The question that concerns us is what role does participation in organized sport have on shyness and psychological maladjustment. Research has been done to try to get a better idea of ​​the role of sport in children. One way to do this is by using a longitudinal study and evaluating the patient and also the patient’s parents. A study conducted at Time 1 was of 355 primary school students, of whom 181 were boys and 174 girls. Age was measured at 10.1 years with a standard deviation of 0.6. At Time 2, 201 of the original 355 students were tested.

The students’ test was a self-report of shyness, aggression, sport participation, and psychological adjustment. Parents were rated on the children’s social skills. The independent variable in the study was sports participation. Children were not required to participate in organized sports, but were encouraged. The independent variable was student participation and the dependent variable was the test that measured shyness, self-esteem, social anxiety, and loneliness (Findlay, Caplan 2008). In contrast to what this longitudinal study demonstrates, the textbook offers another study where they investigated the influence of violent video games on children (Huffman, 2007). Sport influences students in a positive way, while violent video games affect students in a negative way.

The results of this study have been predominantly positive. Shy children who played sports had higher self-esteem than shy children who did not play sports. The students who participated also had more self-control and tended to be more assertive than those who did not participate in sports. The participating student also had a significant decrease in social anxiety and although some of the sports created “sports related” anxiety, the students were able to create coping mechanisms in the game. The creation of coping mechanisms could translate into future scenarios outside of sport. The only negative is that some of the shy kids would revert to their original selves if they weren’t successful all the time. They needed repeated success to negate their shyness. I agree with what this study showed because it is something that happened in my personal life. Being on a sports team and being successful led me to a lot of my friendships that I have now and it really helped me socially. Now that I no longer play any sports, it has become more difficult for me to make new friends and I have problems in social settings.

References
Caplan, R., Findlay, L. (2008). Get Out and Play: Shyness in Childhood and the Benefits of Organized Sports Participation. Canadian Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 40(3), 153-161. Retrieved on September 11, 2008 from the EBSCOhost database.

Huffman, Karen. (2007) Psychology in Action, 8th edition. Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons.