Sammenhengen mellom organisert idrettsdeltakelse, opplevd tilhørighet og psykologisk distress blant norske ungdommer : en ett-års oppfølgingsstudie

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between sports participation, sense of belonging and psychological distress in a sample of Norwegian adolescents during a one-year period. We also wanted investigate the potential mediating effect of sense of belonging on the relationship between the degree of sports participation and psychological distress one year later. This longitudinal study is part of a larger project called "the Relevance of Physical Activity Contexts in Every-Day Life of Adolescents" (REPAC). This study is based on data collections made in spring 2014 (N = 3049) and 2015 (N = 2890) where students from Aust and Vest-Agder, Oslo/Akershus and Østfold participated. The adolescents were around 12 and 16 years in 2014 and around 13 and 17 years in 2015. The questionnaire was developed to investigate how different activity contexts affect young people's everyday lives. Correlation and mediation analyzes (bootstrapping) were conducted. The results showed that sports participating adolescents had lower levels of psychological distress than non-sport participating adolescents. The present study reports a negative relationship between sports participation psychological distress among sports participating adolescents. In addition, the results showed that the level of sports participation predicted lower levels of psychological distress a year later, mediated by sense of belonging. Previous levels of psychological distress and sense of belonging were controlled for. The findings in this study are discussed in light of theory and previous research. Key words: Physical activity, sports participation, perceived affiliation, mental health, psychological distress, youth, mediation.