title: Ties That Bond: Youth Sport as a Vehicle for Social Identity and Positive Youth Development.
abstract: An emerging area of research has focused on understanding how the group dynamics of a sport team influence positive youth development (PYD). The identities that youth form through their membership in sport teams (i.e., social identities) have been found to influence teammate behavior and team performance. Yet, minimal work exists on social identity and PYD in youth sport.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between social identity and PYD in sport.
  
  
  METHODS
  Youth engaged in recreational sport (N = 219; Mage= 11.61 years, SD = 1.39 years) completed measures of social identity and PYD in sport. The social identity measure assessed 3 dimensions including ingroup ties (IGT; perceptions of similarity, bonding, belongingness), cognitive centrality (importance of being a team member), and ingroup affect (IGA; feelings associated with group membership). A regression analysis was performed separately for 4 PYD outcomes (personal and social skills, goal setting, initiative, negative experiences) with the 3 dimensions of social identity entered as predictors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Regression analyses revealed that IGT and IGA were positively associated with personal and social skills (R2Adj. = .29). Further, IGT predicted initiative (R2Adj. = .16), whereas IGA was positively associated with goal setting (R2Adj. = .17) and negatively associated with negative experiences (R2Adj. = .08).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings extend previous research highlighting the benefits of social identity on teammate behavior and team performance and demonstrate how social identity may contribute to PYD through sport.
authors.affiliation: a Nipissing University.
authors.forename: Mark W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Bruner
authors.affiliation: b Dalhousie University.
authors.forename: Shea M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Balish
authors.affiliation: a Nipissing University.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Forrest
authors.affiliation: c Acadia University.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: b Dalhousie University.
authors.forename: Kristine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Webber
authors.affiliation: c Acadia University.
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gray
authors.affiliation: a Nipissing University.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: McGuckin
authors.affiliation: b Dalhousie University.
authors.forename: Melanie R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Keats
authors.affiliation: b Dalhousie University.
authors.forename: Laurene
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rehman
authors.affiliation: c Acadia University.
authors.forename: Christopher A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Shields
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006040:Goals; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D012933:Social Identification; D066107:Social Skills; D000067009:Youth Sports / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Adolescence; group dynamics; personal development; team identification