The Effect of Sports Participation on the Emotional and Psychological Well-Being and Anger Expression Styles of Children in Institutional Care

This study examined the effects of a three-month swimming program on the emotional and psychological well-being and anger expression styles of children in institutional care. The quasi-experimental pretest-posttest study included 36 children living in children’s homes in Burdur, Türkiye. Participants were allocated to an intervention group (n=20) and a control group (n=16). The intervention group attended one-hour swimming sessions three days per week for three months. Training progressed from poolside warm-up, breathing, kicking, flotation, and board-assisted drills to unassisted freestyle swimming. Data were collected with the Stirling Children’s Well-being Scale and the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory and analyzed using t tests. The intervention group’s mean well-being score increased from 3.75 to 3.88, whereas the control group’s score decreased from 3.77 to 3.42; neither within-group difference was statistically significant. The groups did not differ significantly in trait anger, anger-in, anger-out, or anger control at pretest or posttest. The small sample and the absence of a group-by-time analysis limit conclusions about the intervention effect.