1.Aspen Institute. (2022). Youth Sports Facts: Participation Rates. Project Play. 

Background: This source talks about youth sports participation rates. It gives a lot of data about participation in each state, the ages of participation, participation by demographic, girl sport participation, and the largest sports participation gap between boys and girls.

How I Used It: I used it by showing the statistics of how many youth aged 6-17 participated in organized sports or a lesson. With this I was able to argue how youth sports are popular and are a great example for why parents or guardians should not encourage their children toward unattainable dreams..

2. Biddle, S., & Goudas, M. (1996). Analysis of Children’s Physical Activity and its Association with Adult Encouragement and Social Cognitive Variables. Journal of School Health, 66(2), 75–78.

Background: This study talked about factors influencing adolescents’ vigorous physical activity, highlighting adult encouragement. Surveys of 147 adolescents aged 13–14 reveal that activity is driven by adult support, intention, and perceived competence. Task-oriented goals also play a role in shaping intentions.

How I Used it: I used this study to support my argument by talking about the “why” behind participation from youth athletes. So by adding this, I was able to explain how children’s physical activity and adult encouragement associate with each other as well as include that encouragement is powerful.

3.‌BOERGERS, J., SPIRITO, A., & DONALDSON, D. (1998). Reasons for Adolescent Suicide Attempts: Associations With Psychological Functioning. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 37(12), 1287–1293.

Background: This journal talks about the reasons on why people self-harm. It studied 120 people and figured out why they wanted to harm themselves and then seen what were the most frequent reasons for self-harm.

How I Used it: I used this article to support my hypothesis by showing how the reasons for self-harm correlates with the feelings an athlete may feel when being encouraged too much. I explained how athletes endure pain of failure and other things, which can resort to self-harm to seek relief.

4.Dekin, S. (2020). The Good and Bad of Youth Athletics On Your Child’s Mental Health. Sports Psychology Review. 

Background: This article discussed the positive and negative impacts of youth athletics on mental heath. It explained how youth athletics can boost mental health through teamwork and belonging but also shares the risks like pressure, burnout, bad mental health, and injuries

How I Used it: I used this article to help my argument by sharing the negative features to show that youth athletics is not just for helping a child, but instead actually harming them more. With being able to explain how youth sports damage youth athletes it enhances my argument by showing the bad side effects.

5. Dinkmeyer, D. C., & Dreikurs, R. (2000). Encouraging Children to Learn. Google Books.

Background: This book explains how encouraging can be good, but also addresses issues like the high rates of anxiety and depression. It offer encouragement methods to support children and adults trying to reach their potential.

How I Used it: With this book, I was able to explain one of the causes of anxiety and link it to an athlete. Explaining how an athlete can get anxiety and comparing that with the one of the real causes of anxiety, it helped to further my argument that youth athletes attain bad mental health.

6.Ford, H. (2021, March 25). Why Children Need Positive Reinforcement.

Background: The article discusses how positive reinforcement boosts children’s behavior, self-esteem, and confidence. It also emphasizes the importance of rewarding positive actions through various methods, such as social and tangible rewards, to encourage good behavior

How I Used it: I used this article to rebuttal against. I took its claim that positive reinforcement is good and explained how it can push children towards goals they do not actually want to do. With this, it helped to further my argument that children are encouraged to pursue their parents goal instead of their own, which can result in mental health problems.

7.Gmelch, G. (2016). Playing with Tigers. Google Books.

Background: This book is about George Gmelch and his personal experiences growing up and following it dream to become a Major League player. Essentially he talked about his life growing up and even included statistics of how many people actually make it to the minor leagues.

How I Used it: I included the statistics of how many people actually make it to the minor league and explained how George Gmelch never even achieved his dreams of playing in the MLB, despite years of support from loved ones. This helped to support my hypothesis by showing an anecdote of a real person.

8.Gould, D. (2016). The Psychology of Optimal Performance: The Mindset of Successful Athletes. Journal of Sports Psychology.

Background: With this book, it  explores the psychological aspects of sport and exercise, focusing on topics like motivation, behavior change, mental skills, and the impact of physical activity on mental health. It is used in schools to help people understand the psychology in sports.

