers. Recent studies by competent investigators have thrown much doubt on the character building efficacy of a number of institutions ... the wonder is not that character results have failed to come through either physical education or other such movements but that anyone should have expected such results to be forthcoming when the methods used were not specifically planned to secure changes in character and were not in harmony with sound educational techniques. We have in far too many cases trusted rather blindly to an all-wise Providence and to G. Stanley Hall (p. 41).

 

He went on to discuss the way teachers may "teach for character" and the types of activities conducive to character building. As such, McCloy planted the seeds of what character is, how it should be nurtured, and why purposeful strategies are needed to attain character-building goals. With these ideas in mind, how has The First Tee fared in its goal of character building and other positive developmental outcomes?

The First Tee philosophy, curriculum, and coach training are grounded in child development theory and would have met with McCloy's approval. Golf is a social context through which life skills are taught and character, confidence, and self-regulation (and other outcomes) are promoted. External assets refer to coaches' strategies that foster character development and other outcomes, which are facilitated by a training program called The First Tee Coach. The coaching philosophy consists of four building blocks: activity-based, mastery-driven, empower youth, and continuous learning. Activities are available to coaches for each building block so that they can enact a purposeful curriculum using youth-friendly teaching methods and behaviors. Internal assets refer to deliberately targeted life skills, such as meeting and greeting, emotion management, conflict resolution, appreciating diversity, and helping others. This is aided by a curriculum called The First Tee Life Skills Experience. Finally, positive youth development is envisioned as the result of the synergy among context, external assets, and internal assets and is represented by The First Tee Nine Core Values of honesty, integrity, respect, responsibility, courtesy, sportsmanship, confidence, judgment, and perseverance. The purpose of our research has been to evaluate the impact of The First Tee life skills on positive youth development. This unique contribution provides a longitudinal assessment of a sport-based youth development program in promoting healthy psychological, social, and physical outcomes and preventing unhealthy attitudes and behaviors (M. R. Weiss, Bhalla, Bolter, & Price, 2008; M. R. Weiss, Bhalla, Price, & Bolter, 2007; M. R. Weiss, Bhalla, Price, Bolter, & Stuntz, 2006; M. R. Weiss, Boher, Bhalla, & Price, 2007; M. R. Weiss, Bolter, Bhalla, Price, & Markowitz, 2008).

Because there were no prior scientific data, we used qualitative methods in the first year of the study, specifically focus groups and individual interviews, to evaluate program impact. These were the best methods to answer the questions of how and why The First Tee had an impact on positive youth development. To obtain multiple perspectives, we interviewed 95 youth (ages 11-17 years), 26 coaches, and 24 parents by asking them parallel questions about what life skills were learned, how they were taught, and whether they transferred to other domains. In these interviews, we hoped to triangulate the data to derive conclusions about program impact. For example, we asked youth, "How do you meet and get to know new people in The First Tee?" For assessing transfer of life skills learned to other domains we asked, "In what other situations do you use meeting mad greeting skills?" These were followed by appropriate probes and clarifying questions to elicit detailed responses. Parallel questions to coaches and parents included, "How do your students learn how to meet and get to know new people in The First Tee?" and "In what other situations does your child use meeting and greeting skills?" The following selected responses reveal the advantage of our chosen design and methods:

(16-year-old boy) I just go up and introduce myself, try to be as friendly as possible ... and it's usually easy after that ... before I started in The First Tee, I don't think I was very good at introducing myself and like getting a conversation going ... but like once we got going into life skills I don't even think twice about it ... it helps me everywhere, like going for a job interview.

(Coach) One of our students, who is kind of a shy kid ... he was with his mom. I'm sitting across this big banquet hall with a group of people having dinner. He's way over there, I mean, you can barely see him because he's a little tiny kid. He made a point to come over and shook my hand, "Good evening, coach, how are you?" I'm telling you, it blew me away. I'm not sure he would've done that before.

