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Preventive interventions for children in organized team sport tackling aggression: Results from the pilot evaluation of “Fairplayer.Sport”
Author(s) -
Scheithauer Herbert,
Leppin Nico,
Hess Markus
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
new directions for child and adolescent development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.628
H-Index - 59
eISSN - 1534-8687
pISSN - 1520-3247
DOI - 10.1002/cad.20380
Subject(s) - psychology , psychological intervention , aggression , competence (human resources) , intervention (counseling) , physical therapy , applied psychology , clinical psychology , developmental psychology , medicine , social psychology , psychiatry
Current reviews revealed that there is a lack of effective programs and valuable effectiveness studies related to prevention of aggressive behavior and fostering of social competence in early adolescents participating in organized team sports (e.g., ball sports, such as soccer). Using a randomized controlled design, the present pilot study presents first results regarding the effectiveness of the preventive intervention program “Fairplayer.Sport” that was implemented with preadolescent soccer players ( N = 145 preadolescents; aged 9–14 years; mean = 12.2 years) in organized team sport (13 soccer teams). Results revealed a reduction of aggressive behavior in the intervention groups compared to waiting‐control groups (small effect size). This effect remained stable 3 months after program implementation. Implications for planning and implementing preventive intervention programs are discussed.