Analysis of the influence of different sporting contexts on positive youth development among adolescents

There is a widespread belief that sports can be used as a means of so-called 'positive youth development' (PYD). Literature reports on the association of organized sports participation with a range of positive health-related, edu- cational and psychosocial outcomes in adolescents (Holt, 2008). However, it has been indicated that mere participation in sports does not automati- cally produce PYD, as this largely will depend on how sports programs are delivered (Petitpas et al., 2005). Therefore different sporting contexts can be associated with various types of developmental experiences. Furthermore, Theeboom et al. (2010) indicated that it may be unfeasible or not even rel- evant to determine a causal relation between sports participation and PYD outcomes. They argued that it is more relevant to investigate and determine which contextual conditions and organisational mechanisms can facilitate beneficial and sustainable outcomes. Nowadays, adolescents can engage in a number of sporting contexts. Besides the traditional sports club, other orga- nizational structures have emerged, such as a low threshold 'alternative' con- text (De Knop et al., 1996) and a specific 'sport-plus' context (Hellison, 2003; Gould et al., 2008). The main objective of this study consists of improving the understanding of the underlying mechanisms regarding perceived devel- opmental experiences among ethnic minority adolescent youth in a number of sporting contexts. First, a literature review was set up to ascertain which factors that can characterise the sporting context (e.g., type of sport organi- zation, quality of coaching, may have an influence on PYD of youth involved. Second, based on preliminary qualitative data a comparison can be made between several sporting contexts. Apart from the sporting context it is also essential to acknowledge the presence of a number of individual (e.g., gen- der: Fredricks & Eccles, 2005) - and socio-contextual variables (e.g., SES: Vertonghen & Theeboom, 2010) which can lead to diverse learning experi- ences among young participants.