Mary Fry, associate professor of health, sport and exercise science, co-authored a study that surveyed nearly 400 kids who took part in a National Youth Sports Program athletic camp. The findings were published in the journal Sport, Exercise and Performance Psychology<\/em>. They measured whether the youths perceived a caring climate<\/strong> and their mental well-being<\/strong>, including how able they are to express positive emotions when good things happen to them in life<\/strong> and how well they are able to cope when negative things happen<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u201cResearch has shown that kids who perceive a positive climate in their sporting activities have more fun, try harder and tend to stick with their sports longer,\u201d Fry said. \u201cBeyond that, it\u2019s very cool to see that they also display more empathy and better emotional regulation<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n The findings are significant given the rising rates of juvenile obesity in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have reported that between 20 and 30 percent of adolescents experience depressive symptoms at clinically significant levels and other research has shown that about 25 percent of young people are not on track to become healthy adults.<\/p>\n Fry and her colleagues conducted the study by surveying youths from age 9 to 16 at a National Youth Sports Program Camp. The camps offer underserved young people across the country a chance to take part in physical activity such as swimming and a wide range of sports and educational topics on college campuses. At the end of the camp they were given an anonymous survey, measuring how supportive they felt group members and leaders were, and how much they felt valued and accepted by other participants. They were also asked about their capacity to experience positive and negative emotions by agreeing with statements like \u201cI can express joy when good things happen to me\u201d and \u201cI can get over feeling irritated quickly for wrongs I have experienced.\u201d The researchers also asked the kids about their feelings of hope for their lives, subjective happiness, depressive symptoms and how often they feel sadness.<\/p>\n They found that children who strongly perceived a caring climate both regularly felt joy in positive situations and were able to properly handle negative emotions and experienced fewer instances of<\/strong> depression<\/strong>. A positive environment allows adolescents to not worry about being judged, chided, laughed at for making mistakes, not being as physically gifted as peers or being able to express emotions.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a big deal for kids,\u201d Fry said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re in an environment where you can\u2019t express your emotions, you tend to be more guarded. It just reinforces the important role teachers and coaches play.\u201d<\/p>\n The findings reinforce another aspect of Fry\u2019s work. Along with students in KU\u2019s Sport and Exercise Physiology Lab she works to foster positive interactions with young girls in a physical activity\/positive life skills program called Strong Girls and is developing in-services to help physical education teachers and coaches implement strategies for creating more positive environments.<\/p>\n The study\u2019s findings also add credence to youth athletic programs that strive to provide more than exercise through their positive experiences.<\/p>\n \u201cThough the aims of positive youth development programs often refer to promoting enhanced psychological well-being, little research has directly examined this link. Results suggest that equipping adults with strategies to create a positive and caring climate can reap significant rewards for young people with regard to their overall physical and psychological development<\/strong>,\u201d Fry and colleagues wrote.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From the University of Kansas press release via MedicalXpress: It\u2019s only natural that when kids are part of a positive, caring sports environment, they can have more fun. But a… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,9],"tags":[45,178,14,73,12,284,39,109],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2883"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2883"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2885,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2883\/revisions\/2885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/images\/blogpics\/BaseballTeam.jpg\" "\\"baseball")
It\u2019s only natural that when kids are part of a positive, caring sports environment, they can have more fun. But a new study by a University of Kansas professor shows that a positive sporting environment can predict their psychological well-being and help them deal with a range of good and bad emotions in life.<\/strong><\/p>\n