Influence of Involvement in the Girls on Track Program on Early Adolescent Girls' Self-Perceptions

The Model of Competence Motivation (Harteg 1978) higlights how self-perceptions are influenced by individual and socialization fac tors. Using this model the present study investigated, quantitatively with a pretest and posttest design (N=34) and qualitatively via individual interviews (N=8), how involvement in the Girls on Track pogram (GOT) influenced the perceived competence and self-worth of sixth-grade girls. GOT is a program that uses training for a 5-km race as a means to teach life skills. The self-perceptions of the particapants showed increasing trends from pre- to posttest. Interviewed girls discussed their acquisition of interpersonal skills and ofpositive feelings about themselves. The discussion emphasizes how program involvement can influence the development of self-perceptions in early adolescent girls.