Psychosocial impact of involvement in the Special Olympics.
Special Olympics participation lifts self-esteem and quality of life in adults with intellectual disability.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Crawford et al. (2015) compared adults with intellectual disability who joined the Special Olympics with peers who played little or no sports.
The team used a quasi-experimental design. They measured self-esteem, quality of life, and stress in both groups.
What they found
Special Olympics players scored higher on self-esteem and quality of life. They also reported lower stress than the low-sport group.
The results point to clear psychosocial gains from organized sports.
How this fits with other research
The finding lines up with earlier soccer work. Lerner et al. (2012) and Baran et al. (2013) showed that eight weeks of Unified Sports soccer boosts social skills and fitness in youth with ID.
Northrup et al. (2022) later extended the idea to teens with Down syndrome. Their sixteen-week adapted soccer cut anxiety, depression, and aggression.
O'Reilly (1997) offered an early hint: seven weeks of Special Olympics basketball lowered maladaptive behaviors at school and home. Together these studies build a chain showing sport helps across ages and diagnoses.
Why it matters
You can confidently add Special Olympics or other inclusive sports to adult day-program plans. No extra drugs, no costly gear—just a ball, a coach, and a schedule. Start by linking clients to local teams or run a short Unified soccer club yourself. Track mood and stress each week; the literature says you will likely see gains.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Existing evidence suggests that people with intellectual disabilities are vulnerable to low self-esteem leading to additional psychosocial issues such as social exclusion and stress. Previous research into the involvement of Special Olympics (SO) of people with intellectual disabilities has indicted positive psychosocial outcomes. Involvement in sport is known generally to have psychological and social benefits. This study aimed to compare the psychosocial impact of involvement in sport through the SO to no or limited sports involvement, for a sample of people with intellectual disabilities. A cross sectional design was employed comparing three groups, SO, Mencap Sports, and Mencap No Sports on the variables: Self-esteem, quality of life, stress levels and social networks. One hundred and one participants were recruited either through the SO or Mencap. Data were collected through the completion of validated questionnaires by one to one interviews with the participants. Analysis revealed that self-esteem, quality of life, and stress were all significantly associated with SO involvement. Logistic regression analysis was used to explore whether scores on these variables were able to predict group membership. Self-esteem was found to be a significant predictor of group membership, those in the SO having the highest self-esteem. The findings provide further evidence of a positive association between sport involvement and increased psychological wellbeing, especially for those involved in the SO. The implications of these findings for practice and future research into the relationship between sport and psychological wellbeing within the learning disabled population are considered.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2015 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2015.07.009