This review provides an overview of the existing literature on school-aged children’s and youth’s (i.e. 6- to 18-year-olds) personal and social development within the context of physical education and sports. A total of 4359 non-duplicate articles were retrieved from six databases. After the title, abstract and full text screening, 88 articles met the inclusion criteria and were included for further analysis. Articles had to be published in a peer-reviewed journal between 1 January 2008 and 6 December 2017. The 88 studies used several study designs, methods and instruments to investigate a variety of concepts related to personal and social development. Concepts were grouped into the following 11 themes: work ethic; control and management; goal-setting; decision-making; problem-solving; responsibility; leadership; cooperation; meeting people and making friends; communication; and prosocial behaviour. The main findings for each of the 11 themes are reported, and limitations and implications are provided to guide researchers and practitioners in their future work.

Introduction: In 2008, a conceptual model explaining the role of motor competence (MC) in children’s physical activity (PA), weight status, perceived MC and health-related fitness was published.Objective: The purpose of the current review was to systematically compile mediation, longitudinal and experimental evidence in support of this conceptual model.Methods: This systematic review (registered with PROSPERO on 28 April 2020) was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) statement. Separate searches were undertaken for each pathway of interest (final search 8 November 2019) using CINAHL Complete, ERIC, Medline (OVID), PsycINFO, Web of Science Core Collection, Scopus and SportDiscus. Potential articles were initially identified through abstract and title checking (N = 585) then screened further and combined into one review (n = 152), with 43 articles identified for extraction. Studies needed to be original and peer reviewed, include typically developing children and adolescents first assessed between 2 and 18 years and objective assessment of gross MC and at least one other variable (i.e., PA, weight status, perceived MC, health-related fitness). PA included sport participation, but sport-specific samples were excluded. Longitudinal or experimental designs and cross-sectional mediated models were sought. Strength of evidence was calculated for each pathway in both directions for each domain (i.e., skill composite, object control and locomotor/coordination/stability) by dividing the proportion of studies indicating a significantly positive pathway in the hypothesised direction by the total associations examined for that pathway. Classifications were no association (0–33%), indeterminate/inconsistent (34–59%), or a positive ‘+’ or negative ‘ − ’ association (≥ 60%). The latter category was classified as strong evidence (i.e., ++or −−) when four or more studies found an association. If the total number of studies in a domain of interest was three or fewer, this was considered insufficient evidence to make a determination.Results: There was strong evidence in both directions for a negative association between MC and weight status. There was strong positive evidence for a pathway from MC to fitness and indeterminate evidence for the reverse. There was indeterminate evidence for a pathway from MC to PA and no evidence for the reverse pathway. There was insufficient evidence for the MC to perceived MC pathway. There was strong positive evidence for the fitness-mediated MC/PA pathway in both directions. There was indeterminate evidence for the perceived MC-mediated pathway from PA to MC and no evidence for the reverse.Conclusion: Bidirectional longitudinal associations of MC with weight status are consistent with the model authored by Stodden et al. (Quest 2008;60(2):290–306, 2008). However, to test the whole model, the field needs robust longitudinal studies across childhood and adolescence that include all variables in the model, have multiple time points and account for potential confounding factors. Furthermore, experimental studies that examine change in MC relative to change in the other constructs are needed.Trial Registrations: PROSPERO ID# CRD42020155799.

Background: According to Self-Determination Theory, teachers and sport coaches can differ in the motivating style they rely upon to motivate young people. When endorsing an autonomy-supportive motivating style, instructors try to identify, vitalize, and nurture youngsters’ inner motivational resources. In contrast, instructors with a dominant controlling motivating style rather pressure youngsters to think, feel, or behave in prescribed ways. While the dimensions of autonomy support and control can be conceptually differentiated, in reality both dimensions may co-occur to different degrees. Purpose: The present study investigates to what extent perceived autonomy support and control can be combined and which motivating style then yields the most optimal pattern of outcomes. Research design: Multi-Study with Cross-Sectional Design. Findings: In two studies, conducted among elite athletes (N = 202; M_age = 15.63; SD = 1.70) and students in physical education (N = 647; M_age = 13.27; SD = 0.68) reporting on their instructor’s motivating style, cluster analyses systematically pointed towards the extraction of four motivating profiles. Two of these groups were characterized by the dominant presence of either autonomy support (i.e. high-autonomy support) or control (i.e. high control), while the two dimensions were found to be equally present in the two remaining groups (i.e. high–high or low–low). Results revealed that the high-autonomy support group showed to the most optimal pattern of outcomes (e.g. need satisfaction, autonomous motivation), while the high-control group yielded the least optimal pattern of outcomes. Results further showed that perceiving one’s instructor as high on control is detrimental (e.g. higher need frustration, amotivation) even when the instructor is additionally perceived to be autonomy-supportive. Finally, it appeared better to be relatively uninvolved than to be perceived as exclusively high on control. Conclusions: When coaches or teachers are perceived to be high on autonomy support and low on control, this is likely to benefit youngsters’ motivation and well-being. Also, while some instructors, particularly those who are functioning in a more competitive context where pressure is considered more normative, may endorse the belief that the combination of autonomy support and control yields the most effective cocktail to motivate young people (e.g. using competitive and game-based activities to make it fun, while treating ‘the losers’ with punishments such as push-ups or humiliating comments), this perspective is not supported by the findings of the current study. Apart, from its theoretical relevance, the findings of the present study are valuable for future intervention development.

The present study identified adolescents’ motor competence (MC)-based profiles (e.g., high actual and low perceived MC), and accordingly investigated differences in motivation for physical education (PE), physical activity (PA) levels, and sports participation between profiles by using regression analyses. Actual MC was measured with the Körperkoordinationstest für Kinder. Adolescents (n = 215; 66.0% boys; mean age = 13.64 ± .58 years) completed validated questionnaires to assess perceived MC, motivation for PE, PA-levels, and sports participation. Actual and perceived MC were only moderately correlated and cluster analyses identified four groups. Two groups of overestimators (low – overestimation, average – overestimation) were identified (51%), who particularly displayed better motivation for PE when compared to their peers who accurately estimated themselves (low – accurate, average – accurate). Moreover, adolescents with low actual MC, but high perceived MC were significantly more active than adolescents with low actual MC who accurately estimated themselves. Results pointed in the same direction for organised sports participation. Underestimators were not found in the current sample, which is positive as underestimation might negatively influence adolescents’ motivation to achieve and persist in PA and sports. In conclusion, results emphasise that developing perceived MC, especially among adolescents with low levels of actual MC, seems crucial to stimulate motivation for PE, and engagement in PA and sports.