"Uncool to do sport": a focus group study of adolescent girls' reasons for withdrawing from physical activity.

By A. Slater, M. Tiggemann. 2010

281 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract Objective The purpose of the current study was to gain a deeper understanding of the reasons that adolescent girls give 1) for ceasing participation in sports and other physical activities and 2) for why they do not participate as much as boys. Methods 6 focus groups were conducted with adolescent girls (n = 49) aged between 13 and 15 years old. The focus groups were conducted at two metropolitan, co-educational public high schools in Adelaide, South Australia. Results The girls generated a number of different reasons for ceasing to play sport, including losing interest, lack of competence and insufficient time. Girls also reported feeling like they were crossing traditional gender boundaries when playing sport, particularly for sports traditionally classified as ‘masculine’. Additional concerns related to team-mates and teasing as well as concerns about appearance and image while playing sport. Conclusions The findings identify a number of gender-specific reasons for girls’ declining rates of participation in sport and physical activity and therefore suggest a number of strategies for improving girls’ participation rates.

Subfields: Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation, Safety Research, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/83acbc9708dfe0fc4249f7aacd9d8b357864168c

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In Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation

In Social Psychology

Citations in the corpus

Attitudes toward and motivation for PE. Who collects the benefits of the subject? (2015, background): “Dropping out of organized youth sport is most often caused by lack of ability or competence, lack of success, performance anxiety, loss of interest or a lack of enjoyment (Fraser-Thomas and Côté 2009; Slater and Tiggemann 2010; Strandbu and Bakken 2007; Telama and Yang 2000).”