(Parent) My kid was really shy, and this forced him to come out of that shell. It's been a process ... as he's gotten more confident it's, "who is this kid?" So it's really opened him up. Up until 3 years ago you wouldn't even know he was there ... but now he has overcome that. He's just a lot more apt to open up when we're around other people and he was never like that.

These responses to the same question from three different sources helped us build a story based on impressions of learning meeting and greeting skills in the golf context and being able to successfully transfer the skill to everyday life. Over 90% of youth showed life skill transfer learned in golf to other salient domains (e.g., school, home). Besides meeting and greeting, we asked questions about other skills in the curriculum--managing negative emotions, overcoming challenges, helping others, and making healthy choices (among others). Interviews with parents and coaches corroborated the youths' responses. Thus, findings in Year 1 converged to show that The First Tee is an effective program in attaining its goal of positive youth development. In addition to this initial finding, youths' responses provided important data that allowed us to develop and validate a quantitative measure of life skills transfer that we administered to about 700 youth participants in Year 2. Findings also allowed us to customize interview questions for a purposeful subsample of youth in Year 2 to derive findings relative to retaining life skills and developmental outcomes.

In Year 2, we used mixed methods to continue evaluating the effectiveness of the life skills programs and to begin documenting longitudinal evidence of impact. One purpose was to compare youth in The First Tee with youth in other activities (e.g., sports, youth organizations) on life skills and developmental outcomes. Based on multivariate analyses, youth in The First Tee compared favorably to those in other activities on most dimensions characterizing life skills transfer, life skills in the activity context, and Nine Core Values. For character development, youth in The First Tee scored significantly higher than those in other activities on learning skills related to emotional regulation, diverse peer relationships, prosocial norms, and positive relationships in the activity context. They also scored higher on ability to transfer life skills from the golf context to other domains in managing emotions, resolving conflicts, appreciating diversity, and helping others. Finally, youth in The First Tee scored higher than participants in other activities on personal and social responsibility, honesty about effort and rules, integrity (i.e., doing the right thing), and self-efficacy to resist peer pressure to engage in high-risk behaviors. In addition to these statistical differences, group comparisons were also meaningfully significant based on moderate to moderately strong effect sizes. I believe Charles McCloy would be satisfied and pleased with these results given that curricular and teaching methods were "specifically planned" to promote positive change in character and that these methods were compatible with "sound educational techniques" based on contemporary child development theory and research.

Another purpose of Year 2 was to determine retention of life skills through interviews with 20 returning participants who had given in-depth responses the previous year. We customized interview questions based on their previous answers so that life skills and domains would be specific to each individual. Qualitative analysis revealed that 90% of the interviewees provided compelling evidence of retaining knowledge and transfer of life skills learned in The First Tee. Using protocol for longitudinal qualitative analysis, we were able to assess whether domains and themes for using life skills remained the same or changed over time. We found that domains in which life skills were used (e.g., school, family, friends, job, college/career, sports teams, out-of-school-time activities) and specific life skill strategies (e.g., STAR [stop, think, anticipate, respond] for managing emotions; Goal Ladder for goal setting) were named consistently over time. Following are quotes from participants to highlight the richness of these data.

Youth unanimously identified the school domain as one in which they transferred life skills learned in The First Tee. A common use of STAR was dealing with disappointments related to school grades and assignments. One 16-year-old boy accurately defined STAR and how he used it to deal with tests and assignments.

One of the biggest things, like with STAR, is to not get down on yourself ... but to stop, think, anticipate, respond, which helps you not make the same mistake twice.... Another thing it helps me with is to stay positive and, say, I get a poor grade on a test, by using STAR I can stay positive, because I realize that it's one grade, and if I work hard and I get some other good grades, it can sort of cancel out and it's not the end of the world.

