ASSOCIATION BETWEEN AGE, PRACTICE TIME AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF LIFE SKILLS IN BRAZILIAN ADAPTED SPORT PARTICIPANTS: A STUDY BY TYPE OF SPORT

Abstract

Life skills are acquired skills necessary to cope with the demands and challenges of everyday life. These life skills are particularly important, as through these life skills learned through sport young people can transfer them to other domains of life (education, workplace, and personal relationships). The aim of the study was to identify the predictive role of age and length of practice in the development of life skills among 210 participants of adapted sports. The sample included 170 boys and 40 girls aged 11-26 years (M = 24.05, SD = 1.59) from collective and individual sports. The instruments used were the Life Skills Scale for Sport and a semi-structured questionnaire. Data analysis was performed using Multivariate Analysis of Variance, Pearson's Correlation and Multiple Regression (p <0.05). The results showed a significant difference (p <0.05) in all life skills according to the type of sport, evidencing higher scores for team sports. Multiple regression revealed that age and time of practice showed a positive prediction regarding life skills in both groups. In practice, the results suggest that coaches and parents should encourage practitioners of adapted sports to develop their life skills through sport, especially practitioners of individual modalities and that age and time of practice had a predictor role for the development of life skills. Received on: 2021/12/06 Reformulated on: 2022/03/31 Accepted: 2022/04/01