Sport research has indicated that individuals possess different views about the overall purpose of participating in physical activities (White, 1995). Individual differences in the perceived purposes of sport have yet to be investigated with athletes and non-athletes at the junior high school level. The purpose of this study was to determine if significant differences in the perceived purpose of sport are evident among 12 to 14 age junior high school male/female athletes and non-athletes and to determine if any significant interaction exists. The participants for this study consisted of 141 junior high students (males = 71 and females = 70). Sixty-one were classified as non-athletes, and the remaining eighty were classified as athletes. All participants completed the Perceived purpose of sport questionnaire (Duda, 1989). A multivariate analysis of variance revealed an over all significant difference in gender and athletic status. The results indicated that boys believed enhanced social status to be a more important purpose of sport than the girls. Athletes had significantly higher perceptions of competitiveness to be a more important factor than non-athletes. These results are congruent with previous literature, but those findings dealt with a different age group and different sports. Many factors could have contributed to the results of this study, with sample size and the sample population being the most important.

The after-school activity context has grown in importance over the past 30yrs as major demographic change (i.e.dual-career families & latchkey children) has swept the country. This bk looks at the influences of after-school activities on child & adol.dev

Do sports build character? An anthropologist and a sociologist explore the underpinnings of school sports and examine the evidence to support the prevailing assumption that sport is an ennobling experience. They find that participation has little effect on positive character development. Far from building model citizens, their research shows that competitive team sports may foster selfish motives and antisocial behavior. Rather than learning self-sacrifice and dedication, athletes often pick up the message that "winning isn''t everything - it''s the only thing."

The purpose of this ethnographic case study was to explore and investigate the adult perceptions of the influence or impact that student involvement in high school athletics has on student engagement and student success. Due to the fact that funding for education in California is tied to the state economy, it is continually susceptible to periods of economic boom as well as times of economic recession. The result is that educational leaders have to continually make decisions about what programs to cut or to continue to fund. In times of economic crisis, there is a documented tendency for schools across the nation to cut extracurricular programs in order to sustain the academic curricular programs. This study examines adult perceptions regarding the impact that they believe athletic involvement ultimately has on student engagement and student success in a secondary setting. Through a focus group with parents, a staff survey and semi-structured interviews with staff members, this study explored adult perceptions regarding the impact that athletics has on overall student engagement and success. Findings include the importance of athletics in providing “life lessons” and in teaching xi students skills that cannot be taught as easily, if at all, in the classroom; the importance of athletics in providing a “sense of belonging” or “being a part of a team”; and the role that athletic involvement plays in providing motivation for students to be academically more engaged and successful.