Variations in adolescent engagement in sports and its infl uence on positive youth development

Theory and research converge in pointing to the importance of structured outof-school-time (OST) activities as important assets in the positive development of youth (Mahoney et al. 2005). Sports participation, the most ubiquitous OST activity (Larson and Verma 1999), has been associated with such positive indicators of development as higher academic performance in high school, greater likelihood of attending college, and greater autonomy and satisfaction in one’s fi rst job (Barber et al. 2001).