Evaluation of The First Tee in Promoting Positive Youth Development: Group Comparisons and Longitudinal Trends

Abstract

Purpose: This manuscript represents the 3rd in a series of articles documenting our longitudinal evaluation of The First Tee, a physical activity-based youth development program that uses golf as a vehicle for teaching life skills and enhancing developmental outcomes. Previous phases of our project: (a) established initial data-based evidence of effectiveness through cross-sectional and qualitative methods (Weiss, Stuntz, Bhalla, Bolter, & Price, 2013), and (b) provided validity and reliability for a measure of life skills transfer in 3 studies using mixed methods (Weiss, Bolter, & Kipp, 2014). The purpose of the present phase was to: (a) compare youth in The First Tee to youth in other activities on life skills transfer and developmental outcomes, and (b) examine change and stability across 3 years in life skills transfer among youth in The First Tee. Method: In Study 1, youth participating in The First Tee (N = 405) and a comparison group (N = 159) completed measures of key constructs. In Study 2, a longitudinal sample of 192 youth participating in The First Tee completed the life skills transfer measure for 3 consecutive years. Results: Study 1 revealed that youth in The First Tee compared favorably to youth in other activities on 5 of 8 life skills and 6 of 8 developmental outcomes, and Study 2 showed that scores improved or remained stable for life skills transfer over time. Conclusion: Results from both studies show that The First Tee is effective in teaching for transfer of life skills and promoting developmental outcomes.

Keywords::

• Developmental
• evaluation research
• latent growth modeling
• life skills

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Jennifer Bhalla, Ellen Markowitz, Melissa Price, and Cheryl Stuntz for their valuable assistance with data collection. We are grateful to The First Tee life skills education staff for allowing us access to chapters at multiple regional sites that enabled us to carry out a research study of this magnitude. We also thank Beth Brown, director of curriculum and research at The First Tee, for her constant support throughout the longitudinal study, and chapter directors, youth participants, coaches, and parents who graciously facilitated our research efforts through investment of time and resources.

Additional information

Funding

The studies reported in this article were supported by a grant awarded to the first author by Philip Morris USA Youth Smoking Prevention Programs.