Young People's Leisure Contexts and their Relation to Adult Outcomes

‘Activity choice’ and physical education in England and Wales

“…While policy-makers may be sceptical about the value of the relatively unstructured ways in which 15-16 year olds participate in leisure-sport and physical activity, promoting more individualized lifestyle activities alongside team sports that can be played more informally or in modified ways (for example, 5-a-side or kick-about football) in PE would appear -on the basis of the evidence outlined here -to be one of the most effective ways of promoting participation and, if young people are to be believed, it will reinforce their involvement in sport. Furthermore, not only would such strategies be more consistent with actual trends in youth sport and physical activity participation, they would match more closely young people"s preferred sport and leisure styles and preferences because they would promote activities that can be done individually, or by small groups, at times of their own choosing, and which allow them to participate with friends (Feinstein et al, 2006;Roberts, 1996aRoberts, , 1996bSmith, 2006). The provision of a wider range of activities and the facilitation of activity choice, we would argue, is a strategy that is more likely to flow with, rather than against, developments in contemporary youth lifestyles and holds out the promise of contributing towards the goal of increased participation in PE among older pupils, if that is, indeed, a premise on which justifications for the provision of activity choice in PE is based.…”

Intersectoral Action to Enhance the Social Inclusion of Socially Vulnerable Youth through Sport: An Exploration of the Elements of Successful Partnerships between Youth Work Organisations and Local Sports Clubs

“…The youth workers believe that their clients can develop their self-esteem and certain skills through sports activities. Although research indeed shows that sport participation by youngsters is associated with several beneficial outcomes such as social inclusion (Feinstein et al, 2005), academic achievement (Bailey, 2006), and social and emotional well-being (Eime, Young, Harvey, Charity, & Payne, 2013), no consensus has been reached on the evidence for a causal relationship. In addition, the mechanisms that explain how sport programmes positively affect life skills of socially vulnerable youth remain unclear (Lubans, Plotnikoff, & Lubans, 2012).…”

“…These (temporary) difficulties may result in a low self-esteem and a disconnection from social institutions (Vettenburg, 1998). Trying to increase participation in organised sports clubs is seen as a promising strategy for improving the selfesteem of these youngsters and rebuilding their sense of social inclusion (Feinstein, Bynner, & Duckworth, 2005;Haudenhuyse, Theeboom, & Coalter, 2012;Petitpas, Cornelius, Van Raalte, & Jones, 2005). On average, however, socially vulnerable youngsters tend to participate less frequently in local sports clubs than their peers (Breedveld, Bruining, Van Dorsselaer, Mombarg, & Nootebos, 2010;Vandermeerschen, Vos, & Scheerder, 2013).…”

Exploring young people's and youth workers' experiences of spaces for ‘youth development’: creating cultures of participation

“…Research that has positioned traditional youth work as largely 'unstructured' and disorganised (Feinstein et al 2006;Mahoney et al 2004), has fed into policy making in England resulting in the provision of more instrumental forms of working with young people that focused on structured, positive activities (HM…”