Life skills in amateur beach volleyball athletes: a comparative analysis by age group and practice time
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v81.119108Keywords:
Psychosocial aspects in sports, Sports psychology, Volleyball playersAbstract
Introduction: Sport is recognized as a favorable environment for the development of transferable psychosocial skills; however, scientific production involving amateur beach volleyball athletes remains limited.
Objective: To compare the perception of the development of life skills in amateur beach volleyball athletes according to age group and years of practice.
Methods: This cross-sectional, descriptive-analytical study included 238 amateur athletes, of whom 52.9% were male, with a median age of 28 years and a median of 10 years of sports experience. A sociodemographic questionnaire and the Life Skills in Sport Scale (P-LSSS), composed of 43 items, distributed across eight dimensions, were administered. Participants were stratified by median into two independent groups according to age (< 28 and ≥ 28 years) and time spent practicing the sport (< 10 and ≥ 10 years). Comparisons were performed using the Mann-Whitney U test, adopting a significance level of p<0.05.
Results: Athletes aged 28 or older showed significantly higher scores in goal setting (p = 0.023; r = 0.15), problem-solving and decision-making (p = 0.014; r = 0.17), emotional skills (p = 0.004; r = 0.23), time management (p = 0.012; r = 0.18), and communication (p = 0.020; r = 0.16). Similarly, athletes with ≥ 10 years of practice also obtained higher scores in these dimensions (p ≤ 0.049; r = 0.12–0.22).
Discussion: Age and sports experience showed consistent associations with self-regulatory skills.
Conclusion: Older age and a longer practice time were associated with higher levels of life skills in the investigated context.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Gustavo Baroni Araujo, Igor Fabricio dos Santos Oliveira, Bruno Bember Lofiego, Paula Teixeira Fernandes, Lenamar Fiorese, Helio Serassuelo Junior
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