Psychosocial Predictors of Drop-Out from Organised Sport: A Prospective Study in Adolescent Soccer

Abstract

In recent years an increased drop-out rate in adolescents’ soccer participation has been observed. Given the potentially adverse consequences of drop-out from soccer, more information about risk factors for drop-out is warranted. In the current study, Classification and Regression Tree (CRT) analysis was used to investigate demographic and motivational factors associated with an increased risk of drop-out from adolescent soccer. The results of this study indicate that older age, experiencing less autonomy support from the coach, less intrinsic motivation, being female, and lower socioeconomic status are factors associated with an increased risk of drop-out. An interpretation of the results of this study is that coaches play a central part in creating a sports context that facilitates motivation and continued soccer participation. Based on the findings of the current study we propose that soccer clubs implement theoretically informed coach education programs to help coaches adopt autonomy-supportive coaching strategies.

The International Olympic Committee framework on fairness, inclusion and nondiscrimination on the basis of gender identity and sex variations does not protect fairness for female athletes

“…Fair and safe competition in sports is a core value for athletes at every level of sport and should be available for all female athletes. There are already significant barriers to sport participation for females, and adolescent female dropout from sports is high 77,78 . Grassroots and amateur sports also provide important pathways to elite levels.…”

“…There are already significant barriers to sport participation for females, and adolescent female dropout from sports is high. 77,78 Grassroots and amateur sports also provide important pathways to elite levels. These issues of barriers to sports participation for females and access to sporting pathways are not mentioned in the IOC framework.…”

Predicting adolescents' continuation in club sports: A prospective cohort study of the importance of personal and contextual motivational factors in five sports in Denmark

“…has indeed shown that the autonomous types of motivation as described in SDT are positively associated with children and adolescents' activity levels in physical education and in leisure time, whereas the impacts of the more controlled motivation styles and demotivation vary from no effect to a negative effect. Studies of 13–15‐year‐old French elite female handball players and Swedish adolescent football players have also shown autonomous/self‐determined motivation to be associated with actual continuation 4,20 . Our study aims to expand this body of knowledge by investigating how the different motivation styles are associated with continuation in youth sport at both elite and recreational levels for different sport types, different youth age‐groups, and both genders.…”

“…The motivational climate is a construct describing situational social factors in sport that are important for the participants' experiences, affect, and ongoing participation. 28 In their prospective study of psychosocial predictors of drop-out from youth soccer in Sweden, Back et al 20 found that, in addition to older age, lower intrinsic motivation, being female, and lower socioeconomic status, experiencing the coach-created climates that were less autonomy-supportive was associated with an increased risk of drop-out. Based on this, the authors suggested that the coach-created climate plays a central role in creating a sports context that facilitates motivation and continued participation in soccer.…”

“…Based on this, the authors suggested that the coach-created climate plays a central role in creating a sports context that facilitates motivation and continued participation in soccer. 20 It has been shown that the coach has a central influence on the social environment of the team. 28,29 In order to support the contribution of club-based youth sport in promoting health, wellbeing, and talent retention, it is therefore important to identify the aspects of the coachcreated motivational climate that have a positive and negative influence on young participants' continuation.…”