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Social influences in sports activity among adolescents Noémi Keresztes, Bettina F. Piko, Zsuzsanna F. Pluhar and Randy M. Page The Journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health 2008; 128; 21 DOI: 10.1177/1466424007085228 The online version of this article can be found at: http://rsh.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/128/1/21
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Social influences in sports activity RESEARCH 21
Social influences in sports activity among adolescents Authors
Abstract Aims: Habits of leisure time sports activity, similar to other health behaviours, are established during late childhood and early adolescence. While regular leisure time sports activity is a natural part of children’s lifestyle, it starts to decrease during adolescence, particularly among girls. Among the factors influencing children’s sports activity, the role of parents, peers, and other members of children’s social networks seem to be crucial. The purpose of this study was to determine the role of social influences in early adolescents’ leisure time sports activity and to examine gender differences. Methods: Data were collected from middle school students using randomly selected classes from four schools in distinct school districts in Szeged, Hungary, using a self-administered questionnaire (n = 548) in which a response rate of 91% was achieved. Respondents were 10–15 years of age (mean = 12.2 years, SD = 1.2 years) with 54.9% of the sample male and 45.1% female. Results: Results show significant others as an important influence on sport-related behaviours and suggest that during early adolescence girls’ sports participation is particularly influenced by the social influence of peers (e.g. friends, classmates, boy/girlfriend). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that health promotion programmes should build on possible social influences, i.e. the role of peers, parents and significant others in general, in fostering adolescents’ physical activity.
Noémi Keresztes MA, Semmelweis University, IV Doctoral School, Behavioural Science Programme Bettina F Piko MD, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Division of Behavioural Sciences, University of Szeged, 6722 Szeged, Szentharomsag str 5. Hungary Tel/Fax: 36 62 420–530 Email: pikobettina@ yahoo.com Zsuzsanna F Pluhar MD, University of Szeged, Department of Psychiatry, Division of Behavioural Sciences, Szeged, Hungary Randy M Page PhD, Brigham Young University, Department of Health Science, Utah, USA Corresponding author: Bettina F Piko, as above
Key words leisure; sports social influences; gender; adolescence
INTRODUCTION A serious concern in modern society is the lack of physical activity and its impact on public health. Because physical inactivity is associated with poor health, it is important that physically active lifestyles are promoted and receive priority in public health policy.1,2 An important source of physical activity is leisure time sports activity. Regular leisure time sports activity has long-term health benefits3,4 and as such is an issue to be addressed in health promotion programmes among the young. Physical activity is closely connected to lower health risk, and lower rate of morbidity and mortality of numerous chronic diseases.5 Besides somatic health, active involvement in leisure time physical activity has substantial
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benefical effects in terms of psychological wellbeing, positive mood and mental health,6 physical fitness,7 and lower levels of unhealthy behaviours.8 Habits of leisure time sports activity, similar to other health behaviours, are established during late childhood and early adolescence.7 While regular leisure time sports activity is a natural part of children’s lifestyle,9 it starts to decrease during adolescence, particularly among girls.10 Girls have more negative experiences in connection with physical education, and lower interest and involvement in leisure time sports activity than boys.11,12 Negative experiences of physical education may contribute to feelings of helplessness and reduced effort in adolescent girls.13 On the other hand, studies on gender roles reveal a
Copyright © The Journal of The Royal Society for the Promotion of Health 2008 JRSH SAGE Publications, Los Angeles, London, New Delhi and Singapore ISSN 1466-4240 DOI: 10.1177/1466424007085228
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positive relationship between masculine identity and sport,14 and boys seem to value competition and sport achievement more than girls do.15 Studies appear to indicate different socially constructed gender role orientations between males and females in sports activity.16 Studies often focus on socialization into sport within family, school and peer group contexts.17 Social influences may be defined as a pressure that people perceive from important others to perform a behaviour18 and as a result may be important determinants of leisure time sports activity.19,20 Sources of social influence include family, friends and colleagues/ classmates, as well as the general influence of society.21 The sports activity of significant others appears to be a particularly important source of social influence.22 The health-related behaviours of parents and peers (e.g. friends, classmates, boy/girlfriend) are strong influences on adolescent health-related behaviours such as smoking and alcohol use,23 eating and weight-related behaviours,24 and sports activity behaviour.17,25 Perceived friends’ involvement in leisure time sports activity may also be an encouraging factor.26 It is also important to consider possible gender differences with respect to social influences and sports activity. Previous research has observed that parental leisure time sports activity encourages sports activity among boys but not among girls.27 However, social support from same-sex friends has been found to be an important factor in involvement and continued participation in leisure time sport activity for girls but not for boys.11 The experience of physical education in schools also appears to affect boys and girls differently.11,12 The purpose of this study was to determine the role of social influences in early adolescents’ leisure time sports participation and to examine gender differences in the social influences of significant others.
