Science & Equine

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Written by Els Smet
Posted in Rider fitness

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Self-Esteem Assessment of Adolescents Involved with horses

Adolescence can be a difficult time, where self-esteem is learned and developed. Self-esteem is defined as the capacity for evaluating their fundamental worth as a person. This research aimed to investigate if a change in self-esteem was brought about after adolescents took part in horsemanship activities.

The results show that there was a small but significant increase in self-esteem after the participation in the horsemanship school. However, no significant changes were found with regard to personal horsemanship attributes, physical competence and physical self-acceptance. Furthermore, a positive relationship was found between personal horsemanship attributes and self-esteem, meaning that adolescents with high horsemanship attributes tended to have higher self-esteem.

Expert opinion by Els Smet

Although these results show a small but significant increase in self-esteem, this is in line with other research done on the effect of working with horses and the effect on self-esteem. It could therefore be possible for youth practitioners to incorporate this knowledge when creating youth development programs.

> From: Saunders-Ferguson et al., Journal of Extension 46 (2008) . All rights reserved to Research Gate. Click here for the online summary.

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