This paper reviews Frank Smoll and Ronald E. Smith's book Children and Youth in Sport: A Biopsychosocial Perspective, examining how organized youth sports affect children physically, psychologically, and socially. The review highlights the authors' argument that societal biases toward viewing youth sports positively can obscure real problems, including stress, exploitation, and conditional parental support. Key themes include parental identification with child athletes, celebrity adulation, the treatment of sports as financial investment, and inter-parent competition. The reviewer synthesizes four psychological factors that drive excessive parental pressure and concludes that the book offers valuable insights for sport psychology education.
Children and Youth in Sport: A Biopsychosocial Perspective by Frank Smoll and Ronald E. Smith is a comprehensive sport psychology book that focuses on children and their participation in sports from a physical, psychological, and social perspective. The authors discuss how there is a strong tendency in our society to view participation in sports in a most favorable light. Children are encouraged to participate in organized youth sports programs because these programs are thought to promote such fundamental values as character, teamwork, determination, and commitment. However, this bias toward regarding sports involvement in a positive manner can be troublesome if it blinds us to recognizing that problems exist.
In recent years we have come to realize that some professional-level athletes have serious problems: drug and alcohol abuse, spousal violence, and acts of sexual aggression. We now know that the lives of professional athletes are not always happy ones, even when athletes are blessed with incredible talent and large financial rewards. But according to Smoll and Smith, we have been much slower to recognize the problems inherent in the world of youth sports. Perhaps this is partly because we are much more likely to pay attention to the problems of famous celebrities than to the problems of children. Or perhaps it is partly because we want to believe that youth sports programs are always a positive experience for children.
According to the authors, "It is disturbing to look behind the facade and to realize that children participating in organized sport programs are sometimes unhappy, often pressured, and sometimes cruelly exploited" (p. 99). This line of discussion would make an important and valuable contribution to a sport psychology class, considering that the children in sports today are the sports heroes — and villains — of the future.
Another important topic discussed in this book is why organized sports programs for children have become so extraordinarily popular. According to the authors, there is no simple answer, and the complex answer involves understanding our society and culture as much as it involves understanding individual psychology. The decision to involve a young child in a sports program is largely made by the parents, although the child has more say in the matter as she grows older. But once the decision is made, it involves the whole family, and parent and child become locked in a complex dance of action and reaction, cause and effect, as the child's involvement has a ripple effect on family relationships and motivations. To understand why participation in sports can cause the sorts of problems described above, Smoll and Smith believe we need to understand thoroughly these social and psychological pressures.
"Parental identification, fantasy, investment, and rivalry"
"Synthesis of four pressures driving parental behavior"
These, then, are the four psychological factors that must be recognized as we try to understand the youth sports experience of families: the identification of the parent with the child, the tendency of parents to fantasize about their child's potential, the sense of youth sport as an investment, and competitiveness between parents. Combined, these factors drive many parents to push their child to excel, and to take action when they feel that their child's potential is being ignored or inhibited. The unfortunate result is children who are overstressed, whose self-esteem is based on winning, and whose parents are teaching them that love and support are conditional.
While this book is not perfect, it would be an excellent addition to any sport psychology class. Some parts are a little overly technical in terms of psychological and physiological terminology, but on the whole it is a very reader-friendly book that makes many unique and interesting points. It is highly recommended to anyone interested in how children and their parents are affected by organized sport, and vice versa.
Smoll, F. L., & Smith, R. E. (2002). Children and Youth in Sport: A Biopsychosocial Perspective (2nd ed.). Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co.
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