Psychological resilience among adolescents

Psychological resilience is an important psychological capacity that helps adolescents adapt to stress and challenging experiences. Sports participation may provide structured opportunities involving goal setting, coping experiences, and social interactions that are associated with differences in resilience. This study examined differences in psychological resilience among adolescents based on sports participation (individual sports, team sports, and non-athletes) and gender. Using a cross-sectional descriptive-comparative research design, 240 high school adolescents aged 14–18 years were selected through convenience sampling. The sample included 120 athletes and 120 non-athletes, with equal representation of males and females. Athletes were categorized into individual and team sports, and resilience was assessed using the Resilience Scale developed by Wagnild and Young (1993). A two-way factorial ANOVA was conducted to examine the effects of sports participation group and gender, including their interaction effect. Results indicated a significant main effect of sports participation group, with individual sport athletes reporting the highest resilience scores, followed by team sport athletes and non-athletes. Post hoc comparisons showed that both individual and team sport athletes had significantly higher resilience scores than non-athletes, while individual sport athletes also scored significantly higher than team sport athletes. A significant gender effect was observed, with males reporting slightly higher resilience scores than females; however, the effect size was small. The interaction between sports participation group and gender was not significant. Overall, adolescents participating in organized sports showed higher resilience scores than non-athletes, suggesting the potential value of structured sports opportunities in supporting adolescent psychological development.