If you want your kids to be more resilient, encourage them to do sport says new study

New US research has found that participating in sports can help high school students develop the resilience needed to get through the difficult phase of adolescence and tackle challenges they encounter later in life.

For the new study, carried out by Brigham Young University, researchers surveyed the parents of 276 high school students, including 214 students who participated in sports and 62 who did not.

The parents were asked about their child’s sports participation and their levels of resilience, social competence, and empathy.

The findings, published in the journal The Physical Educator, showed that compared to those who didn’t participate in sports, the teens who did participate had significantly higher levels of resilience, including self-regulation, social competence and empathy, as reported by their parents.

The researchers also found a positive correlation between the number of sports played and increased resilience levels, meaning that students appeared to benefit more from playing three or four sports, rather than just one.

According to the authors, the findings suggest that encouraging students to participate in sports, whether as part of their high school education or recreational, could help them face challenges now and later in life.

“Adolescents are constantly faced with challenge and adversity while playing sports and have to figure out how to navigate it,” said study co-author Jason Johnson. “Sports teaches kids to participate with peers towards a common cause that’s bigger than the individual, a behavior that teaches them how to be resilient.”

“Team building and being a part of a group is really important in sports,” added co-author Paul Caldarella, “Playing sports also teaches students how to be humble after winning, how to treat each other and how to treat members of the opposing team.”

“Resilience requires self-discipline and perseverance through adversity,” continued Caldarella. “You could get hurt, lose the game or get a bad call against you, but you have to figure out how to channel that into a positive focus and move forward after these negative moments.”

“This study serves as evidence that resilience is something that can be learned and developed over time. It’s not something that you either have or don’t have.”

source: yahoo.com