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Why do young athletes participate in sports?

This is an excerpt from Psychological Dynamics of Physical Activity-5th Edition by Diane L Gill,Erin J Reifsteck,DeAnne Davis Brooks,DeAnne Davis Brooks.

PARTICIPATION MOTIVATION

In the 1970s and 1980s, sport psychologists asked youth sport participants their reasons for participating in and withdrawing from sport. Using the Participation Motivation Questionnaire (PMQ), Gill et al. (1983) found that the reasons young athletes gave for participating in sports fell into four general categories: fun, competence, affiliation, and fitness. In other words, kids participated ­because (1) it is fun, (2) they like to strive to achieve and experience feelings of competence, (3) they want to be with their friends and meet new ­people, and (4) they want to increase or maintain their fitness. A more recent review of this lit­er­a­ture reveals that ­these motives for participation, along with parent interaction, remain valid for ­today’s youth (Bailey et al., 2013; Howie et al., 2018). Studies with college-­aged and adult participants show that although variations have emerged, the general pattern of reasons is consistent (e.g., Campbell et al., 2001; Oliveira-­Brochado et al., 2017).

Collectively, research indicates that youth and adults can find sport enjoyable when it provides opportunities for achievement or skill mastery, social affiliation (e.g., camaraderie), movement, or some combination of ­these (cf., relationships proposed by Weiss and Amorose [2008] in figure 9.1). Similarly, satisfaction (enjoyment) and personal investment have been found to be the strongest and most consistent predictors of commitment to sport and exercise (Gabriele et al., 2011; Lewis et al., 2016; Williams, 2013; Yao and Shapiro, 2024). From a practical standpoint, individuals who report greater enjoyment for their sport or exercise experience and perceive that they have personally invested more (e.g., time, money) in their sport, are more committed to exercising volitionally, and are more apt to continue in sport and exercise than ­those reporting less enjoyment and personal investment.

Why do ­people choose to stop participating in sport and exercise? Approximately one-­third of all participants in ­organized youth sports drop out each year and 70 ­percent discontinue participation by age 13, which contributes to low physical activity levels among adolescents (Brenner, 2016; Brenner and Watson, 2024; Burton et al., 2011). Some of the reasons given for withdrawing from youth sport involve negative experiences, such as lack of fun and playing time, coach-­related prob­lems, time requirements, and overemphasis on winning (for a review, see Weiss and Amorose [2008]). Though negative experiences like ­these may contribute to the decision to drop out, more often, potential youth dropouts cited having other ­things to do (e.g., other interests, work-­related issues) for reasons why they ­stopped. Some of the ­people we label as dropouts may remain active in another sport, exercise, or type of physical activity (Weiss and Amorose, 2008). However, in ­today’s hypercompetitive youth sport climate, early specialization, psychological stress, overuse injuries, and burnout increasingly lead to early dropout (Brenner and Watson, 2024).

Despite the good reasons for participating in health-­promoting exercise and the benefits of exercise, not every­one sticks with it. The number of adults who engage in physical activity at the level needed to obtain health benefits is conservatively estimated at 50 ­percent (Lox et al., 2014), and it is commonly reported that 50 ­percent of adults who begin an exercise program drop out within six months (Buckworth et al., 2013). Through interviews conducted with middle-­aged adults who had dropped out of a structured exercise program, Larson et al. (2018) highlighted the “fragile nature of motivation for exercise,” noting that ­these participants often held unrealistic outcome expectations, strug­gled with prioritizing exercise above other time commitments, and perceived a lack of social support and accountability.

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