Helping Middle School Females Form a Sense of Self through Team Sports and Exercise

2004 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Ference ◽  
K. Denise Muth

The purpose of the study was to investigate how involvement in exercise and participation in team sports were related to the multidimension self-perceptions of middle school females. The study was conducted in 2 middle schools with 181 8th-grade females. Instruments used were the Physical Activity Survey and Harter’s Self-Perception Profile for Children. Results show that participation in team sports was related to four domains of self-perception: social acceptance, athletic competence, scholastic competence, and global self-worth. Informal exercise was related to social acceptance and global self-worth of middle school females. Therefore, it appears that both team sports and exercise may be important in enhancing self-concept in middle school females. Results also show that over half of middle school females in this study participated in three or more team sports during middle school. However, almost half of these students report exercising informally less than three times a week. These results support the increased opportunities of team sports for middle school females.

2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 624-630 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabel Balaguer ◽  
Francisco L. Atienza ◽  
Joan L. Duda

The purpose of this study was to study the associations between specific self-perceptions and global self-worth with different frequency levels of sport participation among Spanish boys and girls adolescents. Students (457 boys and 460 girls) completed the Self Perception Profile for Children (Harter, 1985) and items assessing sport engagement from The Health Behavior in School Children Questionnaire (Wold, 1995). Results showed that some specific dimensions of self-perception were related to different frequency of sport participation whereas overall judgments of self-worth did not. Specifically, for boys and girls, higher levels of sport participation were positively associated to Athletic Competence, and for boys were also associated with Physical Appearance and Social Acceptance. The potential implications of domain specific socialisation processes on the configuration of self-perceptions are highlighted.


2002 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Rose ◽  
Dawne Larkin

According to Harter (1985a), global self-worth (GSW) can be predicted from the relationship between perceptions of competence and importance ratings. In this study, we employed Harter’s (1985b) Importance Rating Scale (IRS) and Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPPC) to examine importance ratings, discrepancy scores, and domain-specific perceptions of competence as predictors of GSW. Children (N = 130, 62 boys and 68 girls) aged 8-12 years were categorized into high (HMC; n = 62) and low motor coordination (LMC; n = 68) groups according to their scores on a motor proficiency battery (McCarron, 1982). Regression analyses using domain-specific perceptions of competence, importance, and discrepancy scores confirmed that self-perception ratings were the best predictors of GSW. For both groups, perceptions of physical appearance, social acceptance, and behavioral conduct contributed significantly to prediction of GSW. By contrast, perceived athletic competence increased prediction of GSW for the HMC group but not the LMC group.


2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 388-401 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne-Marie E Alberse ◽  
Annelou LC de Vries ◽  
Wieteke S Elzinga ◽  
Thomas D Steensma

Transgender children and adolescents show high rates of co-occurring psychopathology, which might be related to low self-confidence. Earlier research showed that compared to the norm population, transgender clinic–referred children have lower self-perception on two domains: physical appearance and global self-worth. This study aimed to compare self-perception in a sample of transgender clinic–referred children and adolescents with their standardization samples and to examine differences between these two groups. To measure self-esteem, the Self-Perception Profile for Children was administered to 305 referred children (162 assigned males at birth (AMABs) and 143 assigned females at birth (AFABs), mean age = 9.05 ( SD, 1.47), range = 5.9–13.00 years), and the Self-Perception Profile for Adolescents was administered to 369 referred adolescents (118 AMABs and 251 AFABs, mean age = 15.27 ( SD, 1.80), range = 10.73–18.03 years). To measure the severity of gender dysphoria, the parents of the children completed the Gender Identity Questionnaire and the adolescents completed the Utrecht Gender Dysphoria Scale. Referred children and adolescents had a significantly lower self-concept compared to the normative population, whereby referred adolescents felt less competent compared to referred children. Compared to their peers, childhood referred AFABs perceived themselves even better on scholastic and athletic competence and social acceptance. With regard to gender differences, referred AFABs generally showed a better self-perception compared to referred AMABs. The lower self-perception of transgender clinic–referred children and adolescents compared to same age peers deserves clinical attention and interventions aimed at, for example, improving social and physical self-worth.


2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 538-549
Author(s):  
Florence Yan ◽  
Meghan Costello ◽  
Joseph Allen

This study assessed self-perception as a long-term predictor of relative changes in problems related to alcohol and marijuana use in early adulthood. Self-report questionnaires were completed by a community sample of 124 individuals in the Southeastern United States who were followed longitudinally from age 19 to 27. More problems due to substance use at age 27 were predicted by participants’ negative perceptions of their social acceptance, romantic appeal, and self-worth. Predictions remained after accounting for potential confounds including gender, income, and baseline substance use problems at age 19. Social avoidance and distress in new situations at age 19 mediated the relationship between self-perception and relative changes in substance use problems, such that increases in substance use problems from age 19 to 27 were potentially explainable by the linkage of negative self-perceptions to social avoidance and distress in new situations.


