Effects on aggression and social responsibility by teaching personal and social responsibility during physical education

Abstract

Introduction: In recent years, many studies have focused on developing and implementing intervention programmes to improve ethical behaviours and values through physical activity and sports. Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility model is clearly one of the most well-developed models for promoting personal and social competencies in physical education. It is necessary also to studythe influence of the type of context in improving the aggressiveness and social responsibility of the students. The study’s aim was twofold: (a) to investigate the effects of a Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility programme within physical education on aggression and social responsibility; and (b) to compare these effects between lower-middle and upper-middle socioeconomic context schools. Material and Methods: Participants were 210 students (ages 10-12)from four primary schools in southern Spain. Two measures were used: (a) Physical and verbal aggression scale; and (b) Social responsibility behaviours’ record. A quasi-experimental design with three analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) tests were completed to analyse the results, and to study differences by socioeconomic context and gender. Results: Significant decreases in physical and verbal aggression total score (p = .028) and in verbal aggression (p = .003) were found in the lower-middle socioeconomic context experimental group. Verbal aggression was significantly reduced in girls (p = .022) from the experimental group. Regarding the social responsibility, improvements were shown in the intervention group. Conclusion: In conclusion, it has been reported that the applied programme is a useful tool to improve aggressive and prosocial behaviours in primary school students from ‘low-performing’ schools.Its implementation allows a systematic progression of the different responsibility levels, and leads to spaces for self-reflection in group.