Competitive football as a social learning context: associations with communication, leadership, and teamwork skills among adolescent football players
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v83.119030Keywords:
Competitive football, youth sport engagement, communication skills, leader-ship, teamwork, positive youth developmentAbstract
Introduction: Competitive football may provide a structured social context in which adolescent players experience repeated opportunities for interpersonal interaction. However, evidence on the associations between football engagement and psychosocial skills among adolescent football players remains limited.
Objective: This study examined the associations between competitive football engagement and communication, leadership, and teamwork skills among adolescent football players.
Methodology: A quantitative correlational design was employed involving 112 male students from a high-performance football academy in Malaysia. Data were collected using validated self-report instruments, and internal consistency was assessed in the present sample. Pearson correlation coefficients with 95% confidence intervals were used to examine the associations among variables.
Results: Football engagement was positively associated with communication (r = .334, 95% CI [.158, .489], p < .001) and teamwork (r = .523, 95% CI [.374, .646], p < .001), but not leadership (r = .138, 95% CI [−.049, .315], p = .145).
Discussion and Conclusion: Higher football engagement was associated with stronger communication and teamwork skills, but not leadership. The findings should be interpreted as associations within this sample and not as evidence that football engagement causes changes in psychosocial skills.
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