Stay in the game: A randomized controlled trial of a sports and life skills program for vulnerable youth in Liberia

Over the past two decades, sports programs have proliferated as a mode of engaging youth in development projects. Thousands of organizations, millions of participants, and hundreds of millions of dollars are invested in sports-based development programs each year. The underlying belief that sports p...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Beaman, Lori, Herskowitz, Sylvan, Keleher, Niall, Magruder, Jeremy
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: University of Chicago Press 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/142488
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author Beaman, Lori
Herskowitz, Sylvan
Keleher, Niall
Magruder, Jeremy
author_browse Beaman, Lori
Herskowitz, Sylvan
Keleher, Niall
Magruder, Jeremy
author_facet Beaman, Lori
Herskowitz, Sylvan
Keleher, Niall
Magruder, Jeremy
author_sort Beaman, Lori
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Over the past two decades, sports programs have proliferated as a mode of engaging youth in development projects. Thousands of organizations, millions of participants, and hundreds of millions of dollars are invested in sports-based development programs each year. The underlying belief that sports promote socioemotional skills, improve psychological well-being, and foster traits that boost labor force productivity has provided motivation to expand funding and offerings of sport for development (SFD) programs. We partnered with an international NGO to randomly assign 1200 young adults to a sports and life skills development program. While we do not see evidence of improved psychosocial outcomes or resilience, we do find evidence that the program caused a 0.12 standard deviation increase in labor force participation. Secondary analysis suggests that the effects are strongest among those likely to be most disadvantaged in the labor market.
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spelling CGSpace1424882024-10-25T08:06:20Z Stay in the game: A randomized controlled trial of a sports and life skills program for vulnerable youth in Liberia Beaman, Lori Herskowitz, Sylvan Keleher, Niall Magruder, Jeremy work force life skills development vulnerability randomized controlled trials youth Over the past two decades, sports programs have proliferated as a mode of engaging youth in development projects. Thousands of organizations, millions of participants, and hundreds of millions of dollars are invested in sports-based development programs each year. The underlying belief that sports promote socioemotional skills, improve psychological well-being, and foster traits that boost labor force productivity has provided motivation to expand funding and offerings of sport for development (SFD) programs. We partnered with an international NGO to randomly assign 1200 young adults to a sports and life skills development program. While we do not see evidence of improved psychosocial outcomes or resilience, we do find evidence that the program caused a 0.12 standard deviation increase in labor force participation. Secondary analysis suggests that the effects are strongest among those likely to be most disadvantaged in the labor market. 2021-09-30 2024-05-22T12:10:34Z 2024-05-22T12:10:34Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/142488 en Open Access University of Chicago Press Beaman, Lori; Herskowitz, Sylvan; Keleher, Niall; and Magruder, Jeremy. 2021. Stay in the game: A randomized controlled trial of a sports and life skills program for vulnerable youth in Liberia. Economic Development and Cultural Change 70(1): 129–158. https://doi.org/10.1086/711651
spellingShingle work force
life skills development
vulnerability
randomized controlled trials
youth
Beaman, Lori
Herskowitz, Sylvan
Keleher, Niall
Magruder, Jeremy
Stay in the game: A randomized controlled trial of a sports and life skills program for vulnerable youth in Liberia
title Stay in the game: A randomized controlled trial of a sports and life skills program for vulnerable youth in Liberia
title_full Stay in the game: A randomized controlled trial of a sports and life skills program for vulnerable youth in Liberia
title_fullStr Stay in the game: A randomized controlled trial of a sports and life skills program for vulnerable youth in Liberia
title_full_unstemmed Stay in the game: A randomized controlled trial of a sports and life skills program for vulnerable youth in Liberia
title_short Stay in the game: A randomized controlled trial of a sports and life skills program for vulnerable youth in Liberia
title_sort stay in the game a randomized controlled trial of a sports and life skills program for vulnerable youth in liberia
topic work force
life skills development
vulnerability
randomized controlled trials
youth
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/142488
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