Empowering Youth Development and Mitigating Behavioural-Risk Indicators Through Sports Participation; A Case Study of Khyber Agency, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Abstract

Background. Organized sport may provide tribal college students with structured opportunities for skill development, social connection, and constructive use of time. Developmental outcomes, however, may depend on the support surrounding participation. This study examined associations of sport participation and perceived social support with youth empowerment, substance-abuse risk, and delinquency risk. Methods. A cross-sectional questionnaire study was conducted among 272 male students from four government colleges in the Khyber Tribal Area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Five-item measures assessed sport participation, youth empowerment, substance-abuse risk, delinquency risk, and social support. Pearson correlations, four simple linear regressions, independent-samples t tests, and one-way analyses of variance were reported. Internal-consistency coefficients ranged from α = .82 to .91. Results. Sport participation correlated positively with empowerment (r = .62) and negatively with substance-abuse risk (r = −.48) and delinquency risk (r = −.45). Social support correlated positively with empowerment (r = .67) and negatively with substance-abuse risk (r = −.42) and delinquency risk (r = −.46), all p < .01. Sport participation explained 38.4% of empowerment variance, 23.0% of substance-risk variance, and 20.3% of delinquency-risk variance in separate simple regressions. Social support explained 44.9% of empowerment variance. Team-sport participants reported higher empowerment and support and lower risk scores than individual-sport participants. Construct means also differed across competition levels. Conclusions. Sport participation and social support were associated with stronger empowerment and lower behavioural-risk indicators in this sample. The findings support culturally responsive college sport programs that combine participation with mentorship, family and peer engagement, life-skills development, and risk-prevention services. Because the evidence is cross-sectional and self-reported, it does not establish that sport or support caused the observed outcomes.