BACKGROUND
Physical activity in adolescence has been reported to enhance physical activity in adulthood, but detailed information on the enhancing effect of different types of adolescent sports is lacking. We evaluated the association between participation in different types of adolescent sports and physical activity in adulthood.


METHODS
The sample comprised 7794 males and females who responded to the mailed questions on physical activity status at age 14 years and at age 31 years in follow-up surveys of the Northern Finland 1966 birth cohort. The associations between adolescent participation in different sports and adult physical activity was examined by multinomial logistic regression.


RESULTS
Frequent participation in sports after school hours in adolescence was associated with a high level of physical activity in adulthood. In males, adolescent participation in ball games, intensive endurance sports, track and field, and combat sports was associated with a high or very high level of adult activity. In females, the same applied to adolescent participation in running, orienteering, track and field, cycling, gymnastics, and riding. Adolescent participation in ball games increased participation in ball games in adulthood, especially in males, while participation in cross-country skiing, running, and orienteering provided the greatest stimulation to carry over of some endurance sport to adulthood.


CONCLUSIONS
Participation in sports at least once a week among females and twice a week among males was associated with high level of physical activity in later life. Adolescent participation in the intensive endurance sports, and some sports that require and encourage diversified sports skills, appeared to be most beneficial with respect to the enhancement of adult physical activity.

Adolescent Participation in Sport and Adult Physical Activity

Due to the massive spread of a new Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), many European governments enacted rules and legislations in order to reduce social interactions and contain the spread of the virus Ger

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1012690220934335

Sport and exercise in times of self-quarantine: How Germans changed their behaviour at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic

"Foundations of Social Theory": Essay Review.

This study seeks to understand participation levels in sport across socio-demographic groups, specifically for the period 2008–14, in the context of austerity measures taken by central government resulting in local authority income and expenditure reductions. Participation levels over time were analysed using data from the Active People Survey (APS), which was the preferred method for measuring participation by Sport England until its replacement in 2015. Budgetary constraints in local authorities have subsequently resulted in an expenditure decrease for non-discretionary services including ‘sport development and community recreation’. This area of expenditure forms one component of sport-related services and primarily focuses on raising participation in ‘hard-to-reach’ groups. The study found that policy goals associated with raising and widening participation were not met to any significant degree between 2008 and 2014 as participation levels have changed little for lower income ‘hard-to-reach’ groups. It is claimed that this outcome is in part due to austerity measures impacting on local authority expenditure. This study has implications for policymakers and practitioners as it illustrates both the challenges faced in setting and delivering policy aimed at raising participation levels in ‘hard-to-reach’ groups, particularly in the context of austerity, and the difficulties associated with measuring participation.

Austerity, policy and sport participation in England

Background To develop targeted policy strategies to increase sports participation, more insight is needed into the behavioural patterns and preferences of users of different club-organized (i.e., sports clubs) and non-club organized (i.e., gyms, health centres or swimming pools) or informal sports settings such as public spaces. This study investigates 1) how users of different settings differ regarding self-determined motivations and goals, and sociodemographic and sports-related characteristics, and 2) how the association of motivations and goals with sports participation may differ between users of different sports settings. Methods Data were collected through online surveys among Dutch adults aged 18-80 years (N = 910). Ordinal regression analyses were used to investigate the effects of sports settings, the level of self-determined motivations and goals, and interaction effects of motivations and goals with different sports settings, on sports frequency. Results Users of different sports settings differed in their personal characteristics, motivations and goals. In general, controlled motivations were negatively associated with sports frequency (B = -0.46). However, among club members, extrinsic goals related to image (B = 0.44), as well as intrinsic goals related to skill development (B = 0.40) and social affiliation (B = 0.47) had significant positive associations with sports frequency. Health-related goals significantly increased sports frequency among users of informal settings, such as public spaces. Conclusion The association of motivational variables with sports participation differs between settings. This implies that sports frequency is higher when participants engage in settings that better fit their motivations and goals. Because of the growing importance of informal and flexible settings and health goals, professionals in the sports and health domains should take into account the motivations, goals and needs of different target groups who (want to) use unorganized, informal sports settings including public spaces.

/pdf/sports-participation-in-sport-clubs-gyms-or-public-spaces-2yymwr6zkt.pdf

Sports participation in sport clubs, gyms or public spaces: How users of different sports settings differ in their motivations, goals, and sports frequency.

Sport has become a highly differentiated social phenomenon in recent years. Changes in society, such as individualization, the growing significance of the health and body culture, and changing values, are considered to be generative mechanisms for increasing social importance and the differentiation of modern sport. Although discussions in sport sociology attribute the changes observed in recent decades of sport participation to a socially determined differentiation of sport, this premise has hardly ever been empirically tested. The present study examines to what extent the postulated developments in sport can be observed on the micro level of those engaging in sport, by examining sport behaviour from a contemporary historical perspective. Based on a life-course approach to research, a total of 1739 over 50-year-olds in Germany were asked about their sport participation as part of a retrospective longitudinal study. Results show that the increasing differentiation of sport can be documented by more divers...

