Liens réciproques entre la participation au sport et l’adaptation psycho-sociale et scolaire de l'enfant : une étude longitudinale prospective

Past research suggests that physical activity, including sport participation, is beneficial for mental health and school performance. Conversely, could these two important components of health promotion also influence participation in physical activity? To our knowledge, few studies have investigated this specific relationship. In addition, modern developmental psychology views human behaviors and developmental changes as a result of dynamic and reciprocal relationships between the individual and their multiple environments, including sports contexts. Thus, the aim of this doctoral thesis is to assess the reciprocal longitudinal relationship between sport participation and emotional distress (Article 1) and between sport participation and classroom engagement (Article 2) over time for boys and girls in middle childhood. Participants are from the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development, a prospective-longitudinal birth cohort born in the late 1990s. Emotional distress symptoms and classroom engagement behavior from ages 6 to 10 years were assessed by teachers. Trajectories were generated to differentiate groups of children. Physical activity and sport participation from preschool to early adolescence were measured by parents and children themselves. Various statistical analyses were used to examine the mutual relationship between physical activity and later emotional distress or classroom engagement. All analyses were stratified by sex and controlled for multiple pre-existing individual and family factors. We identified three emotional distress trajectories from ages 6 to 10 years: ‘Low’, ‘Increasing’, and ‘Declining’. As for classroom engagement during the same years, we identified two trajectories: ‘High’ and ‘Moderate.’ First, boys who never participated in sport at age 5 years were more likely to be in the ‘Increasing’ or ‘Declining’ emotional distress trajectories compared to boys who participated in any sporting activity. Yet boys who participated in sports at age 5 years showed long-term positive benefits. Furthermore, boys who were the most physically active at age 12 years were the least emotionally distressed (i.e. ‘Low’ trajectory). Second, for girls, being in the ‘High’ classroom engagement trajectory predicted higher levels of leisure time physical activity, including sport participation, at age 12 years. For boys, consistent participation in sport from ages 6 to 10 years predicted higher levels of classroom engagement at age 12 years. Our findings suggest positive, bidirectional, and longitudinal associations between physical activity and two important components of health promotion in youth, that is mental health and school performance. These associations show different dynamics for boys and girls. This study supports the relevance of enhancing current public health effort to promote physical activity, emotional adjustment, and school engagement in early childhood in order to achieve better mental health, optimal school performance, and a more active lifestyle in later childhood. Our results also support the pertinence of investing financial resources in youth intervention so that children can develop their full potential both in the classroom and in structured extracurricular contexts in order to foster optimal growth and development.

Keyphrases: Longitudinal study, Child development, Sport participation, Physical activity, Mental health, Anxiety, School performance, Classroom engagement