Effect Of Socio-Economic Status Upon Sports Participation Of The Adolescents

Introduction

            Indispensable association exists between physical activities and all types of living being including birds, beasts and humans since the inception of life itself. Where there is life there is movement or physical activity and vice versa. Physical activity is, in fact, the biological as well as physiological need of the life. Research has documented a number of health, physique, growth and skill related benefits of participation in sports and other physical activities (Dale, Vanderloo, Moore, & Faulkner, 2019). It signifies the vitality of the physical activities that the discipline of sports sciences and physical education has taken the key position among the other formal established disciplines. In addition to proper diet, healthy habits, rest & sleep; the role of participation in perspectives of promotion and maintenance of health has been second to none. However, research has confirmed that majority of the adolescents do not do the required amount of physical activities (Santana et al., 2017). Adolescence is the most important and crucial stage of life which lies between childhood and adulthood. This period of life is very significant in terms of tracing the direction of life and establishing foundation of health and stability for the later life. Common features of this stage of life include rapid physical, mental, social and sociological development, abundance of energy and stormy flow of feelings.

            Participation in sports activities plays the role of a useful medium in attaining the objective of the promotion of health, physique, growth and skill among the participants. However, in many cases, opportunities to have easy access to the game or activity of one’s own choice are subject to the socio-economic status (SES) of the participants of the adolescents. The sole main issue, that impede the way of the common adolescents to participate in sports activities of their choice and taste, is the socio-economic and financial status of their parents. The socio-economic status normally determines the chances of success on various fronts of life including academic as well as sports performance (McConnell, White & Ettekal, 2020). The term socio-economic status refers to the social position and financial affluence level of a person or family. It normally includes financial income, level of education and employment status (Molina-García, et al., 2017). In this regard, a combination of socio-economic factors like family income of the parents, occupation, education and, in some cases, area of the residence of the individual, family or group are taken into consideration.

              Since long, the issue of the relationship of the socio-economic status with the sports participation, has been the topic of interest for the researchers and sports experts and considerable work has also been done in this regard (Jayanthi, Holt, LaBella & Dugas 2018). Research has documented that adolescents from high social status are more active and enthusiastic in comparison to their peers from the low socio-economic status in terms of engagement in physical activities (Carder et al., 2020). As a matter of fact, in case of adolescents, the issue of availability of the required finances to promptly cope the capital and recurring cost of sports activities determine their choice for the selection of the activity. Somerset, & Hoare (2018) have confirmed that students from affluent socio-economic status do not hesitate to select and participate in costly sports activities. It has also been documented that adolescents from low affluent socio-economic backgrounds tend to have meagre participation in the organised sports and recreational physical activities (Elmagd et al., 2015). Socio-economic status plays significant role in perspectives of adolescents with reference to determining their selection of sports activities, priorities, choice, speciality, trend and everyday engagement (Council on Community Paediatrics, 2016).

           Adolescents from the less privileged communities are less likely to avail open access to the costly sports activities on account of the fact that they involve heavy finances in terms of space and equipment. Presently, most of the professionally recognised sports activities like Tennis, Squash etc. have been out of the access of the adolescents from low SES background owing to the high cost involved in the conduct of these sports activities (Somerset, & Hoare, 2018). Limited literature exists highlighting the relationship between the sports participation and socio-economic status of the adolescents (Kamphuis et al., 2008). The objective of this study was to evaluated the participation level of the adolescents in different types of sports activities in relation to their socio-economic status of their parents. In fact, socioeconomic status, in perspectives of sports participation is the pivot of this research study and the present study was conducted to assess the co-relation between the SES of the parents and sports participation volume of their adolescents. The term socio-economic status refers to the financial social as well as work status of the individual evaluated by the family income, level of education and status of occupation (Pollack et al., 2007). However, for this research study family income, education of father, education of mother and number of the family members are taken as the determining indicators for the socio-economic status of the parents of the respondents.

Literature Review

            A number of factors simultaneously interfere with the adolescents’ participation in sports and recreational physical activities. Common among those factors include; availability of the opportunities of participation in the activity of choice, time constraints, burden of the studies, permission of the parents, transportation to the venue, availability of the facility and so on. These factors play significant role in determining the level of participation in sports activities. However, the status of SES is second to none in relation to the factors affecting participation of the adolescents in sports and recreational activities (Eime et al., 2014). Literature has confirmed time and again that individuals from the affluent socioeconomic statue participate more abundantly in different sports and recreational activities as compared to their counterparts from the low affluent socioeconomic background (Jayanthi, Holt, Labella & Dugas, 2018). Different studies have concluded that f cost of the activity was the prominent factor influencing the frequency and volume of participation in sports and recreational activities (Lim et al., 2011). In addition to the socio-economic status of the individuals, the role of the socio-economic status of the locality also has prominent role in terms of the fact that well-off localities offer established sports facilities for free use of the residents as compared to the less affluent localities (Carder et al., 2020). With reference to participation in sports, the role of SES has been well documented and this association has been affirmed by a number of research studies (Bauman et al., 2012).

