This working paper uses data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health on Caucasian and African American girls and boys to test two hypotheses: (1) School attachment and a sense of physical well-being mediate the relationship between sports participation and self-esteem and (2) There are gender and race differences in the processes through which school attachment and physical well-being mediate the relationship between sports participation and self-esteem. Both hypotheses were confirmed by the data.

Project: Sports as Protective of Girls' High-Risk Sexual Behavior