Sports practice is a way to be physically active. Despite public health efforts to support it, teenagers' sport participation is declining in some European countries. One reason for the decline is drop-out from sports practice. Various analytical frameworks have been applied to this issue but little is known about how teenagers understand their own pathway in the social context, ending with a drop-out from sports practice. This study aimed to identify reasons given by teenagers about sports practice drop-out situated within the circles of their everyday lives, through 100 semi-structured interviews. The results made it possible to classify the reasons for dropping out into five themes: friendship, body, family, school, and sport. Two processes lead to drop-out: constraints which prevent access to the circle of sports practice and/or a decision-making that brings them out of it. The respondents could mention one or multiple reasons, accumulating (snowball effect) or following one another (cascade effect). Depending on the moment of drop-out, some circles of social life played a preponderant role. The family seemed to be central in the decision to drop out during primary school, whereas sport itself and school were influential in middle and high schools respectively. The results showed that the more recent the drop-out, the more the teenagers planned to resume sports practice. These data are relevant for health education policies to prevent physical inactivity through sport. It is important not only to remove the constraints that prevent access to the circle of sports practice, but also to promote the most pleasurable sports experiences.

Background Sport participation is declining in some European countries. Previous findings recommended considering territorial specificities to adapt local sports promotion programs. However, in France, little is known about adolescents’ preferences and their changes across time. This study aimed to measure preferred sports and their changes among a representative sample of adolescents of the third biggest French département. Methods Data were extracted from a previous cross-sectional study that used a quota sampling design to respect the proportions of advantaged and disadvantaged schools. The present study involved 744 and 938 participants, in 2001 and 2015, respectively. Adolescent preferences were calculated by sex and socioeconomic status (SES). Multiple binary logistic regressions were performed to measure changes between 2001 and 2015 by sex and SES. Results Sports preferences and their evolution differed by sex and SES. Three cases were observed: no significant change in sports preferences (low-SES boys), a sharp loss of interest for some sports (low-SES girls and high-SES boys) and a sharp loss of interest for some sports whilst others gained significant interest (high-SES girls). Conclusions This knowledge may help the development of sport promotion programs. Future sport policies could choose to develop sports that are preferred and increasingly appreciated by adolescents.

Background Adolescents playing sport are more likely to reach the recommended levels of physical activity. In 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2019, four successive French national plans were launched to “develop physical and sports activity and limit sedentary living”. Monitoring sport participation rates (SPR) is one of the essential components to evaluate these plans. To date, information on temporal trends in SPR has mainly come from the national population. However, due to sample size, it was impossible to measure trends among adolescents on the territory level. Given the various economic and geographical disparities between territories, it is likely that territory specific trends exist. The main objective of this study was to measure temporal trends in adolescent SPR in the third biggest French department (South-East of France). Methods Four retrospective studies were conducted in high-schools between March and April 2001, 2008, 2015 and 2019 (n = 4367). A quota sampling design was used to obtain geographically and socially representative samples. They were invited to report their sex, their socioeconomic status (SES) and their sport participation. A sports player was defined as an adolescent playing sport for at least one hour a week. SPR were calculated by sex and SES with 95% confidence interval (95% CI). Results A decline in SPR, from 79.0% (95% CI = 76.4-81.7) to 64.5% (95% CI = 61.7-67.3), accompanied with a growth of social inequalities, were observed. SPR of low-SES adolescents declined from 67.7% (95% CI = 61.1-74.3) to 42.6% (95% CI = 36.7-48.4). SPR also declined from 72.5% (95% CI = 66.2-78.8) to 69.9% (95% CI = 64.5-75.3) for high-SES girls, from 87.2% (95% CI = 82.5-92.0) to 65.2% (95% CI = 59.6-70.9) for low-SES boys and from 91.0% (95% CI = 87.0-95.0) to 83.0% (95% CI = 78.5-87.4) for high-SES boys. Conclusions Temporal trends in adolescent SPR in this territory are in decline since 2001. Governmental plans to improve SPR seems to have had a limited success in this territory. Key messages