Reasons for youth sport dropout
Differences between the competitive and other sport participants
Keywords:
sport clubs, youth sport, drop-outAbstract
Participation in youth sport is associated with many physical, mental and social benefits. Sport participation is very popular among Finnish children and youth, but there is huge drop out from sport among teenagers. This study examined the reasons for dropout from organized sport among 16- to 20-year-old young people differing in their participation orientation. Here, participation orientation refers to young people’s self-reported reason for participating in sports club activities, i.e., as an experiment or as a recreation or for competitive reasons.
The data were collected as part of The Finnish Late Adolescents Physical Activity 2020 (LIITU) survey. Participants were 736 upper secondary school and vocational school students (55.8% female). The questionnaire on the reasons for attrition was based on the international Questionnaire of Reasons for Attrition (QRA). The data were analyzed using cross-tabulations, Chi-square test, z-test and Cramèr’s V -values, independent samples t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA).
Boredom with the sport and doing something else instead were among the three most common reasons for quitting sports club activities in all three participation orientation groups. Not feeling comfortable in the team, lack of enjoyment and dislike of competing were more commonly given as reasons for quitting by those in the experiment and recreation orientation groups than those in the competition orientation group. Lack of time for meeting friends, the stress of training, and illness or injury were more common reasons for quitting sports club activities among those in the competitive orientation group than those in the other two groups.
Increasing high-quality, non-competitive activities in sports clubs could be a way to support the aim of maintaining the involvement in sports club activities of a larger proportion of youth. Sports clubs should also pay more attention to the balance of training and recovery, sports injury prevention and rehabilitation among youth participants.