 

Dealing with anger toward and resolving conflicts with siblings was a common example for using life skills. A 17-year-old girl shared a detailed story and how CARE (communicate, actively listen, review options, end on a win-win) was an effective strategy for her:

I'm always fighting with my brother ... we don't communicate that much at all and so if he's done something wrong, like he steals things out of my room all the time, I immediately think it's him and, like, run and blame him. But I've never really given him a chance to ask if it's him or why he took it or anything like that, so now--I went in and approached him and was like, "did you take this?" and then I talked to him about why he did it and it ended up that he needed it. And he had a good reason for why he took it and it ended up we didn't fight, we didn't scream at each other, we actually talked for one of the first times about something. And so, that's all part of CARE, communicating and then listening to him and then reviewing and then we didn't fight, so we ended in a win-win situation.

 

The qualitative data in the form of teenagers' voices complemented the quantitative data and importantly lent meaning to the high scores for life skills transfer and developmental outcomes. Adolescents shared numerous stories and examples of how they transferred life skills learned in the curriculum to various domains important in their lives. These data would be difficult, if not impossible, to obtain using traditional quantitative methods.

An insightful finding emerging from interview responses was youths' description of "automatically" using life skills, just as we might see in the development of expertise in motor skills. As a 17-year-old boy explained:

It just kind of comes natural now ... when I first joined The First Tee, it was like something they taught you and ... it was like, well, I kind of know how to do this with golf, but I never thought of using it at school, like when you see a new kid ... it's not so much I think about it, okay, "I'm going to use my meeting and greeting skills" ... I mean, the stuff comes natural now, but it used to be I had to, okay, "shake [their hand], look them in the eye."

 

This boy didn't consciously think about doing "the meet and greet" anymore (look person in the eye, shake hands, ask a question) because of practicing it tot many years. It became an automatic skill used in his everyday interactions, much like a basketball player who strategically executes a crossover dribble because of sustained practice over time. This transformation from the cognitive ("getting the idea") to automated ("just do it") stage is analogous to stages of sport skill learning and is an additional index of program effectiveness in teaching for life skills transfer. Again, these data would be tough to discern, if at all, from traditional quantitative methods.

In Year 3, we assessed youth still participating in The First Tee on life skills and developmental outcomes, again using mixed methods to determine the program's long-term impact. Our purposes were to: (a) determine participation retention rate and predictors of active/inactive status; (b) assess retention of life skills knowledge over a 3-year period using in-depth interviews; and (c) assess retention of life skills transfer and developmental outcomes over a 2-year period using quantitative ratings. We found that 72% were still participating in The First Tee as students or mentors, an excellent rate given the numerous activities available to youth. Youth still active in The First Tee in Year 3 reported greater enjoyment, higher perceived golf competence, and greater coach support in Year 2 than those who were inactive in Year 3. These findings reinforced our earlier research that enjoyment, perceived competence, and social relationships are key contributors to continued motivation in sport.

Examples and stories revealed that 89% of youth convincingly retained their ability to successfully transfer life skills learned in golf to other domains. Data showed developmental trends, with older teenagers providing more frequent examples of transferring life skills to applying for college, deciding on a career, and engaging in out-of-school-time activities. These situations are salient given participants' age and their transition to college. An 18-year-old boy nicely summarized how The First Tee made an impact on his ability to plan for the future:

The First Tee's taught me how to present myself as a well established person and be able to work together with people. In a situation like a job interview where you go in there and want to give off the best impression you can ... look the person in the eye, shake their hand ... what you learn when you're 8 years old will carry until you're 20 years old looking for that job. It's stuff you'll remember for your lifetime and they're good skills to have.

 

Using quantitative ratings, we examined whether scores for life skills and developmental outcomes remained stable or changed from Years 2 to 3. Stable scores would reflect ability to transfer life skills, use life skills in the activity, and exhibit character, confidence, judgment, and perseverance. We found nonsignificant change scores and small effect sizes for most of the life skill dimensions and outcomes, signifying stability over time. Thus, we could conclude that youth successfully retained life skills knowledge and transfer and continued to believe they could "do the right thing," report being honest, show respect, and exhibit personal and social responsibility. In addition, they sustained confidence in academic, social, and golf skills and the ability to self-regulate learning and resist peer pressure to engage in unhealthy behaviors.

