To move on… – a comparative study of Swedish adolescents in a changing sport and leisure-time landscape

Abstract

Societal and technological changes have had a great impact on the overall physical activity and leisure time practices of children and youth, in Sweden and in other countries. The understanding of sports participation is a complex issue as the taste for sport is formed under specific conditions. The aim of this comparative cross-sectional, longitudinal study is to explore how Swedish adolescents view and reason about sport and leisure time practices in relation to everyday life in a changing recreational landscape. Findings from two focus groups interviews conducted almost 10 years apart (2007 and 2016) are compared. The analysis is inspired by Bourdieu's theory of practice and the concept of belonging. Several similarities between the two data sets are found, but also differences. New organisational structures, schoolwork, a tension between experienced lack of time and a need for flexibility, as well as own learning and development play a more central role in 2016. Furthermore, the digitalised leisure time landscape has affected the boundaries of the overall field of recreation, challenging the interrelated dimensions between social agents and structures of organised sport, and future policies and initiatives for the entire community of leisure time practices.

Making leisure time meaningful for adolescents: an interview study from Sweden

“…Yet, adolescents’ participation in organized leisure activities decreased in favour of unstructured activities during the last three decades. This event coincides with new legislation in Sweden in which grades were introduced into grade six in 2009 instead of grade eight, which has the potential to increase academic pressure at an early age (Lundvall & Thedin Jakobsson, 2021 ). More specifically, Behtoui ( 2017 ) shows that organized activities are positively associated with school performance, while unstructured leisure time has the opposite effect.…”

Learn, Have Fun and Be Healthy! An Interview Study of Swedish Teenagers’ Views of Participation in Club Sport

“…Although there are more similarities than differences between the empirical studies, some aspects differ. In the 2016 interviews, time and flexibility emerge somewhat more challenging for the respondents, which may be due to changes in society with a stronger focus on individual performance [ 5 , 40 , 64 ]. In all of the 2016 focus group interviews the respondents talked about the importance of school success, but this is not highlighted in the material from 2007 and 2008 [ 40 , 65 ].…”

“…In the 2016 interviews, time and flexibility emerge somewhat more challenging for the respondents, which may be due to changes in society with a stronger focus on individual performance [ 5 , 40 , 64 ]. In all of the 2016 focus group interviews the respondents talked about the importance of school success, but this is not highlighted in the material from 2007 and 2008 [ 40 , 65 ]. This may be traced back to a passed legislation in 2011, introducing an earlier assessment of knowledge, with grades from school year six instead of school year eight, accompanied by stricter knowledge requirements and assessments in the Swedish school system [ 66 ].…”

“…Furthermore, club sport has to compete with a rapidly growing commercial market of light communities for fitness training. New forms of sporting practices, including both the light communities and the self-organised, have affected the sport practices of the respondents in the SSH 2016 [ 40 , 52 , 53 , 64 ].…”

“…The third data set consists of the in-depth interviews in 2008 with teenagers participating in club sport [ 38 ]. Some of the empirical material has been used in other studies [ 39 , 40 ], but with different aims and research questions.…”