Effect of the Adapted Soccer Programme on Psychological Behaviour in Adolescents with Down Syndrome

Abstract

Several studies have demonstrated the profoundly favourable effects that regular physical activity has on the growth, development, and health of individuals with intellectual disabilities. Examining how the adapted soccer program affects the psychological behaviors of adolescents with Down syndrome is the goal of this study. Forty down syndrome adolescents (mean age of 15.8, level of range 40 60) were divided into two groups using stratified random sampling. Each group consisted of twenty (n=20) subjects and was assigned to the experimental group and control group. The experimental group underwent an adapted soccer program for eight weeks, 3 sessions per week and each session 90 minutes. The control group did not take part in any activity doing the course of the study. Aggression, Attention, Anxiety, Withdrawn, and Social problem were taken as criterion variables in this study. Pretest was taken before the program period and the posttest was conducted immediately after the eight-week program period. The criterion variables were assessed by using the standard questionnaire (CBCL 6 18). The collected data were analyzed by using SPSS 21 version from ANOVA, Independent sample t-test to find out the significant difference between the experimental group and control group. The result revealed the initial level, all five variables showed statistically significant improvement. The experimental group posttest p-value of these five variables is (0.000) then the p-value is less than the significant value (5%). The control group had no appreciable variations during the same time. It revealed that the adapted soccer program for adolescents with Down syndrome decreased anxiety, withdrawnness, attention issues and aggression. An adapted soccer program would enhance the psychological behaviors of teenagers with Down syndrome, according to all the data.