Introduction:
Sport provides a platform for positive youth development by allowing young people to acquire essential life skills.

Aim of the study:
This study examined how participants’ life skills development in sport is influenced by the length of their experience in sport, weekly participation hours, and satisfaction of their three basic psychological needs.

Material and methods:
The study included 317 Iranian university students (Mage = 22.3 years; females = 222, males = 95) engaged in sport or exercise. Two validated measures assessed participants’ basic psychological needs satisfaction and life skills development in sport, with the data collected via an online questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS 28.0. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis included length of experience in sport and weekly participation hours as predictors in block 1, and autonomy, competence, and relatedness satisfaction as predictors in block 2.

Results:
The results indicated that both length of experience in sport and weekly participation hours were positively associated with participants’ development of eight different life skills. After controlling for length of experience in sport and weekly participation hours, satisfaction of autonomy, competence, and relatedness were positively related to all eight life skills. Of the three basic psychological needs, autonomy satisfaction had the strongest positive relationships with participants’ life skills development.

Conclusions:
Coaches and parents should encourage consistent participation in order to maximize the life skills benefits of sport, and create supportive environments that fulfill participants’ three basic psychological needs.