| Abstract: | Results from previous research have revealed a positive relationship between team building (TB) and several measures of adherence in adult exercise settings (Carron & Spink, 1993; Spink & Carron, 1993). However, research has yet to examine the efficacy of using a TB intervention to impact the exercise adherence of youth. The main purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a TB intervention on specific adherence behaviors of youth in an exercise club setting. A second purpose was to investigate the effects of TB on participant's satisfaction with the group's functioning (group task satisfaction). Participants were 122 youth (13–17 years) participating in 10 rural, school-based exercise clubs. Clubs were randomized into five TB (n=65) and five control groups (n=57). Results revealed that following the introduction of the intervention, the two groups differed significantly on the adherence measure of session attendance but not on dropout behavior. Further, significant differences were found between the groups in group task satisfaction. The study findings extend previous TB research to a youth population and support TB as an effective group-based intervention to improve session attendance and group task satisfaction in an exercise setting in this population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved) |