My intention for sharing details of this longitudinal research is to illuminate how my developmental transition from exclusive reliance on quantitative methods to including mixed methodologies elevated our understanding of how social-contextual factors (life skills curriculum, coaches' behaviors) contribute to character development and other positive outcomes through sport. As I repeatedly tell nay graduate students, "The research question should drive the method," and, as such, I've been able to practice that by being open to alternative methodologies over the years. C. H. McCloy would be particularly satisfied with evidence that teaching strategies and life skills lessons resulted in transfer to other domains. In his 1930 article he implored:

The process given above [teaching for character in physical education] would be narrowly circumscribed if it went no further. Some method must be found which will cause learnings in the physical education field to have a wider spread of influence. With this in mind it becomes necessary to devise educational procedures which will capitalize the common elements in the various types of situations covered by the same general trait-name, and to cause the individual to generalize them and, as far as possible, to intellectualize the process; this would seem to be a matter of pointing out such common elements from time to time and of helping the individual to such generalizations and intellectualizations. (p. 52)

 

Toward an Interdisciplinary Approach to Positive Youth Development Through Sport

My final goal is to advocate for an interdisciplinary approach to studying youth development through sport. Such an approach is essential to capturing diverse perspectives of children's cognitive, emotional, social, and physical development from participating in sport and physical activity. In my recent Academy presentation (M. R. Weiss, 2008), I adopted recommendations by the National Academy of Sciences (2005) for doing this. They define interdisciplinary research as

... a mode of research by teams or individuals that integrates information, data, techniques, tools, perspectives, concepts, and/or theories from two or more disciplines or bodies of specialized knowledge to advance fundamental understanding or to solve problems whose solutions are beyond the scope of a single discipline or area of research practice (p. 12).

 

For example, kinesiology and public health researchers have successfully partnered to study factors related to physical activity and inactivity among adolescent girls (e.g., Barr-Anderson et al., 2007; Felton et al., 2002). Positive youth development would benefit greatly from interdisciplinary research--by informing the theoretical knowledge base and practitioners of best practices for transforming youths' ability to use life skills (e.g., making healthy choices, managing emotions, resisting peer pressure) and improving attributes such as character, confidence, initiative, civic identity, intrinsic motivation, and well being.

In the 75th anniversary issue of Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, Diane Gill and I analyzed 75 years of sport psychology research (M. R. Weiss & Gill, 2005) and found that themes kept re-emerging over time: (a) moral development, (b) social relationships, (c) self-perceptions, (d) motivation, (e) emotions, and (f) achievement orientations. While these themes were not exclusive to youth populations, they aligned with our lines of research and positive youth development. However, these topics primarily reflect psychological and social development in physical activity contexts. Although children are small, they pose big complexities in understanding the intricate nature of growth and development. Youth development through sport and physical activity includes a multitude of overlapping areas--motor, biological, cognitive, social, moral, and psychological development. To comprehensively study youth development, then, we need interdisciplinary methods, analyses, and interpretations to ask good questions and analyze findings based on diverse but complementary perspectives. These areas might include developmental sport psychology, kinesiology (motor behavior, exercise science, sociology, measurement, and pedagogy), child and adolescent psychology, educational psychology, school psychology, public health, social work, family social science, and university youth organizations (e.g., centers for community youth development, out-of-school-time). Youth development through sport and physical activity is one of the best candidates for such an interdisciplinary venture.

With an interdisciplinary approach, understanding youth development can benefit not only from collaborative research but also from curriculum delivery, civic engagement and outreach, external funding, and national guidelines, policies, and impact. From a public policy viewpoint, I had my "one moment in time" in June 2006 when I testified before a congressional subcommittee on the importance of sport-based youth development programs for teaching life skills and promoting character and sportsmanship. The panel was an interdisciplinary team, with a developmental sport psychologist (me), an elementary school principal, an attorney advocating for Title IX compliance, and a golf legend (Jack Nicklaus) advocating for more funding of youth development programs. As more government agencies recognize the value of sport-based youth development programs, it is hoped they will devise policies and allocate more resources to enhance opportunities for physical activity and its many health and skill-related outcomes.

