Sports participation boosts wellbeing in young teenagers, research finds

A survey of 5,481 young people aged 13 – 15 reveals that participation in sport is a significant predictor of self-belief and mental toughness across the age group in all education settings.

“The continued promotion of school sport throughout a child’s time at school, up to and including during exams should be encouraged,” say researchers from Manchester Metropolitan University who conducted the research on behalf of the Youth Sport Trust and The Heads’ Conference.

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“The research showed that the wellbeing benefits of sports participation can be gained for all students, regardless of the sector they are educated within,” they add.

The research looked at the number of sports a child had participated in, their involvement in school sports and how they perceived sport at school.

Key findings include:

• Greater sports participation in school is associated with higher levels of wellbeing.

• Sports participation is also a significant predictor of self-belief and mental toughness.

• Students in year 10 reported lower participation in sport than those in year 9, and also lower levels of wellbeing, self-belief, and mental toughness.

• The effects of mental toughness and self-efficacy on life satisfaction and happiness were greater for girls than boys.

Ali Oliver, chief executive at Youth Sport Trust said: “This powerful new research clearly shows not just the importance of young people taking part in sport and physical activity at school, but crucially continuing to take part throughout exam season.

“We know that healthy and happy children learn better, and with mock exam season approaching for many young people, this research highlights the need for young people to remain engaged in sport throughout the school year. In particular, more needs to be done to ensure that girls remain active throughout their school careers. We have seen both enjoyment and participation levels in PE drop in recent years and as this latest research shows, taking part in sport can play an important role in life satisfaction and happiness for girls.”

The research comes following an announcement of a £30m funding from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to deliver approximately 30 new state of the art 3G pitches at sites supporting women’s and girls’ teams across England.