Introduction
The growth and development of adolescents is a major concern for many parents; the use of sports and physical activities is becoming common in finding a solution to teenagers’ socialization challenges. This is because most teenagers have resorted to self-isolating themselves from others and turning to social media friends. With the advancement of technology and the introduction of social media platforms, the socialization of children and adolescents has become an important part of modern psychology. Sports and physical activities have become an integral part of improving adolescents’ social interaction skills with peers and adults.
This topic is important as it focuses on the need for sports to stimulate adolescent growth and development. The study will delve into the socialization of adolescents in modern psychology, whereby it will examine the relationship between physical activities and their role in improved socialization skills. In addition, it will look at the benefits of sports and physical activities including reduced risk of obesity, high blood pressure, anxiety, stress, and depression in children. This research is needed because it aims at identifying the possibility of improving adolescents’ social interaction skills with peers and adults through sports activities. It will focus on the influence of sports and physical activities on the development of children and adolescents’ communication skills. This paper, therefore, will contribute significant knowledge to already existing literature on the topic under discussion.
Research Question(s)
The research question is as follows: can adolescents’ involvement in team sports activities stimulate the development of their communication skills?
Comparison and Analysis of Literature
Children’s and adolescents’ growth and development is a complicated process, which has an impact on sports and athletics participation. According to Brown et al. (2017), mental development in adolescence is an individual aspect that depends on numerous factors such as stable families, parenting style, schools and the environment among others. However, spending time doing sports together erases these factors and makes it possible to interact openly.
In addition, most adolescents can take part in some level of physical activities, which then promote cognitive, physical, and behavioral development. Similarly, Sukys et al. (2015) discovered that adolescents who took part in sports displayed a stronger parental attachment as compared to nonparticipants, and comparative results demonstrate an improvement in communication indicators among these teenagers. This implies that for improved cognitive and social development, parents should encourage their children to undertake sporting activities, though this would not necessarily translate into mutual trust.
In addition, parents play a key role in ensuring children like sports, but if they are proactive, the desired outcomes cannot be obtained as most adolescents appear to rebel against the wishes of their parents. Danioni et al. (2017) discovered that a positive value is being transmitted from parents to children who are involved in sporting activities. Parents are associated with providing their children with important moral values. In addition, for many guardians, the opportunity to establish positive relationships with their teenage children is a valuable idea (Danioni et al., 2017). It is, therefore, evident that parents play a key role in their children’s perception of sporting activities.
Contrary to the use of sports, positive youth development (PYD) is an instrument for ensuring that children and adolescents achieve a positive outcome in their behavior. In the PYD concept, a solution is provided based on the abilities of a teenager to harness their strengths and positively develop a change in their lives. Looking at the study by Holt et al. (2017), the benefits of involving adolescents in sports activities are revealed, and improved communication with peers and adults is considered a positive outcome. Through PYD, it is possible to institute life skill programs for teenagers that gave them the opportunity to engage in activities promoting skill-building.
Similarly, getting involved in sports contributes to improved social skills. RagelienÄ— (2016) states that the value of adolescents’ positive communication with peers has a direct relationship with participation in sports activities and is cited as a method of expanding teenagers’ social circle. It was emphasized that for the children and adolescents to develop and hone their social skills, sports and physical activities need to be part of their regular undertaking. Brown et al. (2017) affirm that for sports to have an impact on social development, participation should correspond to an individual’s abilities and interests, as well as considers the person’s developmental stage. When teenagers’ capabilities are taken into account, the impact of the activities will be child-specific.
All the studies showed significantly improved interaction abilities of children and adolescents when physical or sporting activities were implemented. It can be noted that in modern psychology, there are therapies, which are applied in order to improve a child’s growth and developmental processes. It is also important to point out that cognitive-behavioral play therapy (CBPT) is one of the techniques applied to children and adolescents to develop their social skills (Mariani & Zyromski, 2019). By using this approach, children will be taught social skills and how to apply them in their relationships both within and outside the class. Modern psychology should be concerned about the digital world where children and adolescents spend more time online rather than socializing within their neighborhoods.
Comparison of the Studies’ Limitations
There were several limitations that were noticed in these studies. These include a lack of empirical research in the study (RagelienÄ—, 2016). The study by Holt et al. (2017) also had shortcomings because it had fewer sorting activities related to PYD. It was similarly noted that in the study by Danioni et al. (2017) cross-sectional design limited both bio-directionality of the links and the casual inferences from the data collected. This affected the outcome of the results as they were not conclusive. In the study conducted by Sukys et al. (2019), the limits were presented as a result of the grouping of the participants selected for the survey.
The children had taken part in competitive sports for about 2 years, which implies that the outcome would be established on their experience got from the years (Sukys et al. 2019). Finally, in the study conducted by Brown et al. (2017), the limitation was a result of different personal abilities that were used in the different categories. This affected the results because the study did not conduct general research on the influence of sports on social interaction skills with peers and adults but rather on different teenagers’ abilities. It is, therefore, important to note that parental guidance, personal abilities, sports and physical activities have an impact on adolescents’ level of socialization skills.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is evident that there is a relationship between adolescents’ social interaction skills with peers and adults through sports activities. This research will bring in new knowledge on the subject by investigating the issues related to the development of the communications skills of adolescents. In addition, it will compare other studies and reveal the gaps that need to be addressed by future studies that would be done on the same research topic.
References
Brown, K. A., Patel, D. R., & Darmawan, D. (2017). Participation in sports in relation to adolescent growth and development. Translational Pediatrics, 6(3), 150-159. Web.
Danioni, F., Barni, D., & Rosnati, R. (2017). Transmitting sport values: The importance of parental involvement in children’s sports activity. Europe’s Journal of Psychology, 13(1), 75-92. Web.
Holt, N. L., Neely, K. C., Slater, L. G., Camiré, M., Côté, J., Fraser-Thomas, J., MacDonald, D., Strachan, L., & Tamminen, K. A. (2017). A grounded theory of positive youth development through sport based on results from a qualitative meta-study. International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 10(1), 1-49. Web.
Mariani, M., & Zyromski, B. (2019). Cognitive-behavioral therapy in the schools. Theories of school counseling for the 21st century. Oxford University Press.
Ragelienė, T. (2016). Links of adolescents’ identity development and relationship with peers: A systematic literature review. Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 25(2), 97-105. Web.
Sukys, S., Lisinskiene, A., & Tilindiene, I. (2015). Adolescents’ participation in sport activities and attachment to parents and peers. Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal, 43(9), 1507-1517. Web.