Citation

Spruit A, van der Put C, Van Vugt E, Stams GJ. Int. J. Offender Ther. Comp. Criminol. 2018; 62(6): 1535-1555.

Affiliation

University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0306624X17698055

PMID

28741394

Abstract

To prevent juvenile delinquency, there is growing interest in the use of sports-based interventions. To date, there is little empirical research that provides insights into for whom, how, and when sports-based crime prevention programs are most effective. Therefore, the current study assessed which youth, coach, and context factors were predictive of change in risk factors and protective factors for delinquency in a sports-based crime prevention program for at-risk adolescents. Participants ( N = 155) and their teachers filled in questionnaires about risk and protective factors for delinquency at the start of the intervention and 13 months later. In addition, the coaches and participants filled in questionnaires about the predictors of intervention success. The youths showed significant improvements over the course of the intervention. Various youth, coach, and context factors (e.g., the type of education of youth and the sociomoral climate at the sports club) were associated to change in the outcome variables.

Language: en

Keywords

coaching; juvenile delinquency; sports environment; sports-based crime prevention; youth development