Self-perception of competence in children from socially vulnerable contexts, assisted and unassisted by social sports projects

ntroduction: practising sport contributes tothe reinforcement of important psychological features such as self-perception of competence, especially when participants are children from socially vulnerable contexts. Objective: to compare the socially vulnerablechildren’s self-perception of competence, assisted and unassisted by social sports projects. Method: a total of 235 children (male and female), aged between seven and tenyears, participated in this comparative study. They were divided into two groups: onegroup was formed by 106 children participating in social sports projects;the other was 129 children who did not participate in socialsports projects. The self-perception of competence was assessed by the Brazilian version of the Self-Perception Profile for Children. We used a three-way ANOVA to assess the possible interaction effect between gender, age and group (children assisted and unassisted) in the different dimensions of perceived competence. Results: The children attending sports projects reported higher overall self-worth (F(1.234)) = 6.132, p = 0.014, η2 = 0.026). It was observed that there was an effect of interaction between the variable age x group (F(1.234)) = 6.673, p = 0.010, η2 = 0.029) on the self-perception of social acceptance. There were no significant effects of group on the other dimensions of self-perception of competence. Conclusion: the children participatingin social sports projects showed more self-perception in terms of social acceptance and self-concept compared tonon-participatory children. This project does not help in other dimensions of self-perception.