The impact of an academic sports mentoring program on academic and social variables

105 Pages·2012·1.28 MB·English

by  Hill, Allison B.

The Impact of an Academic Sports Mentoring Program on Academic and Social Variables:
A Comparison

A Thesis
Submitted to the Faculty
of
Drexel University
by
Allison B. Hill
in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
April 2012
Academic Sports Mentoring ii

Dedication

To my husband, Benjamin F. Hill, IV, thank you for believing in this project and me from its
beginning to the end.
I love you.
Academic Sports Mentoring iii

Acknowledgments
There are many people who need to be acknowledged here. To start, Kirk Heilbrun,
Ph.D., the captain, who has believed in this project from its inception and who has been a
wonderful mentor, advisor, and friend. Thank you for your tireless support. To Steve Gregg,
Brian Daly, Ph.D., Don Bersoff, J.D., Ph.D., and Dave DeMatteo J.D., Ph.D., I thank each of you
for your willingness to serve on my committee and your contribution to the project. To everyone
who has been involved on this project – especially Lauren Rosenberger, Jennifer Moore,
Stephanie Brooks, Kento Yasuhara and Heather Green – you all made this idea a reality and
managed to make it a pretty good time as well. Finally, thank you to SquashSmarts and to the
staff for your support and contribution to the project. Working on this project defined my
graduate career, and I will be forever grateful for the opportunity and the memories. It is hard to
believe it is almost over!
I would not be who I am today without my family. To Charlie, my certainly wiser
brother, thank you for your humor and support throughout this process. To my mother, thank you
for teaching me to defy gravity. And to my father, thank you for teaching me how to be strong no
matter what happens.
Finally, to Ben, thank you for believing in me, especially when I falter, and for always
knowing how to make me smile.
Academic Sports Mentoring iv

Table of Contents

LIST OF TABLES...............................................................................................................v
LIST OF FIGURES..........................................................................................................vii
ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................................viii
INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................................1
Afterschool Programs.............................................................................................6
The Academic Sports Mentoring Model................................................................8
A Focus on Positive Assets.....................................................................................9
Reducing the Harmful Impact of Adverse Outcomes...........................................10
Increasing the Likelihood of Positive Outcomes..................................................12
The Role of Attendance........................................................................................20
THE PRESENT STUDY...................................................................................................21
Hypotheses............................................................................................................22
Method..................................................................................................................23
Measures...............................................................................................................27
Procedures.............................................................................................................33
RESULTS..........................................................................................................................34
DISCUSSION....................................................................................................................40
LIMITATIONS..................................................................................................................45
IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH, POLICY AND PRACTICE..................48
CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................53
LIST OF REFERENCES...................................................................................................55
Appendix A: The School Success Profile..........................................................................97
Academic Sports Mentoring v

List Of Tables

Table 1. Plan for SquashSmarts and Comparison Group Participants.............................65

Table 2. Characteristics and Differences Between Program Participants and
Comparison Group.............................................................................................................68

Table 3. WASI IQ Scores for SquashSmarts (N=79) and
Comparison (N=55) Groups..............................................................................................70

Table 4A. Academic Engagement - Behavioral Component,
SSP Trouble Avoidance Scale...........................................................................................71

Table 4B. Academic Engagement - Change in Behavioral Component,
SSP Trouble Avoidance Scale...........................................................................................72

Table 5A. Academic Engagement - Psychological Component,
SSP School Engagement Scale .........................................................................................73

Table 5B. Academic Engagement - Change in Psychological Component,
SSP School Engagement Scale..........................................................................................74

Table 6A. Academic Engagement - Psychological Component,
SSP School Satisfaction Scale...........................................................................................75

Table 6B. Academic Engagement - Change in Psychological Component,
SSP School Satisfaction Scale...........................................................................................76

Table 7A. WIAT Reading Composite Age Standard Score.............................................77

Table 7B. Change in WIAT Reading Composite Age Standard Score............................78

Table 8A. WIAT Math Composite Age Standard Score..................................................79

Table 8B. Change in WIAT Math Composite Age Standard Score.................................80

Table 9A. WIAT Written Language Composite Age Standard Score..............................81

Table 9B. Change in WIAT Written Language Composite Age Standard Score.............82

Table 10A. WIAT Oral Language Composite Age Standard Score.................................83

Table 10B. Change in WIAT Oral Language Composite Age Standard Score................84

Table 11A. WIAT Total Age Standard Score...................................................................85

Table 11B. Change in WIAT Total Age Standard Score.................................................86
Academic Sports Mentoring vi

Table 12A. Interpersonal Relationships - Peer Group Acceptance Scale.........................87

Table 12B. Change in Interpersonal Relationships -
Peer Group Acceptance Scale............................................................................................88

Table 13A. Interpersonal Relationships - Friend Support Scale......................................89

Table 13B. Change in Interpersonal Relationships - Friend Support Scale.....................90

Table 14A. Interpersonal Relationships - Parent Support Scale.......................................91

Table 14B. Change in Interpersonal Relationships - Parent Support Scale......................92

Table 15A. Social Environment - Neighborhood Safety Scale........................................93

Table 15B. Change in Social Environment - Neighborhood Safety Scale.......................94

Table 16A. Social and Community Support - Neighborhood Support Scale...................95

Table 16B. Change in Social and Community Support -
Neighborhood Support Scale.............................................................................................96
Academic Sports Mentoring vii

List of Figures

Figure 1. Recruitment and Testing....................................................................................64

Figure 2A. Academic Variables........................................................................................66

Figure 2B. Social Variables..............................................................................................67
Academic Sports Mentoring viii

Abstract
The Impact of an Academic Sports Mentoring Program on Academic and Social Variables:
A Comparison
Allison B. Hill
Kirk Heilbrun, Ph.D.

