A Longitudinal Comparison of Parent and Child Influence on Sports Participation

• In Event: Roundtable Session 5
  In Roundtable Session: Youth Engagement: Perspectives, Participation, and Program Practices

Abstract

Drawing on expectancy-value theory, this study examines whether parental influences or children’s motivational attributes have more influence on how children spend their leisure time between middle childhood and adolescence. Specifically, it is examined whether parent encouragement and beliefs (i.e., perceived importance of sports and perceived child ability) or child motivation is more predictive of sports participation over the course of the child’s development. Parent and child reports are compared using data from the Childhood and Beyond longitudinal study. Findings reveal that parent beliefs and encouragement and child motivation were positively associated with sports participation in middle childhood. Compared to children’s motivation measured in middle childhood, parent measures were more predictive of later sports participation in adolescence.

Authors

• Arena Chang, University of California - Irvine

• Joseph L. Mahoney, University of California - Irvine