Factors influencing interest in recreational sports participation and its rural-urban disparity

Abstract

ObjectivesRecreational sports are important leisure activities. However, most studies investigating barrier factors and motivation for participation in recreational sports have been limited to specific areas (e.g., a city or school) or demographic groups (e.g., adolescents). Therefore, this study set out to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the behavioral and socioeconomic factors influencing interest in recreational sports participation in Taiwan, as well as to evaluate the effect of any urban-rural divide.MethodsThis study analyzed data collected by the “Taiwan Social Change Survey” (program five, wave 3) “Leisure Life” questionnaire. We used hierarchical linear modeling to assess respondent interest in recreational sports participation and evaluated the influence of behavioral factors, socioeconomic factors, and residence location (urban/rural).ResultsOf the 2,146 participants in this study, 50.3% were male, and the average age was 43.9 years. Location of residence (urban/rural) accounted for 35.3% of the variation in interest in recreational sports participation, while the remaining 64.7% came from the individual level. Participants who lived in rural settings were less interested in recreational sports than their urban counterparts. Gender, educational attainment, participation frequency, health-motivated interest, and appearance-motivated interest were also associated with interest in recreational sports participation.ConclusionsDifferent communication strategies may be needed to effectively reach different demographic groups. We suggest that future public health campaigns aiming to increase recreational sports participation include tailored interventions and messages to effectively encourage leisure physical activities among all, regardless of demographic boundaries.

Association between urbanicity and physical activity in Mexican adolescents: The use of a composite urbanicity measure

“…Adolescents in Mexico City living in a place with high urbanicity would spend 8% more time in sport activities than their peers living in a place with low urbanicity, while adolescents living in a place with high urbanicity in Oaxaca would spend 4.5% less time in sports than their peers living in a place with low urbanicity. Previous evidence coincides with the positive association found in Mexico City; for example, in Taiwan adolescents living in rural areas were less interested in recreational sports than adolescents living in urban areas [ 44 ]. Further, parents of children from urban schools were more likely to drive their children to sport facilities than parents from rural areas, and the weekly frequency of sports club attendance was higher amongst urban children [ 45 ].…”

High-school adolescents’ motivation to rugby participation and selection criteria for inclusion in school rugby teams: coaches’ perspective (the SCRuM project)

“…Although there are no studies documenting coaches’ perceptions on factors motivating schoolboys to participate in rugby, our results are consistent with studies investigating general sports participation among children, adolescents and adults [12, 14, 15, 17, 18]. A study conducted using college students’ found that enjoyment and the need for challenges were predominant motivational factors for sport participation [12].…”

Health-Related Factors in Rural and Urban Mexican Adolescents: The HELENA-MEX Study

“…However, a higher percentage of urban adolescents with OW practice 60 minutes of PA per day. This could be related to greater access to sports activities [45,48] and a greater support/monitoring of parents in the healthy behavior of their children in urban areas than in rural areas [49]. The smaller number of adolescents classified as OW and O, or the differences of sex and age could distort the results found.…”