Stability of context in sport and exercise across educational transitions in adolescence: hello work, goodbye sport club?

Abstract

Background The present study firstly aimed to identify context patterns in sport and exercise among adolescents at lower and upper secondary education. The organisational, social and competitive contexts of leisure-time sport and exercise were included as pattern indicators. The second aim was to examine the stability of these patterns across educational transition. The last aim was to investigate whether a subjective evaluation of the transition influences whether people stay in the same pattern across time. Methods One-year longitudinal data of 392 adolescents were analysed. Results Both before and after the educational transition, four context patterns were identified: the traditional competitive club athletes with friends, the self-organised individualists, the non-club-organised sportspersons and the mostly inactives. More than half of the individuals stayed in the same pattern across time. When individuals changed pattern, their change was most often from the self-organised individualists and the non-club-organised to the mostly inactives. A subjective evaluation of the transition influenced the stability of only the traditional competitive club athletes with friends. The chance of these people staying in the same pattern decreased with increased transitional stress. Conclusions Knowledge about the stability and change of context patterns can be used to make recommendations for policy strategies and to develop more individually-tailored promotion programs.

The role of leisure-time physical activity in youth for lifelong activity—a latent profile analysis with retrospective life course data

“…( 2017 ), although profiles 2 and 3 differ regarding the depth of activities. Practicing LTPA in a predominantly self-organised setting (profile 4) has also been shown by other studies (Gut et al., 2020 , 2022 ; Lawler et al., 2017 ), and conversely, doing LTPA in a predominantly organised setting (profile 6) has similarly been found by other research (Agans and Geldhof, 2012 ; Borgers et al., 2015 ; Gut et al., 2020 , 2022 ; Lawler et al., 2017 ). Our data indicate that focusing on one organisational setting (profiles 4 & 6) was associated with practicing few different LTPAs.…”

“…Furthermore, doing LTPA in self-organised and organised settings (people in profiles 2 and 3) was already shown by Lawler et al (2017), although profiles 2 and 3 differ regarding the depth of activities. Practicing LTPA in a predominantly self-organised setting (profile 4) has also been shown by other studies (Gut et al, 2020(Gut et al, , 2022Lawler et al, 2017), and conversely, doing LTPA in a predominantly organised setting (profile 6) has similarly been found by other research (Agans and Geldhof, 2012;Borgers et al, 2015;Gut et al, 2020Gut et al, , 2022Lawler et al, 2017).…”

“…Based on the profiles, similarities to other studies can only be identified to a certain extent as the indicators used have never been studied in this context. Nevertheless, the mostly inactive youth (profile 1) emerged in other studies as well (Agans et al., 2017 ; Gut et al., 2020 , 2022 ; Lawler et al., 2017 ). A simultaneously high level of breadth and depth of LTPA, similar to individuals in profile 2, has already been identified by Agans et al.…”

“…Therefore, the person-oriented approach describing patterns of LTPA in youth seems promising (Bergman, Magnusson, & El-Khouri, 2003). Empirical studies that describe such patterns of LTPA in youth differ regarding the variables used for person-oriented analyses: (1) specific types or categories of activities (Agans and Geldhof, 2012;Borgers et al, 2015); (2) organisational settings differentiating between organised and self-organised settings (Gut et al, 2020;Gut, Schmid, Imbach, & Conzelmann, 2022;Lawler, Heary, & Nixon, 2017); and (3) the breadth (number of different activities) and depth (frequency/duration of activities) of activities (Agans, Johnson, & Lerner, 2017). Klostermann and Nagel (2011) included the breadth and depth as well as the organisational setting but for the first 39 years of life-not in youth.…”

Preferences for Physical Education and Sport Activities Among the Young People on University Campus

“…Important results for the development of university policy in the field of health education and sport were obtained in the study by Gut V., Schmid J., Imbach L., Conzelmann A. [7]. The study used organizational, social and competitive contexts as indicators of the model of adolescents' involvement in sports and physical activity.…”