Positive Youth Development through Sport

Cutting through the political rhetoric about the power of sport as a tool for social change and personal improvement, this book offers insight into how and why participating in sport can be good for children and young people.

Still the only book to focus on the role of sport in positive youth development (PYD), it brings together high-profile contributors from diverse disciplines to critically examine the ways in which sport can be used to promote youth development. Now in a fully updated, revised, and expanded third edition, Positive Youth Development through Sport covers a wider range of disciplines including sport psychology, development psychology, physical education, sport development, and sport sociology. With every chapter asking why, what, so what, and what next, the book introduces the theoretical basis and historical context of PYD, quantitative and qualitative methods for assessing PYD in sport, and the potential of PYD in sport across different ages and abilities. This edition includes brand-new chapters on PYD in schools, in Indigenous populations, and across the lifespan, as well as new material on evaluating PYD programs and new case studies of PYD around the world.

This is invaluable reading for all students, researchers, educators, practitioners, programmers, and policy makers with an interest in youth sport.

Nicholas L. Holt is Dean and Professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology at the University of Calgary, Canada. His research focuses on psychosocial aspects of sport and physical activity among children, adolescents, and their families.

Meghan H. McDonough is Professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology at the University of Calgary, Canada. Her research focuses on the role of social relationships in physical activity and well-being with a variety of populations across the lifespan. She has a long-standing line of research examining social processes in physical-activity-based positive youth development programs.