About this Research Topic
An active lifestyle has been shown to be an effective venue to foster and support physical and psychological health throughout the lifespan. Participation in physical education, sport, exercise, and leisure physical activity can play an important role in the development of social and personal individual competence, skills, and abilities. Exploring the potential differences between forms of physical activity, pedagogical models, and sports modalities may lead practitioners to appreciate their impact on a variety of individual social and personal constructs. This exploration may also enable practitioners to identify what form of activity is the most effective to foster physical and psychological wellbeing, depending upon individuals’ characteristics, environment, and needs.
The focus of this Research Topic centers around the motivations for engaging in physical education, sport, exercise, and leisure physical activity; the reasons for potentially abandoning these activities; and the protective factors limiting abandonment and fostering personal development. Greater attention will be paid on how psychosocial and educational variables may influence the development of social and personal competence, skills, and abilities within the contexts of physical education, sport, exercise, and leisure physical activity. Specifically, this article collection will contribute to the limited body of literature focused on the impact of physical education and the broader engagement in different forms of physical activity on bullying and violence prevention, emotional education, the development of self-concept and self-esteem, and empathy in children, adolescents, and youth.
We welcome papers exploring the interconnection of physical education (PE) and physical activity (PA) engagement and positive development in children, adolescents, and youth. We encourage the submission of manuscripts concerning, but not limited to, the following themes:
• The role of PE and PA in contributing to positive psychosocial development in children, adolescents, and youth.
• The relationship between PE and PA engagement and bullyism.
• The potential protective and preventive role of PE and PA engagement against bullyism.
• The role of PE and PA in life skills development as well as in the development of empathy, self-esteem, self-efficacy, and self-concept.
• Exploration of the most effective ways to foster PE and PA engagement that contribute to positive psychosocial development in children, adolescents, and youth.
We welcome contributions from various fields, including education, psychology, and sport and exercise sciences. While the scope is broad, authors are encouraged to clearly indicate how their studies address the theme of this research topic. Submitted manuscript can be original research, systematic reviews, hypothesis and theory, methods, mini reviews, brief research reports, case studies, curriculum instruction, and pedagogical advancements.
Keywords: physical education, physical activity, positive development, life skills, bullying
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
