Effect of Playing Golf on Children's Mental Health

Publication date: Available online 29 November 2018Source: Mental Health & PreventionAuthor(s): Dr. Carolin SchulzeAbstractAdolescents in particular are exposed to high stress levels due to biological changes, identity development and higher academics demands at school (Schraml, Perski, Grossi, & Simonsson-Sarnecki, 2011). The construct of resilience can be understood as a factor for healthy development: those who manifest high resilience experience more positive emotions (Tugade & Fredrickson, 2004; Wolin & Wolin, 1993) and can improve both their self-esteem and psychological adaption reaction (Block & Kremen, 1996). According to previous investigations, golf has a favourable impact on the development of resilience due to its lack of direct opponents and comparatively low time pressure (Drane & Block, 2006), and was therefore used as an intervention in the present study. During a period of three months, the control group (CG; n = 25) played soccer and the intervention group (IG; n = 25) were trained in golf. Data measuring resilience (a shortened version of the resilience scale; Schumacher, Leppert, Gunzelmann, Strauß, & Brähler, 2004) was collected twice, once at the beginning and again towards the end of the intervention. An intergroup comparison revealed significant differences in the development of resilience between CG and IG (p < .001; Cohen's d = 2.041), with the IG showing greater improvement. It can be expected that golf training demonstrates a pos...
Source: Mental Health and Prevention - Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research