2020 ◽  
pp. 105984052093334
Author(s):  
Hulya Ciloglu ◽  
Medine Yilmaz

This cross-sectional study was carried out to investigate the self-perception of primary school students aged 10–14 and their attitudes toward obese children ( n = 693). There was a weak, positive, and highly significant correlation between the mean scores for the overall Attitude Toward Obese Children Scale, the Self-Perception Profile for Children Scale, and the Acceptance of Obese Peers subscale ( p = .000). There was a weak, positive, and highly significant correlation between all the subscales except for the Rejection of Obese Peer and Social Acceptance and Athletic Competence subscales ( p < .01). Self-perception in adolescence is effective throughout life in terms of community mental health. Therefore, it is of great importance to carry out education and awareness-raising studies in schools to gain students positive attitudes and behavior toward individuals with different characteristics.


1988 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 293-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Hopper

This pilot study examined self-concept and motor performance of hearing impaired boys and girls, ages 10 to 14. Subjects were 32 students from the Washington State School for the Deaf in Vancouver. Self-concept was measured using the Harter Self-Perception Profile consisting of six subscales: scholastic competence, social acceptance, athletic competence, physical appearance, behavioral conduct, and global self-worth. Motor performance was assessed with the 9-min run, sit-ups, sit and reach, Bass stick test, long jump, shuttle run, and catching a ball. Results of this pilot study indicated that students scored highest in the scholastic domain and lowest in the social acceptance domain. The physical appearance scale was most related to global self-worth. Those students who viewed themselves as athletically capable did best in the 9-min run. Girls scored higher than boys in athletic competence, physical appearance, and social acceptance domains.


2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glauber Carvalho Nobre ◽  
Paulo Felipe Ribeiro Bandeira ◽  
Maria Helena Da Silva Ramalho ◽  
Francisco Salviano Sales Nobre ◽  
Nadia Cristina Valentini

ntroduction: practising sport contributes tothe reinforcement of important psychological features such as self-perception of competence, especially when participants are children from socially vulnerable contexts. Objective: to compare the socially vulnerablechildren’s self-perception of competence, assisted and unassisted by social sports projects. Method: a total of 235 children (male and female), aged between seven and tenyears, participated in this comparative study. They were divided into two groups: onegroup was formed by 106 children participating in social sports projects;the other was 129 children who did not participate in socialsports projects. The self-perception of competence was assessed by the Brazilian version of the Self-Perception Profile for Children. We used a three-way ANOVA to assess the possible interaction effect between gender, age and group (children assisted and unassisted) in the different dimensions of perceived competence. Results: The children attending sports projects reported higher overall self-worth (F(1.234)) = 6.132, p = 0.014, η2 = 0.026). It was observed that there was an effect of interaction between the variable age x group (F(1.234)) = 6.673, p = 0.010, η2 = 0.029) on the self-perception of social acceptance. There were no significant effects of group on the other dimensions of self-perception of competence. Conclusion: the children participatingin social sports projects showed more self-perception in terms of social acceptance and self-concept compared tonon-participatory children. This project does not help in other dimensions of self-perception.


2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-52
Author(s):  
Sandra L. Bosacki

Abstract Children’s self-concept and theory of mind are both important factors in children’s social, cognitive and emotional development. Research on gender differences in children’s theory of mind understanding reveals contradictory findings such as higher degree of social understanding or theory of mind in girls (Villaneuva Badenes, Clemente Estevan, & Garcia Bacete 2000), boys score higher than girls (Russell et al., 2007), or no gender differences at all (Villaneuva Badenes, Clemente Estevan, & Garcia Bacete, 2000). This research study is part of a larger 3-year longitudinal study, investigating children’s social and emotional development during middle childhood. This study explores the gendered relations between self-concept and social understanding (including psychological language) in middle school aged children (n = 49, ages 11-13). Results suggest a negative correlation between boys’ sense of self-worth and psychological language. Implications for curriculum development that promotes socio-emotional literacy within middle school are discussed


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martha Peaslee Levine

It has been well documented that individuals struggling with eating disorders don’t have clear perceptions of their own bodies. Yet they overly rely on their body image as their sense of self. Even the criteria of certain eating disorders recognize that individuals are strongly affected by their body weight and shape, which is often seen through a distorted lens. Individuals with eating disorders, particularly anorexia nervosa, struggle not only with recognizing their external beauty but also their internal positive qualities. Their perfectionism and critical sense of self leads them to have negative views of their beauty and self-worth. This chapter will look at some of the reasons individuals with eating disorders struggle to appreciate their own beauty, internally as well as externally, and will offer some tools to help with these struggles. Many individuals, even those without disordered eating, struggle with critical self-perception. Perhaps this chapter can help us all become more compassionate to ourselves as we consider our external and internal aspects of beauty.


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