In Life as in Sport: Implications of a Program to Educate Spanish Youth on Values

Abstract

This research examines the effect of the Delphi Program on student self-control and self-perception. Some 305 young people (55% girls) with an average age of 11.6 years (± 0.69) enrolled in public schools in central Spain took part in the project. A quasi-experimental single-group design was used with pre-test and post-test measures following a mixed quantitative-qualitative approach. The CACIA questionnaire was used to assess students’ self-perception. A single level of treatment was conducted with groups of students in twenty didactic sessions of indoor football. The quantitative results showed an improvement in personal feedback, deferring reward, criterion self-control and process self-control. The qualitative analysis of student responses yielded four topics: conflict resolution, respect, honesty and pro-social behavior in two areas: sports and physical activity and in personal life.