The relationship between participation in sports and the development of self esteem is bound to be a complex one. Thepossibility of a link between participation in sports and self esteem revolves around the capacity of sports to facilitate the internalization of specific values. If sports participation is efficacious in enhancing self esteem, it does so by creating a leakage from attitudes and behaviors acquired on the field of play into other aspects of the athlete's life. The results of research on the effect of athletic participation on self esteem have implications, moreover, for educational policies with respect to both ethnic minorities and academically marginal student athletes.
Ever since Coleman (1961) first introduced the topic of the effect of athletics on academic achievement there has been a persistent interest in the manner in which athletic partipation mediates performance and attitudes outside the boundaries of sport. A number of studies have addressed the consequences of participation in sports on non athletic performance. Regardless of whether such research has demonstrated positive or negative effects, the mechanism through which such effects occur remains in question. In most instances, these studies have been placed within the context of role theory, and so they emphasize the generalization of normative expectations from athletic to non athletic settings (Picou, 1978).
For claims about the actual effects of athletic participation on school performance to have any meaning, it is necessary to supply theoretical mechanisms whereby such effects could occur if they occur at all. It is possible that not only socially oriented values, but attitudes related more directly to the self play a significant role in mediating the relation between athletics and success in other domains. Indeed, the claim that "youths internalize values, norms and behaviors in the athletic role which 'spill over' and...