Overview

Objective:

To perform a systematic review and meta-analysis for the effects of physical activity intervention on self-esteem and self-concept in children and adolescents, and to identify moderator variables by meta-regression.

Method:

Relevant studies were identified through a comprehensive search of electronic databases. Study inclusion criteria were: (1) intervention should be supervised physical activity, (2) reported sufficient data to estimate pooled effect sizes of physical activity intervention on self-esteem or self-concept, (3) participants' ages ranged from 3 to 20 years, and (4) a control or comparison group was included.
Results: Twenty-five randomized controlled trial studies and 13 non-randomized controlled trial studies including a total of 2991 cases were identified. Significant positive effects were found in RCTs for intervention of physical activity alone on general self outcomes, self-concept and self-worth. There was no significant effect of intervention of physical activity alone on any outcomes in non-RCTs, as well as in studies with intervention of physical activity combined with other strategies.

Conclusions:

Intervention of physical activity alone is associated with increased self-concept and self-worth in children and adolescents. And there is a stronger association with school-based and gymnasium-based intervention compared with other settings.

Acknowledgement

Author:
Liu M, Wu L, Ming Q

Journal:
PLoS One.

Publisher:
PLos ONE

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0134804&type=printable