Being involved in beneficial extracurricular activities is a known deterrent of delinquency. Participation in school sports gives adolescents an alternative to delinquent behavior and less opportunity to choose maladaptive pastimes. Being a part of a team also helps teach children leadership skills, how to work together and to value other people, all of which are positive qualities that decrease negative associations and juvenile delinquency.
Health and Self-Esteem
The physical activity associated with participating in school sports benefits your child’s health and self-esteem. Positive self-esteem is linked with less cases of juvenile delinquency, because there is less focus on attempting to follow others and proving oneself to peers. Mental health is positively affected by athleticism and school sports by lessening the cases of depression and anxiety over attending school, body image, lack of friends and feeling isolated.
Peer Influence
Adolescents that are a part of a sports team tend to befriend others of like interests. This makes it less likely that your teenager will associate with deviant peers. In a study conducted by Thorolfur Thorlindsson and colleagues on peer groups and substance use, it was found that teenagers who participated in positive leisure activities, such as school sports or clubs, were less likely to abuse alcohol and drugs due to pressure from negative peer influence. Adolescents that are a part of a school sports team also are deterred from becoming involved with gangs or in gang-related activity.
School
In most cases, involvement in school-related activities, such as sports, is dependent on a student’s grades and school attendance. The basic idea is that if an adolescent wants to play school sports, he also has to study, attend school and stay out of trouble. For this reason, truancy declines and students feel more connected with the school. After-school and summer practices and activities also decrease potential delinquent actions during times adolescents are not attending school. Students that play sports in high school also have an increased chance of furthering their education, therefore avoiding future criminality.
Negative Impact
There are some conflicting views on whether school-related sports in the teen years have a positive or negative influence on certain types of delinquency. Research on adolescents, conducted by Kathleen E. Miller and colleagues at the University of Buffalo, showed that when the students identified themselves as jocks, minor delinquency, such as fighting with parents, cursing and fighting, was frequently reported among them. A possible explanation for the difference between jock-identity and delinquency as opposed to sport participation and delinquency is that jocks see themselves as a specific superior group. Athletes, on the other hand, are more focused on the sport itself.
