| This dissertation investigated the role of organized sports participation---operationally defined as any school- or community-based athletic program with regular practices/instruction, a designated coach, and athletic competitions---in the lives of adolescent Hispanic girls. More specifically, this mixed-methods inquiry investigated how organized sports participation is related to 9th-grade Hispanic girls' academic and psychosocial development and how organized sports contexts can promote their healthy development.;A public urban high school in the southwestern United States served as the study site. The student body was 88% Hispanic and 87% qualified for free/reduced-price lunch. A sample of 103 Hispanic (predominantly of Mexican ancestry) girls completed surveys at the beginning and end of 9th-grade, and a sub-sample of 23 girls participated in individual interviews.;Results showed that 29% of the 9th-grade Hispanic girls in this sample participated in organized sports inside or outside of school. Girls' participation in organized sports varied systematically by several background characteristics and academic achievement indicators---parent education, living arrangement, honors course enrollment, and Stanford 9 Math score. Organized sports participation had neither a positive nor a negative effect on GPA. There were significant interaction effects between organized sports participation and acculturation, household size, and number of siblings in the prediction of 9th-grade Hispanic girls' self-concept. Interview data indicated that organized sports offered these girls a structured context for positive youth development, including opportunities to experience competence, connection, confidence, character, and caring (Lerner, Fisher, & Weinberg, 2000), as well as opportunities to confront challenge and conflict.;Educators may use the results of this study to offer sporting experiences and educational environments that explicitly support Hispanic girls' development during adolescence. Future research may investigate how specific facets of Hispanic culture intersect with organized sports participation and, in turn, factor into the recruitment practices and sports training of adolescent Hispanic girls. |