In his concluding remarks on teaching for character development in physical education and integrating such development with other social contexts salient to youth, C. H. McCloy (1930) said:

This program [character development] would provide for the integration of the physical education learnings with learnings in other fields, and the integration should be not only in the school system but in all phases of the individual experience. It may be in the classroom, in a boys' group, Y.M.C.A., a Sunday school, a playground, or in the Scouts, to mention only activities for boys. The securing of results from such a program would imply ... a group of teachers who are trained not only in the techniques of physical education but in the educational theory and in the processes implied. It would further demand that these teachers themselves be possessed in large measure of these character qualities they were endeavoring to inculcate; for the example of the teacher will be one of the strongest elements in the situation. A process of the nature here outlined can only develop to the point of efficacy through intelligently directed, controlled experimentation (p. 59).

 

Concluding Remarks

You don't get to this place in your academic career alone. In keeping with the developmental theme of this paper I would like to acknowledge my academic family who inspired my work, fueled my passion for the field, and influenced my areas of inquiry. In my masters program at the University of California, Santa Barbara, I had an academic mother, the late Vera Skubic. She published some of the first youth sport studies in The Research Quarterly in the 1950s (Skubic, 1955, 1956). Still, she remains invisible in literature citations, so I pay tribute to her pioneering efforts in youth sport psychology. My influential academic father is Dan Gould, my mentor at Michigan State University, who continues to be a significant mentor, colleague, and friend. I was thrilled that he was front and center in the audience on the day of my McCloy presentation. My academic siblings were Bey Ulrich, Thelma Horn, Crystal Branta, and Dale Ulrich. We all remain deeply committed to sport/physical activity as a context for youth development--and remain great friends after 30 years. I am proud of and grateful to my academic children, who contribute to the field in many ways--conducting research that counts, teaching the next generation of students, serving the profession, and being involved in civic engagement. Many have joined me on several "fields of dreams," literally and figuratively.

My intention in this paper was to feature youth sport, a key source of physical activity, as a field of dreams or social context for psychosocial and physical skill development. It is a salient context for children and adolescents, and, as such, should be included in any dialogue of youth physical activity, health, and well being. The literature in this area is rich and provides compelling evidence of why and how youth development is likely to occur. Recall that many years ago I was denied an opportunity to play on my "field of dreams" in Little League baseball. Perhaps that event inspired me to pursue the field I eventually did play on--conducting research on positive youth development through sport. In 2008, 45 years since being told I could not play youth baseball, I am very pleased to see that my beloved "field of dreams" in the 21st century includes girls in Little League!

Author's Notes

I would like to express my gratitude to Philip Morris USA Youth Smoking Prevention for funding our evaluation research with The First Tee as well as the administrative staff, chapter directors, and youth and parents of The First Tee for their support and participation throughout the years. I have had the privilege of working with many graduate students who were critical research collaborators and sources of motivation. Their passion, intellectual curiosity, and work ethic helped elevate the quantity and quality of the questions we asked and the methods we used to answer them. The following have been my foremost teammates in the youth development research I presented in this manuscript (in chronological order of studying with me): Tom Romance, Bob Brustad, Gloria Solomon, Peter Brodkin, Kim Klint, Diane Wiese-Bjornstal, Vicki Ebbeck, Jill Black, Lavon Williams, Heather Barber, Carl Hayashi, Tony Berlant, Tom Raedeke, Alan Smith, Marc Theeboom, Megan Babkes, Emilio Ferrer, Tony Amorose, Amy Halliburton, Molly Moran, Windee Weiss, Cheryl Stuntz, Jennifer Bhalla, Melissa Price, Nicole Bolter, and Ellen Markowitz. I am grateful to Thelma Horn and Dan Gould for providing constructive and helpful feedback that improved the clarity of the points I wanted to convey in this paper. Please address all correspondence concerning this article to Maureen R. Weiss, School of Kinesiology, University of Minnesota, 1900 University Avenue, SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455.