            Evidence has confirmed very close and relevant association between the socio-economic status and enhanced level of sports participation. The same stance has also been supported by the literature confirming positive co-relationship between the socio-economic status and the volume of participation in the activities of sports; the higher is the socio-economic status the greater is the volume of sports participation and vice versa (Guthold, Stevens, Riley, & Bull, 2020; Curtis et al., 2018; Kalajas-Tilga et al., 2020). Furthermore, the role of the residential area and volume of sports participation also has close association. It has been observed that less privileged areas offer meager sports facilities for the free use of the inhabitants whereas in contrast, in the affluent areas the case is entirely different. Owing to the same reason, poor participation volume in sports activities has positive co-relation with the less affluent neighbourhood (Dejonge et al., 2019).

             Research has concluded that people from the affluent localities are capable to live in the environment conducive for sports therefore they enjoy frequent opportunities to of participation in the activities of their choice (Cerin & Leslie 2008). As a matter of common observation, well-off localities offer facilities for common physical activities and sports which is one of the most significant favouring factor towards enhancing the level of sports participation in sports and recreational activities (Korcz, Makama, 2018). On the contrary, fewer sports facilities are offered in the less affluent communities which is the basic obstacle in the way towards enhanced participation in recreational and sports activities (Estabrook, Lee & Gyucsik, 2003).

            Despite the fact that physical activities have very positive and long lasting and positive effect upon the growth and well being of the adolescents, the overall participation rate of the growing adolescents has been on decline (Brooks, Knudtson, & Smith, 2017). Research has confirmed that sports activities improve endurance, muscular strength, mental health and reduce the chances of cardiac issues among the adolescents (Ryan Dunn, Dorsch, King, & Rothlisberger, 2016; Wang,Tang, & Luo, 2017). Among all other factors affecting adolescents’ participation sports, the role of parental socio-economic status has been most influential and critical. Somerset, & Hoare (2018) have confirmed that the adolescents from the affluent background avail open opportunities of participation in sports activities. On account of the prevailing social norms of everyday life of the society, adolescents from the parents having affluent socio-economic background are generally cared for and supported by the common people (George, et al., 2018).

Material and Method

           The study was conducted in different schools of Abbott Abad city (KPK Pakistan) during the first quarter of 2022. Population of the study comprised of the middle adolescents from 14 to 17 years. Data for the study were collected through a questionnaire. All-out effort was made to develop the questionnaire according to the recommendation of World Health Organisation (WHO, 2013). Validity and reliability of the questionnaire were confirmed through the pilot study and Cronbach Alpha. Demographic data of the respondents regarding age, social background and locality of the residence were also obtained.

            A covering letter attached with the questionnaire was to guide the respondents about the purpose of the study and to educate them regarding the process of filling the questionnaire. Basic information ware sought about the frequency and nature of their physical engagement in the physical activities either in shape of recreational or in shape of any organised sports activity. Questionnaire were sent to the respondents through email and Whats App. School record was used to re-confirm the participation claim of the respondents. Valid responses were tabulated and analysed through Statistical Package for Social Sciences versio-23 (SPSS).

             Since the researcher has employed four main indicators for measuring the socio-economic status of the parents of the respondents e.g. family income, education of father, education of mother and number of the family members, therefore, five point and four point Likert scale was used to serve the different types of socio-economic status indicators. The 5-point Likert scale was used to measure the education of father, education of mother and number of the family members. Four point Likert scale was used to measure the family income of the parents of the respondents. Different SES indicators were considered as follow (Figure 1):

Discussion

             Considering the socio-economic status indicators as the deciding factor in determining the level and interest of the adolescents’ participation in sports and physical activities, family income and education of mother have shown significant correlation in this regard. Literature has also confirmed the positive correlation between the level of education of the parents and children level of participation in sports and physical activities (Owen et al., 2004). As compared to the education of father, the role of education in respect of mother has shown very significant effect in their children involvement in sports and physical activities. The same stance has already been endorsed by a number of studies conducted in this regard (Elmagd et al., 2015). Close association exists between the parental education and level of engagement of the adolescents in sports and physical activities (Bauman et al., 2012). Contrary to the findings of the present study, a few studies have proved that parental education has nothing to do with the engagement of their children in the sports and physical activities (Deshmukh, 2013).

            In addition to the relationship between education of the parents and the level of sports participation of their children; financial status of the parents, as confirmed by the present study, also has significant role in perspectives of their children involvement in sports and physical activities. The present study has confirmed that majority 22/42, 52.38% of the respondents from the high SES were engaged in the high physical activity group whereas, 45/97, 46.39% respondents from the low SES were in the low physical activity group. It is confirmed that respondents from the low SES avoid participation in organised sports activities of longer duration, rather may take part occasionally in a physical activity of limited duration (Wijtazes et al., 2014).

Conclusion

            The study has confirmed the effect of the SES in perspectives of participation in sports and physical activity. With regards to the SES indicators, father education, mother education, financial status of the family (family income) and number of the family member, were taken for evaluating the correlation between these indicators and behavior of the respondents towards participation in sports and physical activity. Out of these four indicators, mother education and family income have shown significant correlation with participation of the respondents in sports and physical activity, whereas, number of family members have shown negative correlation with participation of the respondents in sports and physical activity.