Evaluation of The First Tee in Promoting Positive Youth Development: Group Comparisons and Longitudinal Trends

Purpose: This manuscript represents the 3rd in a series of articles documenting our longitudinal evaluation of The First Tee, a physical activity-based youth development program that uses golf as a vehicle for teaching life skills and enhancing developmental outcomes. Previous phases of our project: (a) established initial data-based evidence of effectiveness through cross-sectional and qualitative methods (Weiss, Stuntz, Bhalla, Bolter, & Price, 2013), and (b) provided validity and reliability for a measure of life skills transfer in 3 studies using mixed methods (Weiss, Bolter, & Kipp, 2014). The purpose of the present phase was to: (a) compare youth in The First Tee to youth in other activities on life skills transfer and developmental outcomes, and (b) examine change and stability across 3 years in life skills transfer among youth in The First Tee. Method: In Study 1, youth participating in The First Tee (N = 405) and a comparison group (N = 159) completed measures of key constructs. In Study 2, a longitudinal sample of 192 youth participating in The First Tee completed the life skills transfer measure for 3 consecutive years. Results: Study 1 revealed that youth in The First Tee compared favorably to youth in other activities on 5 of 8 life skills and 6 of 8 developmental outcomes, and Study 2 showed that scores improved or remained stable for life skills transfer over time. Conclusion: Results from both studies show that The First Tee is effective in teaching for transfer of life skills and promoting developmental outcomes.