The development of respect in young athletes: A systematic review and meta-analysis

The practice of sports can lead to the development of values such as respect, self-control, effort, autonomy and leadership. However, sport can only foster educational habits and values if it is properly timed and specifically focused towards that end. The aim of this study was to carry out a systematic review and meta-analysis of the effect of interventions on the development and promotion of respect in the practice of sport among young people.

A systematic search was conducted, according to the guidelines of the PRISMA declaration, in the Web of Science (WOS), PubMed (Medline), Scopus, Google Scholar and SportDiscus databases. A total of 6 articles were considered to meet the inclusion criteria for the promotion of respect. Criteria for inclusion included: the full text needed to be available; it should be written in one of the selected languages: English, Spanish and Portuguese; it should be an intervention, an experimental or quasi-experimental study or a randomized controlled trial. Each manuscript was independently reviewed by three authors of this work.

The results of the meta-analyses showed that the Siedentop sports education model, and Hellison's personal and social responsibility model (TPRS), had significant improvements regarding respect for opponents (total effect size = 0.39, small effect, with 95% Confidence Interval of 0.07 to 0.72). In addition, these models, along with another programme called Fair Play, also achieved significant increases as regards respect for the social conventions of sport (total effect size = 0.67, moderate effect, with 95% IC from 0.25 to 1.10).

In conclusion, the use of interventions related to the above-mentioned models is recommended when it is intended to encourage respect for opponents and social conventions. These considerations could be useful to both teachers and coaches in order to further cultivate these important attitudes.