Explaining differences in sport participation rates among young adults: Evidence from the South Caucasus

Abstract

This paper presents and discusses evidence about the sport careers of representative samples of 31-37 year olds from the capital city and a comparator region in each of the three South Caucasus countries -Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. This is one of the few surveys to measure sport participation that allows change over time at the aggregate and individual levels to be distinguished. The evidence suggests that many differences in sport participation rates that are commonly attributed to circumstances and experiences after age 16 (higher education, for example) already exist at age 16, and that family cultures are the source of crucial predispositions to participate which have lasting effects. The evidence, from countries that up to 1991 shared the Soviet education and sport systems, also suggests that ethnic/national cultures that predate communism have outlived communism and are now a major explanation of inter-country differences in rates of sport participation in the South Caucasus. Finally, the evidence indicates that sport facilities do indeed make a difference, but only by enabling those who are predisposed to take part in sport.

Mission impossible? Reflecting upon the relationship between physical education, youth sport and lifelong participation

“…Notwithstanding the inevitability of 'drop-out' among youth in the post-school years and over the life-course, there is a body of researchexploring, among other things, the so-called 'determinants' and 'correlates' of participation in sport over the life course -which purports to show that active participation in sport during childhood and youth is an important prerequisite for involvement in later life; in other words, the foundations for sports careers appear to be laid in childhood and youth (see, for example, Birchwood et al, 2008;Roberts & Brodie, 1992;Scheerder et al, 2006). Nonetheless, such research still leaves open the question 'What can or does PE actually contribute to any "carryover" effect'?…”

“…Two such studies that have provided very interesting results are those of Roberts & Brodie (1992) in the UK in the early 1990s and Birchwood et al (2008) in the South Caucasus more recently. Each, in their own way, has not only cast doubt on the assumption that PE is likely to have a substantial influence on youth sport but have also highlighted the potential significance of confounding variables such as social class, gender and, in particular, family socialization.…”

“…In short, they argued that 'all the major, recognised differences in adult rates of sports participation between sociodemographic groups are generated during childhood, via cultures that are transmitted through families, and that post-childhood experiences play a relatively minor direct part in generating these differences' (Birchwood et al, 2008: 283). On this view, whether or not young people start or stop participating in sport -or, for that matter, increase or decrease their levels of participation as they approach and negotiate adolescence and adulthood -may very well depend upon pre-dispositions that have been formed earlier in life (Birchwood et al, 2008) rather than any well-meaning interventions such as school PE. Birchwood et al (2008) add that changes in the overall rates of participation (whether up or down, overall) among particular age groups (such as the general increases witnessed in the 1970s and 1980s) are probably best explained in terms of 'the standard pre-disposition within a socio-demographic group' (Birchwood et al, 2008: 284) towards participation in sport and, for that matter, all other forms of leisure.…”

“…On this view, whether or not young people start or stop participating in sport -or, for that matter, increase or decrease their levels of participation as they approach and negotiate adolescence and adulthood -may very well depend upon pre-dispositions that have been formed earlier in life (Birchwood et al, 2008) rather than any well-meaning interventions such as school PE. Birchwood et al (2008) add that changes in the overall rates of participation (whether up or down, overall) among particular age groups (such as the general increases witnessed in the 1970s and 1980s) are probably best explained in terms of 'the standard pre-disposition within a socio-demographic group' (Birchwood et al, 2008: 284) towards participation in sport and, for that matter, all other forms of leisure. Interestingly, this finding may also explain the school and class-related (rather than class-based) characteristics of participation in PE and youth sport among the 15-16 year olds in Smith's (2006) study.…”

“…Among other things, Smith's (2006) study cast doubt on the widely-held assumption that by the time they reach the latter years of compulsory schooling young people have begun to disengage in substantial numbers from school PE, let alone leisure-sport. Despite the fact that drop-out (and, for that matter, drop-off rates from leisure-sport and physically active recreation in youth and young adulthood remain notoriously heavy (Birchwood, Roberts & Pollock, 2008), when taken together the findings from the studies of Scheerder et al (2005a,b) and Smith (2006), for example, corroborate claims that there has been a marked decline in the drop-out rate during late adolescence and that young people are much more likely to continue participating in sport and physical activities after completing their full-time education (Roberts, 1996). Indeed, Smith's findings also indicated that those 15-16 year-olds who participated in most of the curricular PE activities on offer were far more likely to report having participated in a high number of leisure sports and physical activities as well as extra-curricular PE sessions in the previous 12 months (Smith, Thurston & Green, 2007).…”