Changes in German sport participation: Historical trends in individual sports

The intergenerational transfer of a sports-related lifestyle within the family is a potential way to explain the social differences in sports participation that are displayed by young people. In th...

Intergenerational transfer of a sports-related lifestyle within the family:

ZusammenfassungAktuelle demographische Entwicklungen rücken Fragen nach den Einflussfaktoren der Sportbeteiligung von Menschen in der 2. Lebenshälfte in den Mittelpunkt sportwissenschaftlichen Interesses. Aufgrund der vielfältigen Lebenserfahrungen dieser Altersgruppe stellt sich die Frage, inwieweit die sportliche Vorgeschichte das aktuelle Sportengagement beeinflusst. Ausgehend vom Ansatz der Lebensverlaufsforschung wurden hierzu Personen ab dem 50. Lebensjahr zu ihrem aktuellen und früheren Sportengagement im retrospektiven Längsschnitt befragt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass insbesondere ein langjähriges Sportengagement in der 1. Lebenshälfte sowie sportliche Aktivitäten im frühen Erwachsenenalter den Verlauf des Sportengagements in der 2. Lebenshälfte positiv beeinflussen. Darüber hinaus weisen Perioden- und Kohorteneffekte darauf hin, dass die lebenszeitlichen Abhängigkeiten des Sportengagements unter dem moderierenden Einfluss des sozialen Faktors Geschlecht sowie gesellschaftlicher Rahmenbedingungen stehen.AbstractCurrent demographic development attracts the attention of the sports sciences to the determinants of sport participation among people in the second half of life. Due to various life experiences in this age cohort, the question arises as to how much sports experiences affect contemporary sport participation. Starting with research into the life course people had followed, persons aged over 50 years were interviewed retrospectively about their current and former participation in sporting activities. Results show that sport participation of many years’ standing in the first half of life in particular, as well as sport activities in young adulthood, has a positive affect on the course of sport participation in the second half of life. Furthermore, period and cohort effects indicate that sports commitment is moderately affected by the variables sex and social environment.

/pdf/sport-treiben-ein-leben-lang-einfluss-der-sportkarriere-der-1jfildzmgq.pdf

Sport treiben ein Leben lang? Einfluss der Sportkarriere der 1. Lebenshälfte auf das Sportengagement im mittleren und späten Erwachsenenalter

Aktuelle demographische Entwicklungen rucken Fragen nach den Einflussfaktoren der Sportbeteiligung von Menschen in der 2. Lebenshalfte in den Mittelpunkt sportwissenschaftlichen Interesses. Aufgrund der vielfaltigen Lebenserfahrungen dieser Altersgruppe stellt sich die Frage, inwieweit die sportliche Vorgeschichte das aktuelle Sportengagement beeinflusst. Ausgehend vom Ansatz der Lebensverlaufsforschung wurden hierzu Personen ab dem 50. Lebensjahr zu ihrem aktuellen und fruheren Sportengagement im retrospektiven Langsschnitt befragt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass insbesondere ein langjahriges Sportengagement in der 1. Lebenshalfte sowie sportliche Aktivitaten im fruhen Erwachsenenalter den Verlauf des Sportengagements in der 2. Lebenshalfte positiv beeinflussen. Daruber hinaus weisen Perioden- und Kohorteneffekte darauf hin, dass die lebenszeitlichen Abhangigkeiten des Sportengagements unter dem moderierenden Einfluss des sozialen Faktors Geschlecht sowie gesellschaftlicher Rahmenbedingungen stehen.

/pdf/sport-treiben-ein-leben-lang-5fh90dm4kq.pdf

Sport treiben ein Leben lang

Fur das Sportengagement Jugendlicher sind grose interindividuelle Unterschiede sowie hohe Ausstiegsraten kennzeichnend. Ein moglicher Erklarungsansatz stellt aus einer sozialisationstheoretischen Perspektive die transgenerationale Vermittlung des Sportver-haltens und damit verbundener Handlungsorientierungen in der Familie dar. Der vorlie-gende Beitrag untersucht, welche Rolle die sportbezogenen Orientierungs- und Verhal-tensmuster im Familienalltag fur das Sportengagement Jugendlicher spielen. Mittels Me-thodentriangulation zwischen hierarchischer Regression und qualitativen Interviews konnte fur Jugendliche im Alter von 15 bis 20 Jahren (N = 1909; M = 17.3; SD = 1.7) die Bedeutung des Stellenwerts des Sports, der regelmasigen Sportaktivitat in der Familie, der sozialen Unterstutzung, des sportbezogenen Gesundheitsbewusstseins sowie der Kommunikation uber Sport in der Familie fur das individuelle Sportengagement Jugend-licher aufgezeigt werden.

Claudia Klostermann

Papers

Changes in German sport participation: Historical trends in individual sports

Intergenerational transfer of a sports-related lifestyle within the family:

Sport treiben ein Leben lang? Einfluss der Sportkarriere der 1. Lebenshälfte auf das Sportengagement im mittleren und späten Erwachsenenalter

Sport treiben ein Leben lang

Zur Bedeutung sportbezogener Orientierungs- und Verhaltensmuster in der Familie für das Sportengagement Jugendlicher