METHOD Data were collected from middle school students (in 2003) using randomly selected classes from four schools in distinct school
districts in Szeged, Hungary. Trained graduate students administered questionnaires in the selected classes. Of the 600 students enrolled in the classes, 548 questionnaires were returned and analyzed, yielding a response rate of 91% without any incentives for participation. The age range of the respondents was 10–15 years of age (mean = 12.2 years, SD = 1.2 years) and 54.9% of the sample was male. Parents were informed of the study and their consent was obtained prior to data collection. During the distribution of the questionnaire, the trained graduate students explained to the subjects the study objectives and provided instructions for completion. The questionnaires were anonymous and participation in completing the questionnaire was voluntary. The self-administered questionnaire contained items on sociodemographics, prevalence of sports activity outside school, social influences and other sports-related items. Regarding leisure time sports activity, the following question was asked: How many times in the last school year have you participated in sports activity (for at least a half hour) besides school physical education? Response categories were: (1) never, because I have been exempted; (2) not besides school; (3) occasionally besides school; (4) once or twice a month besides school; (5) once or twice a week besides school; and (6) three or four times a week besides school.28 Possible social influences on children’s sports participation were measured by the following question based on the measurement strategy of other empirical studies:13,26,29 Who does any sports activity in your environment? Response categories were the following: (1) one or both of my parents do regular sports activity; (2) one of my parents or both did sports activity in the past; (3) my sisters or brothers do sports activity; (4) my classmates do sports activity; (5) my friends do sports activity; and (6) my boy/girlfriend does sports activity. Respondents were asked to choose all of the answers that were relevant to them. A final question assessed the social influence of a possible role model, giving the following options: (1) my parents; (2)
my sisters or brothers or other family members; (3) my trainer; (4) my friends/my classmates; (5) my team member; (6) famous sportsman: namely…; (7) I have no role models. SPSS for MS Windows Release 9.0 program was used in the calculations, with maximum significance level set to 0.05. Beyond descriptive statistics, logistic regression analyses were applied to detect possible effects of social influences on children’s sports activity. Odds ratios helped detect the bivariate relationships between dichotomized sports activity status and possible social influences by gender. The main goal of the analysis was to detect differences between a less active group and a regularly active group. The baseline odds were set to 1.0. An odds ratio >1.0 indicates that there is a positive association between the factors of interest to the baseline odds. Confidence intervals (95%) were also calculated for statistically significant relationships.
RESULTS Table 1 shows cross-tabulations of social influences of early adolescents’ leisure time sports activity by gender. Among boys, 30.4% reported low levels of sports activity as compared to 32.9% among girls. While regular sports activity was slightly more common among boys, there were no statistically significant gender differences in the sports activity status in this life period. The sources of social influence with the highest rates of sports activity were friends (61.7%) and classmates (64.2%). While nearly all of the sources of social influence (except for parents’ sports activity in the past) were reported more frequently by females than males, we found significant gender differences only in classmates’ sports activity. Males were more likely than females to report role model support for sport. Logistic regressions show that all of the social influences were significant predictors of sports activity status in the total sample (Table 2). Among boys, none of the social influence factors were significant predictors of sports activity status, except for parents’ past sports activity (OR = 1.68) and sisters’ or brothers’ sports activity (OR = 1.79). Among girls, only parents’ past sports
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sports activity, the role model variable was significant in both sub-samples (boys OR = 2.33; girls OR = 2.88).
