Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Oct;130(5):1869-1888.
doi: 10.1177/00315125231185653. Epub 2023 Jun 27.

Higher Family Affluence is Associated With Multi-Sport Participation Among Irish Youth

Philip E Kearney  1   2   3 , Ian Sherwin  1   2 , Wesley O'Brien  4 , Alan M Nevill  1   5 , Kwok Ng  1   6   7
Affiliations

Higher Family Affluence is Associated With Multi-Sport Participation Among Irish Youth

Philip E Kearney et al. Percept Mot Skills. 2023 Oct.

Abstract

The impact of early single sport participation among young people has received much attention, with both sport leaders and pediatricians advocating multi-sport participation at least until early adolescence. In this study we explored the association between family socioeconomic status and level of Irish youth specialization in sport. We relied on data from the Children's Sport Participation and Physical Activity (CSPPA) study, involving a representative sample of 3499 Irish children and adolescents aged 10-15 years. We analyzed data from questions related to the number of sports played, the number of days per week the youth were engaged in sport, and family affluence (as a proxy measure for socioeconomic status). Youth sport specialization before 12 years of age (males 5.7%; females 4.2%) and even between 13-15 years of age (males, 7.8%; females, 5.8%) was uncommon. However, lower levels of specialization were associated with higher socioeconomic status in that more children with high family affluence participated in multiple sports. Careful consideration should be given to whether low socioeconomic status may act as a barrier to participation in multiple sports.

Keywords: early sport specialization; multi-sport youth; sampling; socioeconomic status.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Alliott O., Ryan M., Fairbrother H., van Sluijs E. (2022). Do adolescents’ experiences of the barriers to and facilitators of physical activity differ by socioeconomic position? A systematic review of qualitative evidence. Obesity Reviews, 23(3), e13374. 10.1111/obr.13374 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Arede J., Esteves P., Ferreira A. P., Sampaio J., Leite N. (2019). Jump higher, run faster: Effects of diversified sport participation on talent identification and selection in youth basketball. Journal of Sports Sciences, 37(19), 2220–2227. 10.1080/02640414.2019.1626114 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Badura P., Hamrik Z., Dierckens M., Gobiņa I., Malinowska-Cieślik M., Furstova J., Kopcakova J., Pickett W. (2021). After the bell: Adolescents’ organised leisure-time activities and well-being in the context of social and socioeconomic inequalities. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 75(7), 628–636. 10.1136/jech-2020-215319 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Baker J., Mosher A., Fraser-Thomas J. (2021). Is it too early to condemn early sport specialisation? British Journal of Sports Medicine, 55(3), 179–180. 10.1136/bjsports-2020-102053 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bell D. R., Post E. G., Biese K., Bay C., Valovich McLeod T. (2018. a). Sport specialization and risk of overuse injuries: A systematic review with meta-analysis. Pediatrics, 142(3), e20180657. 10.1542/peds.2018-0657 - DOI - PubMed