I am delighted to tell you that today's is a Guest Post.
It is the first of a series of guest posts, focusing on sports participation, written by some exciting young researchers and academics.
Here, Matthew Reeves talks about the participation of young adults.
“The afternoon of human life must also have a
significance of its own and cannot be merely a pitiful appendage to life's
morning. The significance of the
morning undoubtedly lies in the development of the individual...” (Carl Jung)
I’d
like to start by thanking Richard for inviting me to write a guest blog –
something I haven’t been asked to do, nor tried to do, previously. We’ll see how I get on!
I’m
going discuss ideas around the motivations and barriers that teenagers and
young adults face with regard to their participation in sport. Jung’s statement, above, may appear to
focus upon the ‘older’ person however, there is one key thing to remember: the drop out from sport and physical
activity is highest amongst adolescents, thus bringing “the afternoon of human life” further forward than we may like to
think (at least from a sporting/physically active perspective).
Before
discussing what barriers young adults face it seems reasonable to discuss why
young people want to initially take part in sport and physical activity. The motives young adults and adults
have to participate in sport may well be different from those of younger
participants. Sports psychology research
has concentrated on explaining motives for participation and adherence, looking
at variables such as gender, age and culture. The contexts for previous research have tended to be
specific sports codes, with the sample population typically being youth,
adolescents and/or elite level sports people. However, there are some researchers who have suggested that
research on the motivation of adult engagement in sport and physical activity
has dramatically increased as the benefits of moderate, regular physical
activity have become better recognised. Such research has tended to approach the matter from a health
perspective, especially investigating peoples’ health related behaviour. Such
approaches have created a sizeable gap within our knowledge of adult
motivations to participate in sport and phsyical activity. For the sake of brevity, I wont go in
to detail on the studies included in the writing of this piece, I have simply
summarised the key findings.
There
are multiple motives as to why adults take part in sport. The following are the broad motivating
factors that adults (18 or 50) or older adults (50+) have cited as reasons why
they take part in sport:
- Physical Fitness and
Health
- Social Motives /
Enjoyment / Relaxation / Appearance
- Personal Challenge
- Mastery Orientation /
Weight Loss
- Sense of Achievement
/ Competition
- Medical Sanction
- More Energy
The
categories above have been listed in sequential order as to the number of times
they have been found within the research literature. However, it is important to note that many of the categories
overlapped and had a direct interplay with each other.
Unsurprisingly,
the picture of demotivation is as complex as its more positive counterpoint. The reasons offered by one particular
study for dropping out and discontinuing participation in sport are equally as
varied and include:
·
It was no longer fun
·
No longer interested
in the activity
·
I didn’t like the
coach
·
I want to participate
in other activities
Critically,
research has suggested that the majority of reasons for discontinuation are
negative and are likely to have a significant impact on future participation
decisions. It is estimated a
significant proportion of children drop out of sport each year. Whilst some drop out of one sport and
continue participating in an alternative, others discontinue participation
completely. The literature
suggests that adolescence is a period where discontinuation from sport and
physical activity is at its peak. One
particular study sampled youth sport participants and found that while over a
quarter of children were participating in sport at 10 years of age, this
dropped significantly to just over 3% at age 18 years of age. Females, in particular, indicate that negative physical and emotional experiences
in sport led to their decision to discontinue participation. This parallels
other research findings, suggesting females drop out of sport because it is too competitive and because they do not see themselves as competent. Similarly, males suggested that the competitive nature of participation led
to their withdrawal (i.e. when they
were unsuccessful).
Adolescents
and young adults also describe transitions within education (and from education to employment) as having
a negative impact on participation in sport. However, self-motivation, self-efficacy and self-concept are
described as factors between those who maintain participation during such
transitions and those who drop out and discontinue. For example, the young women in surveyed in an American study
who ‘never participate’ suggested the transition to secondary school and beyond
negatively impacted their participation as they had less time, less energy
and their social groups had changed.
Mention was also made that
participants felt more self-conscious during this time which also lead to their
discontinuation in sport. Conversely,
while the young women who ‘always participate’ experienced similar transitional
challenges, they acknowledged that their self-motivation and commitment to
sport enabled them to successfully negotiate these key periods of development.
A
national study categorised the barriers to preventing adults from taking more
exercise into five main types:
physical
emotional
motivational
time; and
availability.
Although
time barriers appear to be important for both men and women, women are more likely to report emotional
barriers to exercise (e.g. ‘I’m
not the sporty type’). This is
likely to be related to perceptions of
competence where individuals avoid participation in activities because of
self-presentational concerns. I
feel this is a good time to direct you to the final blog entry I have been
asked to write regarding the development of fundamental movement skills during
childhood and adolescence – it will close some of the potential gaps developing
at this point.
Predicting
adult involvement in physical activity is an area which has received cursory
research interest over the last 40 years or so. The dearth of literature associated with this area, an
inconsistency of approach and theoretical foundation has left findings somewhat
inconsistent and conflicting. Research,
to date, has also tended to focus upon factors associated with participation in
‘team sports’, thus leaving individual participation in sport largely under
researched.
The
final point to make is that some of the research literature suggests physical
activity habits developed in childhood and adolescence may be associated with
physical activity levels in adulthood.
These findings are somewhat conflicting and further investigation into
this phenomenon is required. From
the individuals’ perspective, understanding the reasons underlying continuation
and discontinuation in sport and physical activity is critical and encompasses
factors, such as skill competence and psychobehavioural factors, as well as
social factors, such as motivational climate.
Well
– that finishes my first attempt!
I hope you have found it useful, please feel free to contact me if you
have any questions; I will of course check comments posted on the blog. The reference list contains all
research referred to throughout and other pieces which underpin the blog
itself.
Further Reading
Bailey, R., Collins,
D., Ford, P., MacNamara, A., Toms, M., and Pearce, G. (2010). Participant
Development in Sport: An Academic Review. Leeds: Sports Coach UK.
Biddle, S. J., and Bailey, C. I. (1985). Motives for Participation and Attitudes Toward Physical
Activity of Adult Participants in Fitness Programs. Perceptual and Motor
Skills , 61, 831 - 834.
Biddle, S., Coalter,
F., O'Donovan, T., MacBeth, J., Nevill, M., and Whitehead, S. (2005). Increasing
Demand for Sport and Physical Activity by Girls. Edinburgh: Sport Scotland.
Butcher, J., Linder, K.
J., and Johns, D. P. (2002). Withdrawl from Competitive Youth Sport: A
Retrospective Ten-year Study. Journal of Sport Behaviour , 25
(2), 145 - 163.
Davey, J., Fitzpatrick,
M., Garland, R., and Kilgour, M. (2009). Adult Participation Motives:
Emperical Evidence from a Workplace Exercise Programme. European Sport
Management Quarterly , 9 (2), 141 - 162.
Malina, R. M. (2001).
Physical Activity and Fitness: Pathways from Childhood to Adulthood. American
Journal of Human Biology , 13, 162 - 172.
Seefeldt, V., Malina,
R. M., and Clark, M. A. (2002). Factors Affecting Levels of Physical Activity
in Adults. Sports Medicine , 32 (3), 143 - 168.
Matthew Reeves is a
Researcher and Teaching Support Officer in the Faculty of Education, Community
and Leisure at Liverpool John Moores University. His research interests are sports development and physical
education policy and coach education and development. Matthew has worked on a variety of international, national,
regional and local projects.
www.linkedin.com/pub/matthew-j-reeves/28/493/163
Twitter: @MRSportEdu
