2007 NEWSLETTER Number 2 Serial No. 52 Introduction to Sport and Physical Activity as Developmental Contexts Bonnie L. Barber School of Psychology, Murdoch University Perth, Western Australia, Australia E-mail:
[email protected] and Karina Weichold Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Jena Jena, Germany E-mail:
[email protected] We have noted increasing consideration of the developmental consequences of sport and physical activity for development, fuelled by growing recognition of the possible role of such activities in both promoting positive development and preventing unhealthy outcomes. In addition to the established health benefits of physical activity, sport can provide a forum for engagement in challenging tasks, identity exploration, skill building, and social integration. Such benefits are likely to be relevant across developmental stages, gender, and culture. In keeping with our efforts to cover the lifespan in this been international leaders in the emerging research focus special section of the newsletter, we have invited contri- on sports and development. We feel privileged that these butions that focus on sport and physical activity in distinguished investigators were willing to share their children, adolescents, and adults. The goal of this issue is insights with us, and anticipate that their stories might to highlight the range of approaches to studying sport and inspire further focus on the role of sport and physical exercise used across disciplines and cultural settings, activity in development at all ages, and across diverse including reports from Egypt, Europe, Canada, and the US. populations. As noted in both commentaries by experts in sports and physical activity, the diversity of research in this area presents challenges when trying to advance theory about The Ishraq Program: Reshaping engagement in these contexts, but this set of papers offers some promising leads.