Age and Gender Effects in Physical Self-Concepts: A Longitudinal Comparison between Athletes and Nonathletes during Preadolescence

Previous researches outlined that self-concept becomes with age more differentiated and more highly correlated with external indicators of physical competence. Despite the bodily change, the physical self-concept appears to be relatively stable during the preadolescence. Following previous studies, physical self-concepts were predicted to be substantially higher for athletes than nonathletes and substantially higher for men than women: gender differences were predicted to be smaller for athletes than nonathletes (Marsh, 1998). A longitudinal study was carried out to evaluate the development of self-concept during preadolescence. All participants, males and females, were students enrolled in middle school classes in Sardinia, attending a three-year motor program, aimed to support the development of coordinative motor skills. Some students have practiced sport activities out of school time. In a multiple occasion design five waves of physical self concept responses were collected by means of the Physical Self Description Questionnaire (PSDQ), developed by Marsh et al. (1994) and previously translated and validated in Italian language by Meleddu, Scalas and Guicciardi (2002). Longitudinal analysis performed using Lisrel models confirms the stability of the physical self concept (NNFI = .91; CFI =.93; RMSEA =.104) and offers some evidences to support the success of motor program