How I Used it: I used this book in my rebuttal to explain how repeated failure is not good. In the book it says repeated failure should be the stepping stones toward improvement, but I went against it to show how repeated failure can cause emotional damage and other mental health issues.

9.Improving Children’s Mental Health through Healthy Encouragement – Centerstone. (2022,September 2). Centerstone.

Background: This article from shares how healthy encouragement can enhance children’s mental health. It explained how providing praise, focusing on strengths, and offering emotional support, children can develop higher self-esteem, confidence, and resilience.

How I Used it: I used this source by going against it. I used this to further my point that people or children that are encouraged develop mental health problems rather than having a great well-being or healthier relationships.

10.McCutcheon, H. (2022). Championship behaviors. Google Books.

Background: This book is written by an Olympic gold medal winner, Hugh McCutcheon. He explains the behaviors and attitudes needed for achieving competitive excellence in sports. It emphasizes mental preparation, discipline, and resilience, offering strategies to help athletes develop a winning mindset and consistently perform at their best.

How I Used it: With this source, I was able to take quote McCutcheon said, and explore that for my whole argument. I based the majority of my wiring off of this one quote because it highlighted that dreams can cause physical and mental health issues.

11.NCAA. (2014). NCAA RECRUITING FACTS. NCAA. 

Background: This source showed many NCAA recruiting facts, which included Division I, II, and III schools. It helped to explained how many collegiate athletes actually go professional as well as other smaller facts regarding collegiate athletes.

How I Used it: I Used this by including the statistic about how many collegiate athletes actually go pro. This statistic was used to help my argument that even with all the encouragement, there are many people that don’t even make it pro; it is very hard to get into the professional leagues.

12.Piirto, J. (2011). The Piirto Pyramid of Talent Development:. Jane Piirto PhD. h

Background: This source shows a model for understanding creativity and talent development. It talks about the stages of growth, intrinsic motivation, and more. This source includes personal stories, which also speaks about environmental factors that caused change.

How I Used it: I used this source to explain the understudy effect. With this source I was able to include one of the anecdotes Piirto included and explain their correlation to the understudy affect in order to explain that many people waste their time waiting on a small chance of doing or being something..

13. Weber, S. R., Winkelmann, Z. K., Monsma, E. V., Arent, S. M., & Torres-McGehee, T. M. (2023). An Examination of Depression, Anxiety, and Self-Esteem in Collegiate Student-Athletes. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(2), 1211.

Background: This article shows the mental health of collegiate athletes, focusing on depression, anxiety, and self-esteem. It explains these factors influence on well-being and performance by included statistics and more.

How I Used it: I used this article by included the statistics about the percentages of student athletes at risk for depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem. With these statistics I was able to explain how many of the athletes are anxiety ridden and have many mental health problems that arise with the sports their in, I also use this source to take into account that parents encouraging a student-athlete can cause higher chance of these mental problems because the athlete. themselves, may not want to continue their sport, but their parent is forcing them to.

14. Weber, S. R., Winkelmann, Z. K., Monsma, E. V., Arent, S. M., & Torres-McGehee, T. M. (2023b). An Examination of Depression, Anxiety, and Self-Esteem in Collegiate Student-Athletes. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(2), 1211.

Background: This article shows questionnaire questions that were answered by previous athletes regarding multiple subjects including the sports they did, what they are doing now, and so many more.

Why I Didn’t Use it: I didn’t use this source because it didn’t fit with my plan for my arguments anymore. I thought I would use it to show personal experiences of athletes, but instead I just got George Gmelch’s story and included his.

15.Bikowski, S. M. (May 2004). A descriptive study of early adolescents’ motivational goal orientations and their relationship to early adolescents’ engagement in literacy activities – ProQuest. Proquest.com.

Background: This source is about how children feel towards goals while in school and generally in life. It also brings to account how middle school children are losing their intrinsic motivation to learn.

Why I Didn’t Use it: I didn’t incorporate this source because it wasn’t relevant to my argument; it did not contribute to the direction of my points. It had nothing to do with athletes or mental disorders.