The purpose of this doctoral dissertation was to examine the life skills transfer process from sport to life. Data collection occurred over 10-months, from September 2016 to June 2017. The overall sample was comprised of 13 university intramural athletes and 29 social agents playing key roles in the athletes’ lives outside of sport (e.g., parents, partners, and work colleagues). Four methods of data collection were employed: (a) individual semi-structured interviews, (b) chronological charts, (c) timelines, and (d) solicited journals. The findings from this dissertation are organized into three articles. In article one, a grounded theory methodology was used to examine how athletes apply in life the skills they believe they learned or refined in sport. Within the substantive grounded theory, life skills application is framed as an ongoing process that involves four steps (a) decision-making, (b) application, (c) appraisal, and (d) adaptation. Article one adds to the literature by outlining the key behavioural and cognitive mechanisms that help explain what occurs once athletes move beyond sport and apply in different life domains the skills they deem to have learned or refined in sport. Article two presents a longitudinal integrated qualitative approach for “getting at” the life skills transfer process from sport to life. The integrated approach is illustrated through an exemplar case of a 23-year-old athlete (Claire) and her process of learning/refining emotional regulation in sport and applying this skill outside of sport. Three individuals able to speak to Claire’s behaviour outside of sport (i.e., mother, classmate, and work colleague) were also part of the case. Article two adds to the literature by demonstrating how qualitative techniques can be integrated to produce new insights on the life skills transfer process to an extent not previously gleaned through one-shot interview designs. In article three, the substantive grounded theory of life skills application was used to document one athlete’s (Joseph) journey through the life skills application process. Specifically, narrative inquiry was employed to tell Joseph’s story of applying the life skill of leadership at work as he progressed through the four steps described in the substantive grounded theory. Data collection involved three individual semi-structured interviews and three months of solicited journaling. Article three adds to the literature by moving beyond documenting examples of life skills application and instead, illustrating how Joseph’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviours evolved over time to influence his experiences of life skills application. Overall, the findings from this dissertation make theoretical, methodological, and empirical contributions to the life skills transfer literature in sport psychology and further elucidate the notion that sport can have a lasting impact on youth’s development.

Youth mentoring has become a popular program model promoting positive youth development and outpacing available research to guide all the programmatic growth. The systemic model of mentoring (Keller, 2005) expands the traditional mentor-youth dyadic focus of program development and evaluation, taking into account other important contextual and influencing factors including the role of parents, program staff and the larger agency. However, there remains an absence of literature that examines what is known about parental involvement and the role parents play in their child's formal mentoring relationship. This study explores the nature of parental involvement in formal community-based youth mentoring relationships. An analysis was conducted of in-depth qualitative interviews collected at multiple data points from parents and mentors of 30 mentoring matches, selected from a larger longitudinal study of youth mentoring relationships, and one-time in-depth interviews with 12 staff members from the agencies supervising the mentoring matches conducted for the purposes of this study (a total of 162 transcripts). Thematic coding and narrative summaries were utilized to develop themes that were compared within and across cases. This analysis yielded three main findings regarding the nature of parental involvement in mentoring relationships and the beliefs surrounding it, namely 1) the presence of distinct assumptions and expectations held by participants regarding parents and their involvement in mentoring relationships, 2) the identification by participants of five parental roles that were both expected of and actually performed by parents in their child's mentoring relationship, and 3) the identification of three types of parent-mentor interactions, which contributed to the characterization of parent-mentor relationships based on a level of communication and a degree of closeness. These study findings bring the perspectives of parents to the forefront in the examination of parental involvement in mentoring, a topic that is only beginning to gain greater attention within mentoring literature and research. Together these findings suggest that programs may be missing opportunities to tap into an important yet undervalued resource of parents, in supporting and strengthening the youth-mentor relationship.

Sport is deemed by many researchers and practitioners as a favourable context to foster positive youth development (PYD), including the acquisition of life skills (Petitpas et al., 2005). However, researchers have cautioned for vigilance before assuming with assurance that sport leads to positive developmental outcomes (Coakley, 2011). Consequently, it is important to understand how sport leaders can facilitate the development and transfer of life skills. In the context of high school sport in Canada, teacher-coaches are considered essential adults in the delivery of school sport programs. Using Pierce et al.’s (2017) life skills transfer model, the present thesis explored the contextual and psychological factors influencing the development and transfer of life skills. An intervention was designed, using action research principles, with two high school teacher-coaches. Data were collected via teacher-coach pre- and post-intervention interviews, as well as student-athlete post-intervention interviews (i.e., five student-athletes per teacher-coach). Further, data were gathered through observation, and audio recording of each life skill implementation, as well as a researcher reflective journal. The results indicated that teacher-coaches played an important role in influencing contextual and psychological factors, in both the learning and the transfer context, which shaped student-athletes’ life skills development and transfer. The study has practical implications for coach education programs, suggesting the benefits of on the ground support to provide coaches and teacher-coaches with the necessary tools to promote PYD.

This project addresses communication issues within a youth development organization, Northern California DeMolay, which endures an annual change in youth leadership. This paper relies on the foundation of research within the field of youth development organizations and incorporates public relations strategies to provide specialized help for the organization. The outcome of this project is a communication plan for Northern California DeMolay developed through research, strategies, and the strategic plan for the organization. The balance of power between youth and adult leadership highlighted in youth development organization research is manifested in the communication plan through the division of responsibility between youth and adult leadership

Youth minister self-efficacy may be affected by the education received regarding positive youth development and adolescent development in general. A survey intended to explore the correlation between youth minister self-efficacy and education was administered to 43 Southern Baptist youth ministers in Mississippi. The survey used Lykert-type scales, multiple-choice questions, and open-ended questions to assess self-efficacy and positive youth development and adolescent development knowledge. Analysis of variance and correlations were used to analyze the data. Findings indicate that youth minister self-efficacy is related to adolescent development knowledge, but not significantly related to positive youth development knowledge. These findings provide insight into the effect of education on youth minister self-efficacy and lay a groundwork for further research regarding ministerial education and its effects.

The purpose of this study is to examine, using both quantitative and qualitative methods, the effect of a two-week adventure recreation program on early adolescent identity development. The study also investigates the influence of gender and the parent-adolescent relationship on this process. Participants in this study included 44 males and 47 females, ages 11-17 (M = 13.4, SD = 1.03), from three western states. Twenty-two males and 23 females participated in the treatment group and the remaining 22 males and 24 females served as controls. The treatment group completed a two-week adventure recreation program, Camp WILD. The program consisted of three different activity areas: backpacking, exploration (e.g., mountain biking, leadership training, wilderness skills, and environmental education) and white water rafting. The quantitative results supported the hypothesis that the adventure recreation program would promote positive adolescent identity development. The data also indicated only limited differences between the developmental impact of the program on males and female participants and that the child-parent relationship exerted only a slight influence on the interaction between the program and identity development. The qualitative data provided further insight into the mechanisms underlying the positive relationship between the adventure recreation program and participants' identity development.

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