| In 2002, the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine (NRCIM) developed a framework designed to guide practitioners in optimizing youth development. It proposes that settings characterized by particular external assets positively impact youth's internal assets and thus foster youth development. Although popular belief suggests that participation in sports fosters positive youth development (PYD), NRCIM's framework has been underutilized and not examined empirically. Consequently, this mixed methods study sought to understand the relationship between youth's perceptions of the external assets captured by the social psychological climate (ego-involving climate, task-involving climate, and caring climate) and internal personal and social assets (e.g., self-efficacy, intrinsic motivation, fun, and connectedness) in early adolescent competitive ski athletes. Boys and girls (n = 88, Mage = 13.44 years old, SD = .50) from nine alpine ski racing teams across the Western Unites States volunteered to complete reliable and valid measurements. Quantitatively, simple correlation and multiple regression analysis examined the relationships between the external, social psychological climate and the internal, psychosocial assets. Simple correlation analysis revealed that task and caring climates were positively associated to psychosocial assets. Perceptions of an ego-involving climate were negatively related to fun. Findings from the regression analysis revealed that athletes positive perceptions of a task-involving climate significantly predicted intrinsic motivation, positive perceptions of a caring climate significantly predicted connectedness, skiing self-efficacy, and general self-efficacy, whereas perceiving an ego-involving climate was a significant negative predictor of fun. Collectively the quantitative findings suggest a task-involving, caring climate may benefit youth athletes. Qualitatively, semistructured interviews with seven ( Mage = 13.42 years) girls (n = 5) and boys ( n = 2) explored the facets of the social psychological climate that optimize PYD. A general inductive approach analyzed the data, which resulted in the emergence of four overarching themes: (a) fun environment; (b) atmosphere of nurturance and support; (c) teamworks; and (d) coaching style. Based on these four themes, elements of enjoyment, cooperation, and supportive behaviors were identified as strategies in promoting PYD. These findings improve our understanding of the unique factors that contribute to healthy, psychosocial development within early adolescent ski racers. |
