The main purpose of this work was to examine the relationships between the sport sense of community, athlete burnout, engagement, and motivation in adolescent athletes, adopting a longitudinal perspective and using both person- and variable-centred approaches. A total of 250 adolescent athletes were involved in the study. Cluster analyses identified different profiles of the sport sense of community while multiple regression analyses examined the impact of the sport sense of community dimensions at time 1 on perceived burnout, engagement and motivation dimensions at time 2 (i.e. six months later) . Results revealed two different clusters: high and low sport sense of community profiles. Athletes’ perceptions of burnout, engagement and motivation significantly differed across these profiles. Consistent with our hypothesis, sport sense of community dimensions (i.e. satisfaction of needs and influence) negatively predicted athlete burnout and controlled motivation and positively predicted engagement and autonomous motivation six months later. As a whole, the present study provided preliminary evidence of the potential protective role of the sport sense of community on athlete burnout. Lay Summary: Athlete burnout is associated with negative consequences for athletes’ well-being, while engagement reflects a positive state. The sport sense of community refers to the athletes’ relationship with their sport environment. In this study we provided preliminary evidence of the protective role of the sport sense of community on athlete burnout.

The purpose of the present study was to compare attitudes toward body weight and physical activity in both regular-weight and overweight/obese children and adolescents, and assessing relations between attitudes and self-esteem, motivation for physical activity, life satisfaction and level of physical activity. A total of 126 children (Mage = 12.2, SD = 3.4), divided into two subsamples (i.e., overweight/obese, N = 44, and regular-weight), voluntarily participated in the study. A series of univariate analyses of variance was conducted to examine the differences in the study variables across the subsamples. Correlational analyses were conducted to examine the relationships among the variables. The results indicated that obese/overweight participants expressed a more positive implicit attitude toward the thin category than regular-weight participants. Furthermore, among overweight/obese participants, implicit attitude toward physical activity was significantly negatively correlated with explicit attitude toward physical activity and general self-esteem. Significant differences between obese/overweight and regular-weight participants indicated that the status in terms of weight played a key role in attitudes toward the explored constructs.

The aim of this work was to investigate the role of physical activity in protection from substance use in adolescence, focusing on the interdependence between the different relational micro-systems of the neighborhood, the school, the family, and the peer group. Interviews were conducted with 30 adolescents recruited through a theoretical sampling and divided into two groups (i.e., active and sedentary adolescents). The results of Grounded Theory showed that physical activity promoted the ability to plan and to express desires and emotions in a healthy way, providing protection from substance use. Unstructured activities didn’t support adolescents in gaining a sense of responsibility.