sports activity in the adult and youth populations.2,3 Also, there is a decline in physical activity during the adolescent years.7 The current study is important in investigating social influences because social influences appear to be important determinants of youth’s sports activity.19,20,26 The gender differences in sport that are often reported in the literature may largely be attributed to possible gender differences in social influences. 11,16 In the present study, 31.9% of the respondents belonged to the low level sports activity group, while 68.1% were regularly active. This finding, which is similar to previous studies, suggests that sports activity may be a natural part of children’s lives at this age.9 Although sports activity is slightly more common among boys (69.6%) than girls (67.1%), the two genders did not differ significantly in sports activity status. Our findings highlight the importance of significant others’ influence on early adolescents’ leisure sports participation.30 Respondents reported that a higher proportion of their friends and classmates participated in leisure time sports activity relative to other social influences, such as parents, siblings and boy/girlfriends.17,25 Results suggest that all of the social influence variables are significant predictors of early adolescents’ sports activity status. However, similar to previous studies, there are important gender differences in the relative role of social influences.11,16 Our results suggest that during the years of early adolescence, girls’ sports participation is most influenced by social variables from their peers like friends, classmates or boy/girlfriend. This relates to previous research that has found that adolescent girls have more friends than boys and that boys were less likely to name their friends, to have a best friend, and to refer to friends.31 Our findings provide preliminary data on the possible gender differences in the social influences in leisure time sports activity among early adolescents.
DISCUSSION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Studies investigating youth physical activity behaviour are important because a number of studies have confirmed low levels of
This study was supported by the OTKA T 042490, and the ETT T08 005 grants (Hungary).
Table 1 Descriptive statistics (cross-tabulations) of social influences of early adolescents’ leisure time sports activity by gender Boys Girls Total sample (n = 301) (n = 247) (n = 548)
Variables (%)
Leisure time sports activity status Not besides school or just occasionally
30.4
32.9
31.9
Regularly
69.6
67.1
68.1
Yes
12.1
17.4
14.6
No
87.9
82.6
85.4
Yes
41.2
33.9
37.9
No
58.8
66.1
62.1
Yes
36.3
40.5
38.1
No
63.7
59.5
61.9
Yes
59.9**
69.8**
64.2
No
40.1**
30.2**
35.8
Yes
58.8
65.7
61.7
No
41.2
34.3
38.3
Yes
23.9
30.6
26.8
No
76.1
69.4
73.2
Yes
74.8*
65.8*
70.8
No
25.2*
34.2*
29.2
Social influences of leisure time sports activity My parents do sports activity
My parents did sports activity
My sisters/brothers do sports activity
My classmates do sports activity**
My friends do sports activity
My boy/girlfriend does sports activity
Role model for sport*
p > 0.05; *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01( χ2 test)
activity was not a significant predictor of sports activity status. Current sports activity (OR = 2.72), sisters’ or brothers’ sports activity (OR = 2.22), classmates’ sports activity (OR = 2.83), friends’ sports activity (OR = 2.48) and boy/girlfriend’s sports activity (OR = 1.78) were significant predictors of girls’ regular sports activity status. Besides direct social influences of
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Table 2 Calculated odds ratios for the relationship between early adolescents’ leisure time sports activity status and social influences Boys ORa
Social influences
Girls ORa
95% CIb
Total sample ORa
95% CIb
95% CIb
Parents’ current leisure time sports activity Nod
1.00
Yes
1.59
1.00 0.69–3.65
2.72
1.0 1.15–6.44c
2.10
1.15–3.80c
Parents’ past leisure time sports activity Nod
1.00
Yes
1.68
1.00 c
1.10–2.84
1.77
1.0 0.97–3.22
1.73
1.16–2.56c
Sisters’/brothers’ leisure time sports activity Nod
1.00
Yes
1.79
1.00 c
1.10–3.10
2.22
1.0 c
1.24–3.97
1.95
1.31–2.91c
Classmates’ leisure time sports activity Nod
1.00
Yes
0.97
1.00 0.58–1.61
2.83
1.0 1.58–5.05c
1.50
1.10–2.18c
Friends’ leisure time sports activity Nod
1.00
Yes
1.55
1.00 0.93–2.58
2.48
1.0 1.44–4.36c
1.86
1.28–2.71c
Boy/girlfriend’s leisure time sports activity Nod
1.00
Yes
1.66
1.00 0.89–3.10
1.78
1.0 c
1.15–3.30
1.69
1.10–2.61c
Role model for sport Nod
1.00
Yes
2.33
1.00 c
1.33–4.10
2.88
1.0 c
1.64–5.05
2.62
1.77–3.88c
a
odds ratios 95% confidence intervals c Statistically significant odds ratio values (p < 0.05) d Reference category b
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