Project summary
The prevalence of child maltreatment is overwhelming: a third of the Canadian population has endured at least one form of child maltreatment (Afifi et al., 2014). This includes sexual, physical, and emotional abuse, exposure to inter-parental violence, and neglect (WHO, 2016). Considering the deleterious and long-lasting consequences of child maltreatment (Dion et al., 2014; Vézina et al., 2015), it is essential to identify possible cues to help promote resilience in victims. Many factors are known to foster resilience; however, the possible role of sport participation in sustaining positive adaptation despite adversity has been understudied. This study investigated the protective role of sport participation in the association between child maltreatment and psychological adaptation. We conclude that sport participation has the potential to foster higher levels of well-being among victims of child maltreatment.
Research methods
Procedure. This study recruited adolescents in the ninth or tenth grade in six Canadian schools from different areas and socioeconomic backgrounds. Participants completed self-reported questionnaires in their classrooms on electronic tablets to evaluate sport participation, violence toward athletes (Parent et al., 2019), and adaptation (body satisfaction, eating problems, self-esteem, life satisfaction, internalized and externalized symptoms) at two different waves (autumn 2019 and spring 2021). A questionnaire evaluating child maltreatment was completed at Wave 1, and a questionnaire assessing COVID-19-related distress was added to Wave 2. The research procedure was approved by the first author’s Institutional Review Board.
Participants. Overall, 1,802 adolescents aged 14–18 years (Mean 14.74 years; SD = 0.84) participated in Wave 1 of this study. Regarding gender identity, 55.5% of participants self-identified as boy, 42.2% as girl, 1.5% as nonbinary, gender fluid, two-spirits, or “other”, and 0.9% of participants refused to answer. Most participants identified with the Quebecois culture (67.2%) and 32.8% reported other cultural identities, including Canadian, Indigenous, American, East/West European, African, Asian, Middle Eastern, Latin/South American, and Caribbean cultures. Most adolescents (64.4%) lived with both parents. At Wave 2, 825 adolescents aged 15–19 years (Mean 15.84 years; SD = 0.73) completed the second assessment. Among these participants, 51.9% self-identified as girl, 46.5% as boy, and 1.5% as nonbinary, gender fluid, or others.
Research results
More than 56.1% (80.8% non-binary adolescents, 62.4% girls, 50.7% boys) of the sample reported having experienced at least one form of child maltreatment. Moreover, 54.4% of the sample (19.2% non-binary adolescents, 52.9% girls, 56.7% boys) reported sport participation in an organized context (i.e., participating in competitions, tournaments, being part of a sports club or federation). Among them, 58.6% also reported experiencing sport violence (from coaches, teammates, or parents).
In Wave 1, moderation analyses revealed that child maltreatment was significantly associated with all outcomes (i.e., lower levels of life satisfaction and self-esteem, and higher levels of body dissatisfaction, eating problems, internalized and externalized symptoms). Controlling for sport violence, sport participation was significantly associated with higher levels of life satisfaction and self-esteem, and lower levels of body dissatisfaction, and internalized symptoms. Finally, sport participation moderated the associations between child maltreatment and three of the outcomes, namely, life satisfaction, self-esteem, and body dissatisfaction. In other words, among adolescents who practiced sport in an organized context, the associations between child maltreatment and the three outcomes (life satisfaction, self-esteem and body dissatisfaction) were weaker. Further analyses also indicated that overall, child maltreatment was associated with lower level of sport participation.
In Wave 2, although sport participation was associated with higher psychological adaptation, it only moderated the association between child maltreatment and body dissatisfaction, i.e., that the association between child maltreatment and body dissatisfaction was weaker among participants who participated in an organized sport. Moreover, the COVID-19-related distress was associated with all outcomes (i.e., lower levels of life satisfaction and self-esteem, and higher levels of body dissatisfaction, eating problems, internalized and externalized symptoms).
The results of this study must be interpreted in light of its limitations. First, a moderate attrition rate between Wave 1 and Wave2 was noted, which is also a problem shared by several longitudinal studies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, caution should be taken when generalizing the results. Finally, it was impossible to measure ongoing CM during the pandemic in the present study. Considering that the pandemic has increased the proportion of youth who experienced CM due to confinement at home (Đapić et al., 2020), it may also have been a factor that exacerbates youth’s psychological adaptation.
Overall, these results suggest that sport participation reduces the consequences of child maltreatment, potentially signifying that sport participation acts as a resilience factor. To play its role, sport participation should also be free of violence. Given that victims of child maltreatment were less likely to participate in organized sports compared to non-maltreated victims, our results also indicate that adolescents who need it the most have less access to it. Besides, as COVID-19-related distress was associated with worsened outcomes, we may wonder if it mitigates the protective role of sport participation for maltreated victims. Nonetheless, as sport participation was associated with positive outcomes in both Waves 1 and 2, the current results reiterate the importance of promoting sport participation for all youth. Finally, considering the high level of sport violence, there is an urgent need needed to promote a safe and secure sport environment.
Policy and program implications
Given results of this study suggest that organized sport may act as a factor sustaining resilience, Canadian sport sector stakeholders should not only promote sport participation among child maltreatment victims, but also adopt policies to make sure they have access to it and that it is free from violence (safe). To that matter, as it might be difficult to reach victims, it could be recommended to add sport activities within child welfare services, for example for adolescents who are in residential care facilities. Sport participation could be proposed as a fun and healthy activity for these youth. Moreover, given its positive associations with wellbeing, universal interventions could be used to promote sport participation for all youth.
Next steps
Some changes were brought to our research project because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Indeed, we had planned to conduct two data collection waves per year for two years. However, in Quebec, high schools closed during the spring 2020, which render impossible to collect data within the school setting. Nonetheless, we did try to reach the students at home, by sending them a link by email in order to complete the questionnaire online. Although this procedure was not successful in reaching many adolescents, 250 participants completed the survey. The results indicated that adolescents find it difficult to not practice their sport. Therefore, given that this situation (where adolescents had to stop sport participation) might have been deleterious for adolescents, it raises social and political issues. To prevent those issues, and as other pandemics are likely to happen in the future, we recommend policy making on how to make sure adolescents have access to sport participation at all time.
Knowledge translation
Infographics will be produced to disseminate the findings and will be shared with the Canadian sport sector. In the meantime, do not hesitate to disseminate this report to all stakeholders of the sport sector.