Il concetto di Sé fisico e l’immagine del corpo nei preadolescenti che praticano un’attività sportiva. Una ricerca empirica condotta in ambito scolastico

The Physical Self-Concept in the sport and motor framework can be considered as a factor that (a) determines and motivates the behaviours and (b) contributes to mental health and psychophysical well-being. Repeated studies have shown effectiveness of the multidimensional Physical Self-Concept model developed by Shavelson et al. (1976). Following researches conducted using Marsh‟s et al. Physical Self Description Questionnaire (PSDQ) it was showed that 1) the 11 year-old preadolescents have a positive physical self-concept inclining to impair in following years; 2) females have a physical self-concept lower than males; 3) this discrepancy is higher in female non athletes. This research aims to underline possible differences of the physical self-concept between preadolescent athletes group and non athletes, in relationship to gender and age. Related to the frame of reference model, we have considered a commune scholastic affiliation implicitly making salient the comparison inside homogeneous groups for gender and age; in relationship to the discrepancy model actual self-perceptions of body image, derived from a Silhouette-Matching (SM) task, were compared with three sources of discrepancy (ideal, future, potential). Results obtained confirm the hypotheses and they offer some suggestions for further studies.