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PurposeSports participation and physical fitness are widely beneficial for young people, yet activity levels among young people are declining. Despite growing popular media attention on the participation of sexual minority (e.g., lesbian, gay, and bisexual) youth in sports and various campaigns to improve the often homophobic climate of sports, there is limited evidence that sexual minority youth participate in sports. Our aim was to provide a current portrait of sports participation among 3 groups of sexual minority youth (e.g., lesbian, gay, and bisexual) in British Columbia, Canada, as well as to document population trends.MethodsPooled population-level data from British Columbia, Canada (n = 99,373) were used to examine trends and disparities in sports participation among sexual minority and heterosexual youth. Age-adjusted logistic regression models were used to examine changes in participation over time and disparities in participation over time (1998–2013).ResultsWe found an overall decline in sports participation and physical activity (PA) for all youth. Sexual minority students were less likely to participate in formal sports (with a coach) and informal sports (without a coach) compared with their heterosexual peers. The disparity in participating in informal sports between heterosexual and sexual minority youth has narrowed over time for some sexual orientation groups, whereas the disparity in participating in formal sports has widened over time in some cases.ConclusionThis study provides a comprehensive examination of sports participation among sexual minority youth over the past 15 years. Despite changing societal attitudes and laudable efforts to reduce homophobia in sports, results suggest that there are continued barriers to participation for sexual minority youth. Further research is needed to understand the factors that limit sports participation for these youth and to inform program development. PA is critical to lifelong health and well-being, and thus continued efforts are needed to increase the sports participation of sexual minority youth in particular.

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The resegregation of public schools in the United States continues to place African American students at an academic disadvantage with—oftentimes—limited educational resources and fewer qualified teachers. Providing African American students with skills and strategies to succeed has never been more urgent. Metacognition, often defined simply as “thinking about thinking,” is a construct and process that may explain how students can improve and control their thinking and learning. Given the educational inequality African American students often face, providing strategies—with which they have control—may help empower students to better navigate and make the best of their daily academic experiences and environment composed of limited physical and human resources. Toward this end, recent research on metacognition looks promising and may be one viable option to enhance academic achievement among students. In this article, we consider three related areas that inform African American youth educational experiences: (a) the history of the educational context which African American youth have long faced, (b) the laws that have historically and currently buttress and inform the educational landscape for African American youth, and (c) one potential solution (i.e., metacognitive knowledge, skills, and awareness) to reduce or ameliorate some of the problems outlined in the history and laws that have been implicated in the low levels of academic achievement among some African American youth. Following the review of these related literature bases, we offer recommendations on how the extant literature bases may inform directions for future research that is focused on metacognition and that is ethically and culturally responsive.