Comparative investigation of feelings of belonging and competence perception in students competing in sports intramurals (IM) and Interscholastic (IS)

School exercise is a vital factor for physical and emotional health of children and adolescents. The present study aims to investigate the effect of school sports policies on students' feeling belonging and perception of competence.

The statistical population of the study included junior secondary school (seventh, eighth, and ninth) in Ghaemshahr. From this population, based on Krejcie & Morgan Table (1970), a sample of 384 people was selected through cluster sampling. The present study included students who competed within the school and students who competed in sports between schools in autumn 2020. The research instruments included the standard questionnaire of feeling of belonging by Barry et al. (2004) and Harter Competence Perception Questionnaire (1982). Descriptive data were analyzed using mean statistical tests, standard deviation, and independent t test.

The results showed that, in general, there is a significant difference between the feeling of belonging to school (P < 0.001), perception of competence (P < 0.001) in the two groups (P < 0.001). The effect of sports policy on the feeling belonging to school and perception of competence is equal to 0.068 and 0.124, respectively (P < 0.001).

The results of this study show that principals should pay as much attention to inter-school sports as to intra-school sports to promote school belonging and students’ perception of competence, which is one of the main goals in school policies.