What keeps young people engaged in sports clubs? The most important factors are parental encouragement and coach support
For girls, encouragement from parents to engage in physical activity and sports throughout adolescence was an important factor supporting participation. For boys, active discussions about lifestyle habits by coaches helped to maintain club participation in early adulthood.
“It is important to raise awareness of the significance of parental support and coaches that are active in health promotion for the continuation of young people’s participation in clubs,” emphasizes Rinta-Antila.
“Clubs can promote public health. We need to discuss the role that coaches can play in promoting the health of young people.”
Additionally, the age at which young people started and their attitude towards competition affected their continuation in club activities. Young people who continued in clubs had started their sport by school age and aimed to compete as adults. Conversely, starting the sport later in school age and participating without competing led to discontinuation of club participation.
“Competition-focused club activities require an early start and a desire to compete,” says Rinta-Antila. “In addition to competitive club activities, there need to be opportunities to participate less competitively and to join clubs later.”
Club Activities Support Healthy Lifestyles
Young people who continued their sports club activities were more likely to have healthy lifestyle habits in early adulthood compared to those who did not participate in club activities and those who discontinued.
“The healthier lifestyle habits of those who continued in clubs may be explained by the support from home, school, and the club, and their own understanding of the effects of healthy lifestyles on success in sports and life in general," Rinta-Antila speculates.
Girls who continued in club activities or those who had participated but then stopped were more likely to excel in school and pursue an academic path than were those who did not participate in club activities at all. Additionally, girls who continued in clubs were more likely to live with their parents in early adulthood compared to those who dropped out or did not participate at all.
“Young people living with their parents receive support from them for a longer time, so it is important to ensure support for young people who move to live independently," Rinta-Antila says.
The most common reasons for discontinuing club participation were studies, boredom, and injuries.
“Flexibility is needed to combine studies and sports, as well as discussions about opportunities that interest young people to participate in sports clubs," says Rinta-Antila.
Rinta-Antila's dissertation includes three articles published in international scientific journals. The research is based on unique Finnish longitudinal study data. Young people responded to a health behaviour survey at the ages of 15 and 19. The data was collected in collaboration with the Ģֱ, the UKK Institute, and the Finnish Sports Medicine Centers.
Katja Rinta-Antila will defend her doctoral dissertation on health promotion, Sports Club Participation Patterns from Adolescence to Emerging Adulthood: Their Determinants and Relationships with Lifestyle Habits and Life Status, at the Ģֱ on 17 January 2025, starting at 12:00 in the Liikunta building, auditorium L304. Her opponent will be Professor Niamh Murphy (South East Technological University, Ireland) and the custos will be Professor Sami Kokko (Ģֱ). The language of the defence is English. The event can also be followed online: .
The dissertation is available in JYX, the Jyväskylä University Digital Repository: .
For more information
Katja Rinta-Antila
Project Researcher
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