Resilience refers to a dynamic process encompassing positive adaption within the context
of significant adversity. Implicit within this notion are two critical conditions: (1) exposure to
significant threat or severe adversity; and (2) the achievement of positive adaptation despite such
threats or adversity. A large number of children are exposed to marked psychosocial and
environmental stressors in their lives, particularly during the “critical hours” immediately
following the end of the school day. As a result, afterschool programs have proliferated in the
United States. An important question, however, remains: do these programs contribute to the
resiliency of youth exposed to significant adversity? The proposed study is part of a larger
ongoing research study on the effects of the SquashSmarts program on academic and social
variables. The study followed participants in the program for three years to appraise whether
there was a difference in the effects of the program on the academic and social variables over
time. This study also compared the program participants to a comparison group consisting of
youth matched for school and age. Contrary to predictions, SquashSmarts participants did not
improve on academic or social variables over the three years of participation in the program when
compared to the comparison group. SquashSmarts did show some improvements on the
academic and social variables but not at a significantly greater rate than the control group. Thus,
these gains in protective factors could be due simply to age, development and maturity as
opposed to the program itself. These results are discussed as well as implications for future
outcome studies on afterschool programs. Additionally, implications for future research as well
as policy and practice are discussed.
Academic Sports Mentoring 1

Introduction

Over the past thirty years, the scientific and policy discussions regarding children have
changed the landscape of the family, school and community contexts in ways that significantly
affect young people (Riggs & Greenberg, 2004). A large number of children are exposed to
marked psychosocial and environmental stressors in their lives. Such stressors include high rates
of family mobility; changing patterns in parental employment; an increase in blended and single
parent families; larger, more heterogeneous schools; media themes of violence and drug use; and
the deterioration and disorganization of neighborhoods and schools (National Research Council,
2002; Riggs & Greenberg, 2004). Academic failure and school dropout rates remain high among
children living in under-resourced communities (Children’s Defense Fund, 2000). In addition,
children are significantly more likely to engage in high-risk behaviors such as criminal activity
and substance abuse than were comparably aged children four decades ago (Riggs & Greenberg,
2004; Weissberg & Greenberg, 1998). Finally, community networks are deteriorating, making
youth increasingly susceptible to the development of numerous academic and social-emotional
problems (Riggs & Greenberg, 2004). Thus, overall, the formal and informal supports once
available to youth have weakened (National Research Council, 2002).
The hours immediately following school (the “critical hours”) can be the riskiest of a
child’s day, particularly if the children are unsupervised during this period. Unsupervised time
has been linked to increases in violence, delinquency, sexual intercourse, smoking, and alcohol
and drug abuse (Zill, Nor, & Loomis, 1995). However, the consequences of unsupervised
afterschool time may vary depending upon characteristics of the child and the context of the
unsupervised time (Flannery, Williams, & Vazsonyi, 1999; Gottfredson, Gottfredson &
Weisman, 2001; Marshall, Coll, Marx, et. al., 1997). Thus, the characteristics of the child and the
nature of the context unsupervised time both contribute to the risk for maladaptive behaviors in
these youth.
Academic Sports Mentoring 2

Recently, a positive and strength-based vision for America’s youth has gained
momentum, supplementing previous views regarding the turbulence of adolescence and the
predictable engagement of youth in risky or destructive behaviors (Lerner, Almerigi, Theokas, &
Lerner, 2005). Researchers and policymakers have begun to discuss optimizing individual and
group change by altering bidirectional relations between children and their environments to
promote the potential for systematic change. The focus has shifted to primary prevention (i.e.,
developing strengths and building competencies) rather than secondary and tertiary prevention
(i.e., treating later stages of pathology) (Bronfenbrenner, 2005; Lerner et. al., 2005). The
aforementioned changing demographic trends and the research on time spent during the “critical
hours” has led to a focus on how youth spend their time after school and the opportunities present
during this time, to support the needs of youth in their communities and the continued learning of
relevant skills (Lerner et al., 2005).
Resilience
Resilience refers to a dynamic process encompassing positive adaptation within the
context of significant adversity (Luthar, Cicchetti, & Becker, 2000). Implicit within this notion
are two critical conditions: (1) exposure to significant threat or severe adversity; and (2) the
achievement of positive adaptation despite such threats or adversity (Masten, Best, & Garmezy,
1990). A body of literature known as “resiliency research” can help us understand the individual,
family, school, and community factors that help to promote success amidst adversity (Garmezy
1985, 1991; Masten, et. al., 1990). This research has studied children who face multiple risk
factors, such as urban poverty, chronic health problems, parental mental illness, maltreatment,
trauma, domestic and community violence, low birth weight, racism, and catastrophic live events.
Rather than focusing on the negative effects of these stressors, resiliency researchers tease apart
the supports, relationships, and experiences that enable some children to succeed despite
adversity. The thrust of this research is a systematic search for protective factors, defined as